Orlov, Vasilii Ivanovich

Born Mar. 27, 1848, in the village of Egor’evskoe, Likhvin District, Kaluga Province; died Sept. 22, 1885, in Moscow. Russian statistician and economist.

Orlov, the son of a village priest, graduated from the law faculty of Moscow University in 1872. He taught statistics at the Alexander Military School in Moscow until 1875, when he became head of the statistical department of the Moscow zemstvo (provincial self-government). Orlov completed several important statistical studies, the results of which were compiled in the Collection of Statistical Data on Moscow Province.

Published in 1877, the first volume of the Collection contained data on the peasant economy based on a full-scope survey of the villages. Orlov’s survey method brought something fundamentally new to the science of statistical observation. His conclusions concerning the structure of the peasant economy were widely used by Narodniks (Populists) and by such prominent Russian Marxists as G. V. Plekhanov and V. I. Lenin. In 1879, Orlov published Forms of Peasant Land Tenure in Moscow Province, a compendium of statistical data on 5,500 villages and settlements. Orlov also analyzed data on the development and distribution of peasant handicraft and cottage industries and sources of incidental peasant income; in addition, he analyzed the zemstvo insurance system and educational conditions in zemstvo schools. In the years 1881–84, Orlov worked on the appraisal of real property in the cities and posady (suburbs) of Moscow Province. He is also known for his textbooks on statistical methods.