Paper short 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.

Paper long 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 (who only reached 50% of the country population in 1910), each new census and the modifications brought by it, together with the results, opened the path for debates within the Romanian society, reverberating in press articles, published books and correspondence. We believe it interesting to see how rather technical statistical issues and definitions (e.g. the `mother tongue` defined as `the language the respondent used most frequently`) were turned into subjects of debate and 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.