Statistics in the twentieth century became the systematic collection of quantitative information / needed by the state.

This process occurred in all the industrialised countries / as a key part of their becoming modern states.

Desrosieres writes: / "It is difficult to think simultaneously / that the objects being measured really do exist / and that this is only a convention".

Yet this is the case.

Phenomena such as prices being charged and products being sold exist, / but the categories and classification frameworks / supporting the collection, aggregation, and organisation of official statistics / are devised to serve the purposes of the state, / for macroeconomic or for social policies.

Theodore Porter described the use of statistics / to create state authority: / "Quantification is a way of making decisions / without seeming to decide", / characterising it as a "social technology" / intended to build trust in authority.