Local censuses commenced in Russia from the early 1860s, after the creation of territorial statistics committees. They were carried out on the initiative of local authorities at their own expense. This had some advantages (greater understanding of local specifics and needs) and also disadvantages, since the information could not be easily brought together at the national level. However, the capital (at that time it was Saint Petersburg) did its best to impose order through Central Statistical Committee, making local censuses dependent on its consent.

Researchers still vary in their estimates, but it is believed that between 150 and 200 censuses in cities, districts and governorates over a period of 55 years (1862–1917). However, only Saint Petersburg and Moscow held more or less regular censuses. The main census documents were personal records, as well as apartment and house lists.

«Building decisions were made on the basis of the results of the census.»

The data collected in censuses served as a basis for making decisions on the construction of new roads, development of city tram networks (construction of a metropolitan railway in Moscow was also being discussed in the years before the Revolution), as well as the construction of water supply and sewerage systems, and the building of hospitals and schools. Censuses were also held to address emergency situations, as happened in Irkutsk in 1879. The Irkutsk city authorities needed to quickly count the number of people who had been left homeless after a colossal fire that burnt down half of the city just as winter was about to begin.

Participation in the census was often considered an honorable mission, and many renowned writers and public figures helped statisticians as census takers. In 1882, Leo Tolstoy volunteered as a census taker in a district by the Smolensky market in Moscow where were many poor people and beggars. In 1890, Anton Chekhov was a census taker on the island of Sakhalin in the Far East, which was one of the remotest corners of the Russian empire, where criminals were often sent to serve time in penal colonies.

«Statisticians gained great experience»

Although local censuses were conducted in the interests of local governments, the experience that statisticians gained thanks to the censuses helped them to ensure the successful conduction of General (national) censuses.

However, the census programs of Tsarist times lacked uniformity. Sometimes people were asked the year of their birth, sometimes their age. Peasants often did not know their year of birth, and some people preferred to round their age up or down, for various reasons. This can be seen in the fact that censuses showed the share of people aged 20, 30, and 40 to be many times greater than the shares of people of other ages.