Agricultural Census 2015-16
Decennial census of agricultural holdings covering tenancy, land use, and cropping patterns across all districts.
Published 2015–16 · 11 indicators · mapped to 808 districts · platform version 2026-08-02
New districts: inherited from parent district
Districts created after this source was published have no measurement of their own. For this source those values are inherited from parent district and flagged in the interface, so you can filter them out. See the methodology for why this method applies here and where it is weakest.
Indicators
Land & Agriculture
Average Holding Size
Map itAverage area of operational agricultural holdings. Larger values indicate less fragmented farming. From Agricultural Census 2015-16.
Operational holdings (who farms), not ownership. 134 districts inherit parent values.
Marginal Farmers (%)
Map itShare of operational holdings below 1 hectare. Higher values indicate more subsistence-level farming and greater rural vulnerability. From Agricultural Census 2015-16.
Holdings below 1 Ha. ~68% of India's holdings are marginal (Ag Census 2015-16).
Agricultural Intensity
Map itPercentage of district area under net cultivation. Higher values indicate more intensive agricultural land use. From Agricultural Census 2015-16.
Net sown area as share of district area. Excludes forests and wastelands.
Fallow Ratio
Map itRatio of fallow land to net cultivated area. High values indicate underutilized or drought-prone agricultural land. From Agricultural Census 2015-16.
Includes current fallow and long-term fallow land.
SC/ST Land Equity Gap
Map itDifference between SC/ST share of agricultural land and SC/ST share of population. Negative values mean SC/ST communities hold less land than their population share. From Agricultural Census 2015-16 + Census 2011.
Combines Ag Census land data with Census 2011 SC/ST population shares.
Holdings per 1,000 People
Map itNumber of operational agricultural holdings per 1,000 population. Higher values indicate greater agricultural dependence. From Agricultural Census 2015-16 + Census 2011.
Uses Census 2011 population as denominator.
Cultivated Land per Capita
Map itNet cultivated area per person. Low values indicate high land pressure or urbanization. From Agricultural Census 2015-16 + Census 2011.
Uses Census 2011 population as denominator.
Leased Area Share
Map itShare of total operated area that is leased-in. High leasing indicates tenancy insecurity and less incentive for long-term land investment. From Agricultural Census 2015-16.
Informal tenancy widely underreported — most leases are unregistered oral contracts.
Land Gini Coefficient
Map itGini coefficient of land distribution across holding size classes. Higher values indicate greater inequality in land ownership. From Agricultural Census 2015-16.
Calculated from size-class distribution, not individual holdings.
Sowing Efficiency
Map itRatio of net area sown to net cultivated area. Values near 1.0 mean almost all arable land is actively farmed. From Agricultural Census 2015-16.
Net sown ÷ net cultivated. Does not capture multi-cropping.
Uncultivated Ratio
Map itShare of total holding area that is uncultivated (waste, built-up, waterlogged). Proxy for land degradation or urbanization within agricultural holdings. From Agricultural Census 2015-16.
Includes waste, built-up, and waterlogged land within holdings.
Using this data
Free to explore and export. Cite the original publisher for published figures and cite us as well where your result depends on the crosswalk. Per-layer limitations are listed on the caveats page.