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General
The term "statistics" covers all types of numerical descriptions
of social, economic and biological phenomena and, as a method of
comparing, differentiating and classifying material and data, brings
intelligent coherence to an otherwise incomprehensible mass of
minutiae.
It is conventional to consider vital statistics as the continuous
numerical recording, in a large number of lives, of marriages,
births, sickness and deaths as a means whereby the health and
growth of a community may be measured. Inevitably, of course,
this leads to the observation of other aspects of society which
influence life, its reproductivity and its vitality. This whole field is,
nowadays, referred to as the science of demography.
An essential preliminary to any statistical appraisal is the
"counting of heads" and this is achieved by the decennial Census.
However, it was not until 1801 that a national Census was initiated
and, with the exception of 1941, has been repeated every 10 years
since. At first, the Census merely covered the recording of sexes
with a rough classification of occupation. Not until the Census of
1851, after the establishment of the General Register Office in
1839, was appropriate detailed data sought and correct analyses