ABSTRACT
The population census has come a long way over the last two centuries. Some countries have seen the end of the questionnaire-based census, constructing the cross-sectional aggregates from a computerized combination of population registers. A proper population census should contain information allowing us to enumerate in principle the whole population of an administrative area, usually a nation state. The imperial censuses taken by the British and French colonial authorities sought to monitor the development of the marginal, colonial settlements and for this reason only comprised the European-origin part of the population together with any Indian spouses. The American Revolution resulted in decadal, numeric census taking as sanctioned by the Constitution. From 1834 Denmark compensated for the previous 33 years without censuses by starting to take quinquennial, nominative censuses. In Australia, the census grew out of the muster rolls already kept in the 18th century to keep track of the convicts who had arrived from Britain.
