The 1897 census was the first and only general population census of the Russian Empire. It cost the state seven million rubles. The results of the census were published in 1897−1905 in 89 volumes (119 books) under the general title "The First General Population Census of the Russian Empire in 1897".

According to the "Regulations on the First General Population Census of the Russian Empire" dated June 5, 1895, the population census program consisted of 14 questions:

• Name (nickname);
• Marital status;
• Connection to the head of the household (degree of kinship);
• Sex;
• Age;
• Estate or condition;
• Religion;
• Place of birth;
• Place of registration;
• Place of permanent residence;
• Native language;
• Literacy;
• Job;
• Physical disabilities (deafness, blindness, deafness, mental illness).

Then the question of military service was added. The question of literacy was divided into two: "can he read and where did he study", and the question of classes was divided into "main and secondary". The question was also introduced: "About absence and temporary stay here." The questionnaires were translated into more than 20 languages and dialects, but with the obligatory text in Russian.

The census was conducted as of January 28, 1897. The self-counting method was used in cities, and the survey method was used in rural areas. The census forms were filled out in advance. During the census, rural gatherings provided great assistance to the census takers, who made sure that incorrect information did not get into the forms.

After processing the census results, it turned out that the population from 1858 to 1897 almost doubled and amounted to 125 680 682 people. The birth rate has decreased, but the death rate has also decreased. The decrease in mortality was caused by the improvement of the living conditions of peasants, the development of transport, trade, and the success of zemstvo medicine. At the time of the census, only 13% of the population (16 579 694 people) lived in cities of the Russian Empire, but in 1858 only 9.2% of the population lived in cities. There were three largest cities in the country — St. Petersburg, Moscow and Warsaw. In total, cities with a population of more than 50 thousand. There were 56 residents.

The population was unevenly distributed by region. The northern regions remained sparsely populated. However, the resettlement processes that began after the abolition of serfdom began to change this picture.

The majority of the population of the Russian Empire was 77.13% of the population — peasants (84.16% of the population of European Russia). In 1897, 81.4 million people lived in rural areas of Russia, 69.4 million of them were engaged in agriculture, the rest showed during the census that their occupations were crafts and trade.

In the XVIII-XIX centuries in Russia, censuses of the population were conducted, mainly peasant, who were obliged to pay a poll tax and serve conscription. During the audits, the clergy, merchants, coachmen, guild artisans, retired soldiers and others were also taken into account. Nobility and officialdom were not taken into account. Until the beginning of the 19th century, women were not taken into account either.

The first revision was carried out in Russia in 1719 (the population of the country was 15.5 million people), and the last, ninth — in 1857 (59.3 million people). The unit of accounting for the male population of the country from 1718 to 1887 (in Siberia — until 1899) was the "audit soul".

The primary material of the audits were audit fairy tales (from the word "to tell"), which were recorded from the words of the interviewee. Audit tales — included all residents of the settlement in which the audit was conducted, by name.

The audit tales are a rich source for studying the peasantry. They contain information about the geographical location of the settlement, the population, its national and class composition, as well as age and marital status.

The main data of the audit tales were combined by counties and provinces in the form of lists of salary books.

Audits of Russia by year:
1718−1719 — the first revision.
1743−1747 — the second revision.
1762−1767 — the third revision.
1782−1784 — the fourth revision.
1794−1808 — the fifth revision.
1811 — the sixth revision.
1815−1825 — the seventh revision.
1833−1835 — the eighth revision.
1850 — the ninth revision.
1857−1859 — the tenth revision.

Pyotr Arkadyevich Stolypin’s reform plan included a number of points. For example, the transformation of local government on a wordless basis, insurance of factory workers and factories against accidents. But the most important part of the reforms was the change in the agrarian and political course of the government.

According to Stolypin’s plan, designed for 1906−1917, Russian agriculture should have been represented by strong owners, owners of farms and cuts, not members of an archaic peasant community. Another part of the reform was to be the activities of the peasant land bank, in which peasants could receive loans for the improvement of the economy, and the resettlement policy, which proposed the resettlement of peasants from the central regions of the country to Siberia, the Far East and Central Asia.

In March 1906, by the Highest Orders, assistance to resettlement beyond the Urals was provided to all peasants, burghers and "other ordinary people". In 1906−1911, an average of 19.3 thousand peasants moved annually to the Tobolsk province alone. The peak came in 1907−1908. On this occasion, in the "Brief overview of the movement of immigrants and their arrangement in the Tobolsk province" it was noted: "After the Japanese war, a wave of immigrants surged, which reached its peak in 1908…".

In total, more than 3 million people settled in Siberia in 1906−1916, of which 17.8% of the peasants returned to their homeland, often losing the latter.

The reform turned out to be incomplete. By 1916, only 26% of peasant households had been reformed. This was also facilitated by the fact that P.A. Stolypin died on September 5, 1911 after being seriously injured on September 1 at the Kiev Theater.