In demographics, an intercensal estimate is an estimate of population between official census dates with both of the census counts being known. Some nations produce regular intercensal estimates while others do not. Intercensal estimates can be less or more informative than official census figures, depending on methodology, completeness, accuracy (as they can have significant undercounts or overestimates) and date of data, and can be released by nations, subnational entities, or other organizations including those not affiliated with governments. They differ from population projections as they are from past dates, although intercensal estimates can be used to form population projections.
Intercensal estimates are one of the two types of population estimates, the other being postcensal estimates. Intercensal estimates are considered to be more accurate than postcensal estimates, because they approximated between two dates with the exact population being known.