Population of the USSR by years: population censuses and demographic processes. Population of the USSR by years: population censuses and demographic processes Data from the 1939 population census

The results of which were recognized as "defective" (Resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR of 25/IX 1937).

Unlike the 1937 census, which took into account only the present population, the 1939 census took into account the permanent and present population. From January 12 to 16, for the first time, counters conducted a preliminary round of their sites. Filling in the census forms by the survey method began on January 17 and lasted 7 days (from January 17 to January 23) in urban settlements and 10 days (from January 17 to January 26) in rural areas.

The census program included 16 items: relation to the head of the family, temporary or permanent nature of residence, place of permanent residence and time of absence from it (only for those who temporarily lived), time of absence from the place of the census (only for those who were temporarily absent), sex, age, marital status, nationality, mother tongue, citizenship, literacy, school name and degree of education (only for those who study), graduation from higher or secondary school, occupation or other source of livelihood, place of work, social group .

Within 10 days after the completion of the census, a continuous control tour was carried out. For the first time in the history of Russian and Soviet censuses, a control form was introduced, which was filled in for those who lived in a given building, but was not available at the time of the census. The form contained the questions of the census form. All those enumerated who temporarily lived or were about to leave were given a certificate that they had passed the census.

Census results

The census data on the total population of the country was artificially increased by 3 million people. According to the census, the population of the country amounted to 170.6 million people, including urban - 56.1 million people (33%). The development of census materials was mechanized and carried out over a period of 15 months at three special machine counting stations. Brief summaries were published in -1940. The final results were published for selected indicators in 1947-1949. The full census results were published in the early 1990s.

When summarizing the results of the census, an amendment was introduced for the probable underestimation of the population: thus, another 3 million people were added to the number of actually enumerated citizens. Most experts consider this value of the correction for underestimation to be too high. Actually, I.V. Stalin adhered to the same opinion, who confidentially notified the members of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks that the actual population within the original borders of the USSR (i.e., excluding the former Polish territories) at the end of 1939 should be count in 169.5 million people.

National composition

The national composition of the population of the USSR(according to censuses - preliminary data, , , , years)

