At the end of each round, the FAO Statistics Division reviews and assesses national census practices, methodologies and results, and summarizes the findings in methodological publications, under the Statistical Development Series (SDS). The SDS 17, i.e. this first publication, is a compendium of reviews of country agricultural censuses conducted during the WCA 2010 round (which covers the period 2006–2015) and their main results. This publication includes detailed metadata on agricultural censuses conducted by different countries. Apart from providing information on historical background, legal, institutional frameworks and international collaboration, the publication also provides an overview of the census staff, reference and enumeration periods, scope and coverage, methodological modalities, frame, data collection methods, questionnaires used, new technology used, data processing and archiving, and census data quality and dissemination. The metadata reviews are complemented by tables with main results on key structural characteristics, such as number of holdings, total area of holdings, area irrigated, machinery, gender, and sex of holders, number of household members, farm labor, livestock, and crop areas. This review of the WCA 2010 round is intended to serve as useful reference material for census planners and data users, providing valuable lessons for future censuses, which will ultimately lead to improved assessments of countries’ agricultural sectors.

This publication reports the main characteristics of the structure of agriculture in countries as defined by the characteristics of agricultural holdings, gender of holder, land tenure and land use, crops, livestock, etc., and the metadata on each agricultural census covered in the publication. The 2000 programme covered the censuses carried out during the decade (1996 - 2005). Some 122 countries are reported to have carried out an agriculture census during the decade, and 114 countries made available their census reports to FAO.

This book examines the relationship between indicators of resource distribution and democratization in the group of 170 countries with data ranging from the 1850s to the present day. Vanhanen constructs a compelling argument, concluding that the emergence of democracy is closely linked to resource distribution.