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This article discusses the rise of modern statistics in East-Central Europe based on the case study of József Kőrösy’s career. As the long-time director of the municipal statistical office in Budapest, József Kőrösy (1844-1906) produced an astonishing variety and quantity of statistics, often challenged by other statisticians, lawyers, and physicians. The paper is structured into three distinct parts. The first recounts the epistemic confrontations between Kőrösy and his Hungarian peers about the value and use of statistical data; the second details the interdisciplinary debate between Kőrösy and Viennese physicians on the protective power of vaccination against smallpox; and the third analyses mathematical discussions between Ladislaus Bortkiewicz and Kőrösy on the concept of standard age groups.