摘要：The study of childhood is currently a relatively new area of scientific research. It is carried out within the framework of various approaches (legal, pedagogical, demographic, sociocultural, historical and sociological, etc.), and their main goal is to identify the legal status of the child, the “boundaries” of childhood, educational practices in relation to children, children's subculture, etc. In many modern studies, the child is viewed as an independent social subject who, like adults, is affected by various social events. These events determine the dynamics of the evolution of childhood, predetermine trends in the development of children in various spheres of their life.For a comprehensive study of the position of the children in the general composition of society in relatively remote time periods it is necessary to use various types of sources. Statistical materials can be used as one of those types of sources, allowing, through sociographic analysis, to determine the main indicators of the social state of childhood. The materials of the First Russian Imperial Census of 1897 in this context make it possible not only to obtain basic demographic data regarding children as a special social group (its total size, percentage in the total population, etc.), but also to determine the level of children's literacy, to find out ethnic and confessional composition of children as a group. Comparison of similar indicators for different Russian regions leads the researcher to identification of the regional specifics of childhood.The identified features of local children's worlds prove the thesis about the plurality of “childhoods” even in the conditions of one chronological stage and one region. Children from different class, ethnic and confessional groups lived in different conditions, led different lifestyles, had different quality of life.
