One of the first tasks for any centralized state is to figure out how many people live on its territory. Nowadays population census is conducted in order to plan where to build roads, how many hospitals and kindergartens are needed, but in the ancient world a population census usually had two goals: fiscal (to structure tax policy) and military (to work out how many people could be mustered into the militia).

«Evidence of the originating of the tax system is found in the records of the ninth century»

Medieval Russia (co-called “Rus”) was no exception. The oldest information on civil registration in Russia is available in ancient chronicles. It is too early to speak about the census in the modern sense of the word. However, in records from the second half of the 9th century scholars find evidence of the tax system foundation, which required accounting units of taxation by taxes and feudal homage.

«Do not give it to the Khazars, give it to me»

Chronicler of the Hypatian Chronicle in 859 wrote that the Khazars collected the tribute from the Polans, Severiane and Viatichi “squirrels and martens from all “smoke””. “Smoke” is a stove, i.e. a habitation or what we nowadays would call a “household”. In the Primary Chronicle we could read: "In the year 6393 (885) Prince Oleg asked Radimichs: "To whom do you pay tribute?" They answered: "To the Khazars”. And Oleg told them, "Do not give it to the Khazars, give it to me”. And they gave tribute to Oleg. Similar indications of the chronicles are found in subsequent centuries.

People in Medieval Russia were not counted – it was enough to count habitations.