nationality	1939	1959	1970	1979	1989
Russians	99591520	114113579	129015140	137397089	145155489
Ukrainians	28111007	37252930	40753246	42347387	44186006
Uzbeks	4845140	6015416	9195093	12455978	16697825
Belarusians	5275393	7913488	9051755	9462715	10036251
Kazakhs	3100949	3621610	5298818	6556442	8135818
Azerbaijanis	2275678	2939728	4379937	5477330	6770403
Tatars	4313488	4917991	5783111	6185196	6648760
Armenians	2152860	2786912	3559151	4151241	4623232
Tajiks	1229170	1396939	2135883	2897697	4215372
Georgians	2249636	2691950	3245300	3570504	3981045
Moldovans	260418	2214139	2697994	2968224	3352352
Lithuanians	32624	2326094	2664944	2850905	3067390
Turkmens	812404	1001585	1525284	2027913	2728965
Kyrgyz	884615	968659	1452222	1906271	2528946
Germans	1427232	1619655	1846317	1936214	2038603
Chuvash	1369574	1469766	1694351	1751366	1842346
Latvians	114476	1399539	1429844	1439037	1458986
Bashkirs	843648	989040	1239681	1371452	1449157
Jews	3028538	2266334	2148917	1807876	1449063
Mordovians	1456330	1285116	1262670	1191765	1153987
Poles	630097	1380282	1167523	1150991	1126334
Estonians	143589	988616	1007356	1019851	1026649
Chechens	407968	418756	612674	755782	956879
Udmurts	606326	624794	704328	713696	746793
Mari	481587	504205	598628	621961	670868
Avars	252818	270394	396297	482844	600989
Ossetians	354818	412592	488039	541893	597998
Lezgins	220969	223129	323829	382611	466006
Koreans	182339	313735	357507	388926	438650
Karakalpaks	185766	172556	236009	303324	423520
Buryats	224719	252959	314671	352646	421380
Kabardians	164185	203620	279928	321719	390814
Yakuts	242080	233344	296244	328018	381922
Bulgarians	113494	324251	351168	361082	372941
Dargins	153837	158149	230932	287282	365038
Greeks	286444	309308	336869	343809	358068
Komi	422317	287027	321894	326700	344519
Kumyks	112604	134967	188792	228418	281933
Crimean Tatars		49710	147559	132272	271715
Uighurs	97448	95208	173276	210612	262643
gypsies	88242	132014	175335	209159	262015
Ingush	92120	105980	157605	186198	237438
Turks	10592	35306	79489	92689	207512
Tuvans	817	100145	139388	166082	206629
Gagauz		123821	156606	173179	197768
Kalmyks	134402	106066	137194	146631	173821
Hungarians		154738	166451	170553	171420
Karachays	75763	81403	112741	131074	155936
Kurds	45877	58799	88930	115858	152717
Komi-Permyaks		143901	153451	150768	152060
Romanians	4030	106366	119292	128792	146071
Karelians	252716	167278	146081	138429	130929
Adyghe	55048	65908	81478	86388	124826
laks	53151	63529	85822	100148	118074
Abkhazians	59003	65430	83240	90915	105308
tabasarans	33607	34700	55188	75239	97531
Balkars	42685	42408	59501	66334	85126
Khakass	52771	56584	66725	70776	80328
Nogais	36615	38583	51784	59546	75181
Altaians	47867	45270	55812	60015	70777
Dungan	13930	21928	38644	51694	69323
Finns	143437	92717	84750	77079	67359
Circassians		30453	39785	46470	52363
Persians	39370	20766	27501	31313	40176
Nenets	24791	23007	28705	29894	34665
Abaza	15294	19591	25448	29497	33613
tats		11463	17109	22441	30669
Evenki	29666	24151	25149	27294	30163
Balochi	5496	7842	12582	18997	28796
Assyrians	20256	21803	24294	25170	26160
Khanty	18468	19410	21138	20934	22521
Talysh	88026	162			21602
rutulians		6732	12071	15032	20388
tsakhurs		7321	11103	13478	19972
Aguls		6709	8831	12078	18740
Evens	9698	9121	12029	12523	17199
Shors	16265	15274	16494	16033	16652
Czechs	26194	24557	20981	17182	16102
Chukchi	13835	11727	13597	14000	15184
Vepsians	31679	16374	8281	8094	12501
Nanais	8526	8026	10005	10516	12023
Chinese	32023	25781	14681	12021	11355
Koryaks	7354	6287	7487	7879	9242
Slovaks	887	14674	11658	9409	9060
Mansi	6315	6449	7710	7563	8474
udins		3678	5919	6863	7971
Arabs	21786	7987	8024	6813	7747
Dolgans		3932	4877	5053	6945
Afghans	2166	1855	4184	3983	6695
Nivkhs	3902	3717	4420	4397	4673
Albanians	1770	5258	4402	4336	3988
Selkups	2612	3768	4282	3565	3612
Vietnamese		838	12100	2785	3396
ulchi		2055	2448	2552	3233
Spaniards	3187	2446	4107	3039	3172
Mongols		1774	5170	3228
Cubans				2593	2811
Serbs	3674	4998	3285	1737	2685
Karaites		5727	4571	3341	2602
Itelmens		1109	1301	1370	2481
Udege	1743	1444	1469	1551	2011
Saami	1836	1792	1884	1888	1890
peoples of India and Pakistan		371	1945	537	1728
eskimos		1118	1308	1510	1719
Chuvans					1511
Krymchaks		1480	1790	3000	1448
Italians	1891	1158	2040	963	1337
Nganasans		748	953	867	1278
Yukagirs		442	615	835	1142
chum salmon		1019	1182	1122	1113
orochi		782	1089	1198	915
Izhorians	7847	1062	781	748	820
Dutch	742		1298	712	794
Croats			384	249	780
tofalars		586	620	763	731
Aleuts		421	441	546	702
French people	1637	1013	2470	796	701
Japanese	1027	961	1288	752	683
negidals			537	504	622
Austrians			1054	554	504
English	546	399	903	239	348
Americans	515	327	1039	120	277
Do you		197			226
Enets					209
Oroks					190
Swedes	1519
Norse	272
Belgians	164
Basques	85
kryzy		273
other	167281	19839	22250	27534	32447
Total	170 557 093	208 826 923	241 720 134	262 087 369	285 739 561

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- Institute of Demography, National Research University Higher School of Economics



Russian empire



1 Officially recognized as "defective"

An excerpt characterizing the Census of the USSR (1939)

