Many statisticians were sent to the theatre of war in the years of the Great Patriotic War (World War II), but statistical work continued.

Statisticians helped to estimate the resources that needed to be mobilised in order to address priority tasks during wartime.

«Statistics made it possible to estimate mobilization resources»

Wartime censuses counted the labor force and physical resources, calculated the size and composition of the population, and provided real-time statistics on the work of military and strategically important enterprises and industries. Censuses were also conducted in territories after their liberation from German occupation. From the onset of the war until 1947, a total of 142 urgent censuses were carried out throughout the Soviet Union.

The wartime work of statisticians in the Arkhangelsk Region serves as an example. There were daily and 10-day counts (in units and kind) of the output of major products. Strict accounting of key raw materials, resources and equipment was established.

Urgent censuses, following a reduced program, were carried out in no more than15 days. Simultaneously with their main task, statisticians were mobilised to carry out public work, building railways, stocking firewood, unloading rail cars, and clearing snow from tram and railway tracks.