Since 2010, India’s villagers have been getting their fingerprints taken, their irises scanned, and their personal data recorded. Only then could they receive their 12-digit Aadhaar number. And, never having had birth certificates or driver’s licenses, or voters cards, for the first time, they could prove who they were.

(Belatedly) having begun its decennial census, Indian officials said Aadhaar numbers would come in handy. Apple also will be very interested.

India’s Census

The last time India did a count was 2011. Now, they expect to spend $1.24 billion and employ 3 million workers to tally approximately 1.4 billion people. The task includes visits to 640,000 villages and 9,700 cities and towns. By collecting caste data, they hope to learn more about inequality. They also will gather facts that relate to electoral districting and social services. They will be able to make policy decisions based on rural to urban migration, employment, and couples’ relationships. Implementing quotas, they will increase the number of female legislators.

As for how, it’s the first digital census with a probable 2027 completion date.

Showing Who We Are

Taken for granted by most of us, we need to be able to prove who we are. With its Unique Identification Program, India made it possible for almost 100% of the population to open bank accounts. To receive a government subsidy, they could prove who they were, minimize fraud, and use an electronic transfer instead of making a 40-mile trip to a government office.

And that returns us to the census. By identifying billions of previously invisible individuals through Aadhaar and its SRS survey of births and deaths, India can better plan for economic development.

Our Bottom Line: Apple’s Pivot to India

Since Apple’s goal in India is reputedly from “silicon to storefront,” they surely will need demographic data to plan their initiative. Indeed, as the shift from China unfolds from Apple and other companies, India’s massive population will make and buy more of the world’s goods and services.  Thus far, Apple has already begun to produce 25% of its iPhones in India. Moving ahead, the private sector needs to know India’s numbers.

The UN projects that India will soon be the world’s most populous country:

Indeed, Apple could find out next year that India has pulled ahead of China.

My sources and more: Today’s post began with the NY Times alerting me to India’s census. From there, we discovered a slew of census facts, here and here, while econlife told more here about Aadhaar. And finally, updating our post,  we checked Apple’s pivot to India.

Our featured image was from the Financial Press as were some of our facts.

Please also note that several of today’s sentences were in a past econlife post.