Statistics
a collection of facts, arranged and classified, respecting the condition of a people in a state or community, or of a class of people, their health, longevity, domestic economy, their social, moral, intellectual, physical and economical condition, resources, etc., especially those facts which can be stated in numbers or tables of numbers, or in any tabular and classified arrangement. Also, that department of political science which classifies, arranges, and discusses statistical facts. The Italians were the first to recognize the importance of statistics. The earliest English work on the subject was Graunt's "Observations on the Bills of Mortality," published in 1661. The first International Statistical Congress was held at Brussels in 1853. In every civilized country the science of statistics now forms the basis of most inquiries regarding the condition of the people, Cyc-Vol. IX STATISTICS and no important legislation is attempted without reference, direct or indirect, to the facts which it tabulates.