“I commanded a squadron,” answered Repnin.
“Your regiment honestly fulfilled its duty,” said Napoleon.
“The praise of a great commander is the best reward for a soldier,” said Repnin.
“I give it to you with pleasure,” said Napoleon. Who is this young man next to you?
Prince Repnin named Lieutenant Sukhtelen.
Looking at him, Napoleon said, smiling:
- II est venu bien jeune se frotter a nous. [He came young to compete with us.]
“Youth does not interfere with being brave,” Sukhtelen said in a broken voice.
“A fine answer,” said Napoleon. “Young man, you will go far!”
Prince Andrei, for the sake of completeness of the trophy of the captives, was also put forward, in front of the emperor, could not help but attract his attention. Napoleon, apparently, remembered that he had seen him on the field and, addressing him, used the very name of the young man - jeune homme, under which Bolkonsky was first reflected in his memory.
– Et vous, jeune homme? Well, what about you, young man? - he turned to him, - how do you feel, mon brave?
Despite the fact that five minutes before this, Prince Andrei could say a few words to the soldiers who carried him, he now, directly fixing his eyes on Napoleon, was silent ... All the interests that occupied Napoleon seemed so insignificant to him at that moment, seemed to him so petty his hero himself, with this petty vanity and joy of victory, in comparison with that high, just and kind sky that he saw and understood - that he could not answer him.
Yes, and everything seemed so useless and insignificant in comparison with that strict and majestic structure of thought, which caused in him a weakening of forces from the flow of blood, suffering and the imminent expectation of death. Looking into Napoleon's eyes, Prince Andrei thought about the insignificance of greatness, the insignificance of life, which no one could understand the meaning of, and the even greater insignificance of death, the meaning of which no one could understand and explain from the living.
The emperor, without waiting for an answer, turned away and, driving off, turned to one of the chiefs:
“Let them take care of these gentlemen and take them to my bivouac; have my doctor Larrey examine their wounds. Goodbye, Prince Repnin, - and he, having touched the horse, galloped on.
There was a radiance of self-satisfaction and happiness on his face.
The soldiers who brought Prince Andrei and removed from him the golden icon that they came across, hung on his brother by Princess Marya, seeing the kindness with which the emperor treated the prisoners, hastened to return the icon.
Prince Andrei did not see who and how put it on again, but on his chest, over and above his uniform, suddenly appeared a small icon on a small gold chain.
“It would be nice,” thought Prince Andrei, looking at this icon, which his sister hung on him with such feeling and reverence, “it would be nice if everything was as clear and simple as it seems to Princess Marya. How good it would be to know where to look for help in this life and what to expect after it, there, beyond the grave! How happy and calm I would be if I could say now: Lord, have mercy on me!... But to whom shall I say this! Either the power - indefinite, incomprehensible, which I not only cannot address, but which I cannot express in words - great everything or nothing, - he said to himself, - or this is the God who is sewn up here, in this palm, Princess Mary? Nothing, nothing is true, except for the insignificance of everything that is clear to me, and the greatness of something incomprehensible, but the most important!
The stretcher moved. At every push he again felt unbearable pain; the feverish state intensified, and he began to become delirious. Those dreams of a father, wife, sister and future son and the tenderness that he experienced on the night before the battle, the figure of a small, insignificant Napoleon and above all the high sky, constituted the main basis of his feverish ideas.
A quiet life and calm family happiness in the Bald Mountains seemed to him. He was already enjoying this happiness when suddenly little Napoleon appeared with his indifferent, limited and happy look from the misfortune of others, and doubts, torments began, and only heaven promised peace. By morning all the dreams were mixed up and merged into chaos and darkness of unconsciousness and oblivion, which, in the opinion of Larrey himself, Dr. Napoleon, were much more likely to be resolved by death than by recovery.
- C "est un sujet nerveux et bilieux," said Larrey, "il n" en rechappera pas. [This man is nervous and bilious, he will not recover.]
Prince Andrei, among other hopelessly wounded, was handed over to the care of the inhabitants.

