History of Czech Statistics before 1918

Statistics has been linked with the history of our land since time immemorial. The reasons are absolutely practical and obvious. Each sovereign wanted to know how big his property is, how many soldiers he has or how many serfs he has, from whom he can collect taxes. Thus, first lists and overviews emerged. Regarded as the oldest preserved “statistical document“ is an inventory of the property of the Litoměřice church of 1058, which is a part of Prince Spytihnev´s II deed of foundation. However, reasons for a statistical survey were often of other, more humanistic, character. For example, under the reign of the emperor Rudolf II in 1583 there was an outbreak of plague. As a result of it, a survey on “population health” started; it was to map the origin and development of destructive epidemic and to enable adoption of timely counter-measures.

Seen as an important milestone can be the date of 13 October 1753 when a patent of empress Maria Theresa on an annual census of population was issued. Improvement of records on population was related to large reforms of Maria Theresa. To make many reforms, it was necessary to obtain objective information on the population – already the economists of that time said that to manage somebody without having enough data on him is a nonsense and foolishness.

A new chapter in the history of population censuses in the Habsburg Empire started with the census carried out in 1754. For the first time, it took place at the same time and in the entire territory of the group of states. The list was first to be done by the clergy by parish; later it was decided that at the same time a census will be carried out also by nobility and the contents of it will be extended by a list of buildings and economic characteristics of the house owner. A reform of the birth-and-death registration was also carried out under the rule of Maria Theresa. In this context, the first simple statistical classification of death causes was introduced. This classification distinguished primarily between ”natural“ and “forcible“ causes of death breaking them down in detail. The census carried out in 1754 was an extraordinary deed. Lists from the 1760s - though they enable for the first time to determine population density by region and provide also some other information on social structure of population – were rather unsuccessful. A growing anxiety about an increase of taxes, resistance of nobility against centralisation efforts of the court (to which church hierarchy gradually joined) resulted in many distortions. Therefore, another reform took place. The state had lack of officials and therefore could not ensure the listing by itself. The body to do it was the army. Thus, not only the organization of listings but also their contents changed from the very roots. Single-track focusing of listings was no longer convenient.

Already in 1777, a new letters patent was issued that (with slight changes and modifications) became the basis for listings up until the year 1851. Again, the entire present population was captured, although more detailed classification by social status and age was still made only for men. Since 1780s, so-called population books were established in manors and towns (later municipalities) – each family with all household members was captured in the books and eventual changes (deaths, births, etc.) were recorded in the book based on a reporting duty of the head of the family.

The beginnings of an independent collection of data in the Czech territory are linked with the name of knight Joseph Anton Riegger (1742 – 1795). The knight was the founder of organised statistical service and the first competent statistician in this country. He was able to get the support of emperor Joseph II and could thus design and organise statistical surveys and create methodologies for them. He started to publish his own collected materials in the known “Materialien zur alten und neueren Statistik in Böhmen” in 1787.
We regard 30 November 1856 as the date of commencement of State-organised statistics in the Czech land. The first meeting was held on that day of the Central Committee for Agricultural and Forestry Statistics of Bohemia as a special new body of the emperor’s and king’s Patriotic-Economic Society.

Another important phase in the modern history of population censuses in Austria was opened by adoption of a new law in 1869. Based on it, a population census was carried out in the beginning of 1870, which captured the situation as of 31 December 1869. The act also stipulated that the following censuses are to capture stock of population in ten-year intervals, always as of 31 December of the year having a zero in the end. The census was carried out by municipalities and the census unit was a household. Questionnaires were filled in either by the owner of the house or by “enumeration commissioners” based on what the enumerated persons informed them about. In fact, it was the first population census with a modern concept, which created conditions for a comparison of basic demographic data, an activity practiced to date. Only thanks to regular censuses we can obtain a precise picture of the population development in our territory (otherwise we have to content ourselves with estimations).

Results of the 1869 census were for the first time in a large scale communicated to the public, namely in a special publication of six volumes. It seems natural to us today, however, until 1840s results of listings of population were considered to be secret or confidential (the same as results of other statistical surveys). (In 1829, Versuch einer Darstellung der österreichischen Monarchie in statistischen Tafeln 1828 was submitted to the monarch; it was issued in a hundred copies. Only six of them, determined for the closest neighbourhood of the emperor, contained also data on the army, state budget and complete overviews by individual land).

Population of the 18th and 19th centuries was young. In the country, there was a slightly higher share of children and older persons, while in towns the amount of population in reproductive age was increasing due to immigration. With improving mortality conditions, number of persons living to see their adulthood and later their older age was gradually increasing; however, it is still characteristic for that time that usually more men achieved higher age than women. Statistics of the 19th century collected a huge amount of data on distribution of the population into groups by age, family status, mother tongue, profession, and status in profession. Participants of the founding meeting of the ”Municipal Committee for Statistics of the Royal Capital City of Prague“ gathered in Prague on 30 June 1870 in order to start a systematic statistical work after several years of efforts aimed at constituting a statistical office. This was followed later, on 6 March 1897, by the founding of the Statistical Office of the Kingdom of Bohemia, which became the first genuine statistical body in the territory of the present Czech Republic. This was the first centralisation of all statistical units that had functioned within the different ministries and other institutions so far.

The “Statistical Handbook of the Kingdom of Bohemia” was issued in 1909, followed by another in 1913. Land statistical office wanted to present to the public an extract from the most important statistical data on Bohemia, often with a retrospective view of several years to the past and in comparison with similar data from Moravia, Silesia and the entire monarchy. Handbook contains a wide range of data, which are divided into 18 parts: size, division and population; self-rule; elections; health and humanity institutions; the poor; the police; mediation of work; army; culture; education and other educational institutions; agriculture; mining and metallurgy; crafts, industry and trade; transport; credit; insurance; justice; finance. The “Statistical Act for Moravia” was passed at the end of 1914 defining the report duty for the first time ever. However, this act applied to municipalities and to the district roadway committees in Moravia only. Its significance lied mainly in the fact that a reporting duty towards the statistical office was established for the first time in a part of the territory of the present Czech Republic – the relevant entity is obliged by law to provide required data.

Nineteenth century was a period of rapid industrial development, which at the same time imposed much higher demands on the scope and quality of statistical surveys and statistical data processing. It can be said that namely at that time the current face of statistics was being born, which is to a large extent a survey on (macro)economic indicators.
For that matter, the boom of industrial production including heavy industry, especially railway network, is depicted best in the comprehensive tables called Statistical Handbooks of the Kingdom of Bohemia.