Issue 2 (91)
| FROM REVISIONS TO CENSUS: ACADEMIC INITIATIVES TO IMPROVE RUSSIA’S POPULATION ENUMERATION IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE 19TH CENTURY | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | 2026 | Number | 2 (91) |
| Pages | 70-79 | Type | scientific article |
| UDC | 94(47)”18”:314 | BBK | 63.3(2)5+60.7 |
| Authors | Skrydlov Andrey Yu. |
Topic | HISTORICAL FACTORS OF DEMOGRAPHIC DEVELOPMENT |
| Summary | The article analyzes initiatives of the academic community aimed at improving population enumeration in Russia in the first half of the 19th century. It examines the intellectual preconditions for the transition from fiscal revisions to modern-style population censuses, a subject that has remained largely outside the focus of scholarly attention. The study shows that criticism of the revision system and the development of alternative approaches to population counting emerged well before the institutional establishment of a state census apparatus and were closely linked to the rise of academic statistics. Particular attention is paid to the projects and activities of Russian academic statisticians, especially P. I. Köppen, who made the most consistent efforts to bring revision-based registration system accounting closer to census standards. These initiatives are examined within a broader European context of debates and reforms in population enumeration. The article draws on archival materials from the St. Petersburg Branch of the Archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Scientific Archive of the Russian Geographical Society. It is concluded that, even in the pre-reform period, there was a clear perception within academic community regarding the fundamental limitations of revisions as a population enumeration tool. These principles laid the conceptual foundation for Russia’s transition to a nationwide census at the end of the 19th century. | ||
| Keywords | history of statistics, population enumeration, fiscal revisions, population censuses, academic community, Imperial Academy of Sciences, Russian Geographical Society, Petr Ivanovich Köppen | ||
| References |
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