Abstract
The development of Russian and world statistics in the 19th century is of considerable interest for representatives of different sciences, such as historians, statisticians, demographers, etc. The attention of researchers to this period is due to incredibly rapid development of the theory, methodology and practice of statistical surveys, formation of statistics as a branch of public administration. Special attention was paid to the development of scientific methods of population accounting, in particular censuses, which was reflected in the publications of that time. The study of works reflecting the development of ideas about the all-social population accounting, in particular the formation of theses about "scientific", "correct" population censuses and the accumulation of experience in their conduct, seems relevant. The article presents a historiographical review of publications of different periods, which allows to identify the possible stages of development of the idea of the general population census and its implementation in the Russian Empire. The main methods of research are bibliographical and historiographical analysis, the sources for which are works in the field of history of statistics, demography, the census itself of the pre-revolutionary, Soviet and modern periods. Делается вывод о том, что генезис идеи научной переписи в России происходил в контексте развития зарубежной и отечественной статистики, а проведение Первой всеобщей переписи населения на всей территории Российской империи стало событием, оказавшим значительное влияние на дальнейшую историю науки.