Statistics, in a sense, is as old as the human society itself. Its origin can be traced to the old days when it was regarded as the 'science of State-craft' and was the by product of the administrative activity of the State. The word 'Statistics' seems to have been derived from the Latin word 'status' or the Italian word 'statista' or the German word 'statistik' each of which means a 'political state'. In ancient times, the government used to collect the information regarding the population and 'property of wealth' of the country- the former enabling the government to have an idea of the manpower of the country and the latter providing it a basis for introducing news taxes and levies.
