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Union territory · population & research profile

Puducherry population.
2026 projection and research context.

A dated population baseline for researchers, market planners and curious readers, with links to the original evidence.

Government projection · 1 March 202617.57 lakh17,57,000 projected peopleOfficial Table 8 · published July 2020 ↗
Geography note. This is the entire union territory of Puducherry, not only the city with the same name.

Newer evidence about daily life and work

These survey indicators describe different groups. A household percentage and a percentage of women aged 15+ cannot be combined as if they measured the same population.

Scroll the table sideways to see every column.

Measure and population groupEstimatePeriod and source
Household internet access by state and union territoryAll households represented by CMS Telecom 202581.9%January–March 2025; access at survey date
Source table ↗ RSE: 5.14% of the estimated rate.
Personal mobile ownership among women aged 15+ by state and union territoryWomen aged 15 and above represented by CMS Telecom 202583.2%January–March 2025; ownership at survey date
Source table ↗

CMS Telecom was designed for national estimates; published state/UT estimates need care with sample sizes and uncertainty. RSE is relative standard error, not a percentage-point confidence interval. The PLFS quarter publishes only a selected-state table; absent places are not imputed.

Population projection by sex

ReferencePeopleMalesFemales
1 March 2026 · government projection17,57,0008,29,0009,28,000

Official Table 8 · Table 8, Puducherry, 2026 row, Persons/Male/Female; printed page 55 / PDF page 61. Values retain the source’s rounding.

Reading this population figure

Puducherry has a projected population of 17,57,000 for 1 March 2026 in the government’s 2011–2036 series. This is a modelled figure published in July 2020, not a new enumeration or a live count.

Its projection ranks 27 among the 36 current state/UT units in this collection. Its share of the published national projection is 0.12%, calculated from the source values.

The 1,757,000 projection covers Puducherry union territory as a whole. It should not be used as the population of Puducherry city.

Aadhaar coverage · 30 June 2026

101.26% reported penetration; 14,37,415 estimated living holders. UIDAI uses recorded addresses and an estimated-deaths adjustment, with its own projection denominator.

Read the Aadhaar table and definitions

Using it to size a market

Define the people or households relevant to the product before estimating demand. A population total does not establish category adoption, purchasing power or the area that a business can actually serve.

For Puducherry, keep the projection’s date in your working sheet, document the eligible share and spending assumptions, and test how the answer changes. For a local outlet, define a city, district or travel-time catchment instead of using the whole state or union territory.

Start a scenario for Puducherry

The Census 2011 reference

The historical Puducherry profile records 12,47,953 people in Census 2011. Read it on its original boundaries; do not assume the old and new geographic units are identical.

Open the detailed Census 2011 profile

Migration, visitors and household context

Resident population, migrants, commuters and tourist visits describe different populations or activities. Use migration evidence to examine usual residence; use tourism releases for visits. Neither should simply be added to this projected population.