War and Statistics

Abstract

The article considers the modern statistical system as a historical result of the total mobilization of state and society resources to finance two world wars of the 20th century. It points out that the state income, inventories and help from allied countries are the sources to fund modern (total) wars. The statistics of the national income (goods) and national wealth was developed due to the need to quantify current financial flows and accumulated reserves. The article shows that statistics characterizing the economic, demographic, and resource potential of the state were no longer public during the war years. It became a tool for planning for wartime manufacturing and distributing the most valuable stocks. From a historical perspective, the modern Russian economy combines both the traditional pre-war and war economies. The uncertainty that has persisted over the past decades, including in the public statistics, is one of the reasons for the Russian slow military development and inefficient countermeasures against the Western sanctions. The author proposes a system of measures to improve the complete information secrecy of the Russian state and economy.