Susan Smith-Peter

This article traces the shift from government-centered German cameralist statistics to a new society-oriented statistics in the early nineteenth century. Adam Smith and Belgian statistician Adolphe Quetelet were the most influential figures in this shift. Smith’s belief that society produced the wealth of nations was supplemented by Quetelet’s statement that statistics could discover the laws of society. Placing Russian government statistics in the context of developments throughout Europe shows that Russia did not lag behind in establishing statistical organizations. In addition, the problems Russian statistical collection encountered were shared with other European states.