Censuses between Population Statistics and Politics. The Romanian Press from Hungary and the Censuses between 1869 and 1910
Censuses between Population Statistics and Politics. The Romanian Press from Hungary and the Censuses between 1869 and 1910

Summary/Abstract: The paper focuses on the censuses conducted within the Kingdom of Hungary (as part of Austria-Hungary) between 1869 and 1910, with the aim of highlighting the reaction of the Romanian population and society at the census procedures and results. Since population statistics represented one of the main gears of shifting the official demographic balance in favour of the Hungarians, each new census and the modifications brought by it, together with the results, opened the path for debates within the Romanian society, reverberating mostly in press articles. The newspapers’ attitude and discourse grew more and more radical by the decade and technical statistical issues and definitions (e.g. the “mother tongue”) were turned into subjects of debate, highlighting how the evolution of the censuses’ categorization and classification system was perceived by a population who was, at the time, in a clear defensive position against the state.

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