We propose to describe correlations in classical and quantum systems in terms of full counting statistics of a suitably chosen discrete observable. The method is illustrated with two exactly solvable examples: the classical one-dimensional Ising model and the quantum spin-1/2 XY chain. For the one-dimensional Ising model, our method results in a phase diagram with two phases distinguishable by the long-distance behavior of the Jordan-Wigner strings. For the anisotropic spin-1/2 XY chain in a transverse magnetic field, we compute the full counting statistics of the magnetization and use it to classify quantum phases of the chain. The method, in this case, reproduces the previously known phase diagram. We also discuss the relation between our approach and the Lee-Yang theory of zeros of the partition function.