The first general census of the population of the Russian Empire was held in 1897, but its preparation had begun more than half a century before, when active members of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society, founded in 1845, took note of the flaws of revisions as a way of counting the national population.

This was also the time when Russian statisticians became more involved in the international scientific community: Pyotr Semyonov (later called "Semyonov Tian-Shansky" in recognition of his geographical work on the Tian Shan Mountains) was invited to attend the first session of the International Statistical Congress held in Brussels in 1853.

«Revisions as a method of counting the population had considerable disadvantages.»

Revisions had several advantages as a method for counting people, but they also had serious disadvantages. Their main disadvantage was their lack of the goal of recording all of the country's residents. Revisions did not apply to the entire population of the country, but only to the "taxable estates", i.e. those people who must pay taxes or owed some other duty to the state. Over time some other categories of people were also included in the count, but the census was still not general.

The great reforms of Tsar Alexander II dramatically changed the methods of public administration in Russia. Universal conscription was introduced in 1874, and soldiers were recruited using data from the current population census. May 1885 saw the abolition of the poll tax (literally "tax per soul"), as a result of which the Ministry of Finance withdrew its specific requirements for the draft regulation on the census.

«So be it»

The harvest crop failure in 1891–1892 brought the issue to a head - the government needed accurate data on the population in various regions in order to organise food supplies.

In 1895 the draft regulation on the general census of the population was approved by the State Council, and Tsar Nicholas II gave it his final approval.