How Smooth is the Universe on Large Scales ?

We review cosmological inference from optical and radio galaxy surveys, the X-Ray Background and the Cosmic Microwave Background. We focus on three topics: (i) First results from the 2dF galaxy redshift survey; (ii) Estimation of cosmological parameters by joint analysis of redshift surveys and CMB data; and (iii) The validity of the Cosmological Principle, and constraints on the fractal dimension on large scales