The Census through History

3800 BC: Babylon counts donkeys, oxen, butter, milk, honey & wool every 6 or 7 years.

2500 BC: Egypt uses census to assess the number of people available for building pyramids.

1491 BC: Israel counts people eligible for military service and for helping the government collect taxes.

550 BC: Confucius collects info on China’s industries.

1666 AD: Canada’s first census counts 3,215 people, excluding First Nations & royal troops, in New France.

1719: Europe’s first systematic census conducted in Prussia.

1767: Census in Nova Scotia starts tracking people’s religion and origin.

1790: The first American census is held.

1831: Census of Assiniboia (Western Canada) is conducted.

1851: Canadian law passed requiring a census to be taken in 1851 & every 10^th year after.

1871: The Dominion of Canada holds its first census.

1971: Statistics Canada is created; a regulation requires censuses of population & agriculture every five years.