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By the end of the 19th century, the Prussian censuses registered regularly the nationality of the population according to a standard criterion: the mother tongue. The background to this institutionalization could be mapped out in terms of the early creation of the statistical office, the reform of the bureaucracy, and the political challenge following the annexation of the western part of the former Polish state. However, this paper gives a different account of that goes beyond a state‐level history of a statistical institution. At the beginning of the 19th century, nationality was already registered in some localities. The purpose was to measure the use of German in schools and churches and hence the effectiveness of the Germanization of the Poles. Although the statistical office was in existence, it had little influence on these local practices, and their heterogeneity prevailed for decades. This situation was modified by the centralization of the census in the 1860s in the hands of the statistical office, and the emergence of a demographic approach. This change occurred in the context of discussions with local authorities regarding their use of language statistics. The census has to be seen therefore as an integration on multiple levels of statistical practices.

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Dans la ville industrielle de Łodz, située dans la Pologne rattachée à l'empire russe, un réseau associatif dynamique avait été créé au début du XX e siècle à l'initiative de médecins hygiénistes et réformistes, pour lutter contre la surmortalité des nourrissons. Inspirée par la Goutte de lait fondée en France, l'association Kropla Mleka distribuait lait et soins médicaux aux enfants des familles pauvres, tout en inculquant règles d'hygiène et allaitement maternel. Au cours de la Première Guerre mondiale, face aux besoins croissants des populations, l'association renforça sa professionnalisation dans la protection infantile. Dans le nouvel État polonais, ces expériences associatives seront le creuset de la politique de protection sociale mais elles assureront aussi la persistance d'un secteur associatif et municipal à la fois complémentaire et concurrent de l'État.