@pms @futurebird the romans had a general census in the entire realm every five years, though sometimes it was delayed for a year due to e.g. revolts or other events. These were tax censuses, and in some regions they counted members of tribes like in Judea, which meant that members of a tribe had to go to where the tribal center was to be counted.
There were other more local censuses as well, but it's like there was a census around 2 or 1 BC.