On September 23rd 1910 the Norwegian government decided that it was to be held a public census by December 1st the same year. The census should cover the whole country, i.e. all the residences and the individuals both in the rural districts and in the towns and cities should be listed. In addition, seamen on board Norwegian and foreign ships in Norwegian harbours and waters should be listed in separate “ship lists”. The census was nominative, i.e. all individuals should be listed by name. This was the sixth nominative census to be held in Norway (former in 1801, 1865, 1875, 1891 and 1900). The implementation of the census started on Thursday December 1st and was completed a couple of weeks later.