We live in an age of statistics - our world reveals itself in numbers. Since when has this been the case? In the last third of the 18th century, governments, particularly in the German territories and France, began to quantify and calculate all possible areas of public life in order to intervene more sustainably in the development of states and to bring about earthly "happiness" for their subjects. At the same time, statistics began to change general perception by increasingly focusing on functional relationships and material efficiency. Therefore, exploring the roots of statistical world knowledge also helps to better understand and question the perception logics of our modern world.