Can you count to 1.2 billion?

Luce mentioned the U.S. Census. India's completing a census as well. Think the U.S. headcounters have a tough task? Here are what India's are up against:

• They're counting four times as many people as their U.S. counterparts.
• More so than in the U.S., illiteracy and homelessness complicate data gathering.
• Active insurgencies in the country make some areas extremely unsafe for anyone representing the government.

"The trick," a census official told the BBC, "is to get things right the first time. There is no question of a re-census."

The kicker, though, and something with more than mere logistical implications, is this: India is planning a biometric census. Every person over 15 is to be fingerprinted and photographed.

— SCE