In early 1806, Nikolai Rostov returned to his vacation. Denisov was also going home to Voronezh, and Rostov persuaded him to go with him to Moscow and stay at their house. At the penultimate station, having met a comrade, Denisov drank three bottles of wine with him and, approaching Moscow, despite the bumps in the road, did not wake up, lying at the bottom of the sledge, near Rostov, which, as it approached Moscow, came more and more into impatience.
“Soon? Is it soon? Oh, these unbearable streets, shops, rolls, lanterns, cabbies! thought Rostov, when they had already written down their holidays at the outpost and drove into Moscow.
- Denisov, come! Asleep! he said, leaning forward with his whole body, as if by this position he hoped to speed up the movement of the sleigh. Denisov did not respond.
- Here is the corner of the crossroads where Zakhar the cab driver is standing; here he is and Zakhar, and still the same horse. Here is the shop where the gingerbread was bought. Is it soon? Well!
- Which house is that? asked the coachman.
- Yes, at the end, to the big one, how can you not see! This is our house, - said Rostov, - after all, this is our house! Denisov! Denisov! We'll come now.
Denisov raised his head, cleared his throat, and said nothing.
“Dmitry,” Rostov turned to the lackey in the box. “Is this our fire?”
- So exactly with and with daddy in the office glows.
- Haven't gone to bed yet? A? How do you think? Look, don’t forget, get me a new Hungarian at once, ”added Rostov, feeling his new mustache. “Come on, let’s go,” he shouted to the driver. “Wake up, Vasya,” he turned to Denisov, who lowered his head again. - Come on, let's go, three rubles for vodka, let's go! Rostov shouted when the sleigh was already three houses from the entrance. It seemed to him that the horses were not moving. Finally the sleigh was taken to the right to the entrance; above his head, Rostov saw a familiar cornice with broken plaster, a porch, a sidewalk pillar. He jumped out of the sleigh on the move and ran into the passage. The house also stood motionless, unfriendly, as if it didn't care who came to it. There was no one in the vestibule. "My God! is everything all right?" thought Rostov, stopping for a minute with a sinking heart, and at once starting to run further along the passage and the familiar, crooked steps. The same doorknob of the castle, for the uncleanliness of which the countess was angry, also weakly opened. A single tallow candle burned in the hallway.
Old man Mikhail was sleeping on the chest. Prokofy, the visiting lackey, the one who was so strong that he lifted the carriage by the back, sat and knitted bast shoes from the hems. He glanced at the open door, and his indifferent, sleepy expression suddenly changed into ecstatic fright.
- Fathers, lights! Count young! he exclaimed, recognizing the young master. – What is it? My dove! - And Prokofy, shaking with excitement, rushed to the door to the living room, probably in order to announce, but apparently again changed his mind, returned back and leaned on the shoulder of the young master.
– Healthy? Rostov asked, pulling his hand away from him.
- God bless! All thanks to God! just ate now! Let me see you, Your Excellency!
- Is everything all right?

According to official sources of information, the population of the USSR was constantly increasing, the birth rate was growing, and the death rate was falling. Such a demographic paradise in a single country. But, in fact, everything was not so simple.

Population censuses in the USSR and initial demographic data

In Soviet times, seven all-Union censuses were conducted, covering the entire population of the state. The 1939 census is “superfluous”, it was carried out instead of the 1937 census, the results of which were found to be incorrect, since only the actual population was taken into account (the number of people who are in a particular settlement on the day of registration). On average, a census of the population of the republics of the Soviet Union was carried out every ten years.

According to the general census conducted back in 1897 in the then Russian Empire, the population was 129.2 million people. Only men, representatives of taxable estates were taken into account, so the number of persons of non-taxable classes and females is unknown. Moreover, a certain number of people of the taxable estates took refuge in order to avoid the census, so the data are underestimated.

Population census of the Soviet Union in 1926

In the USSR, the population was first determined in 1926. Prior to this, there was no well-established system of state demographic statistics in Russia at all. Some information, of course, was collected and processed, but not everywhere, and bit by bit. The 1926 census was one of the best in the USSR. All data was openly published, analyzed, forecasts were developed, and research was carried out.

The reported population of the USSR for 1926 was 147 million. The majority were rural residents (120.7 million). About 18% of citizens, or 26.3 million people, lived in cities. Illiteracy was over 56% among people aged 9-49. There were less than one million unemployed people. For comparison: in modern Russia with a population of 144 million people (of which 77 million are economically active), 4 million are officially unemployed, and almost 19.5 million have no official employment.

The majority of the population of the USSR (by years and statistics, demographic processes can be observed, some of which will be described in detail later) were Russians - almost 77.8 million people. Further: Ukrainians - 29.2 million, Belarusians - 47.4 million, Georgians - 18.2 million, Armenians - 15.7 million. There were also Turks, Uzbeks, Turkmens, Kazakhs, Kirghiz, Tatars, Chuvashs, Bashkirs in the USSR, Yakuts, Tajiks, Ossetians and representatives of many other nationalities. In a word, a truly multinational state.

Dynamics of the population of the USSR by years

We can say that the total population of the Union grew from year to year. There was a positive trend, which, according to statistics, was overshadowed only by the Second World War. So, the population of the USSR in 1941 was 194 million people, and in 1950 - 179 million. But is everything really so rosy? In fact, demographic information (including the population of the USSR in 1941 and previous years) was classified, it even came to falsification. As a result, in 1952, after the death of the leader, demographic statistics and demographics were literally a scorched desert.

But more on that later. For now, let's observe general demographic trends in the Land of the Soviets. Here is how the population of the USSR changed over the years:

1926 - 147 million people.
1937 - the census was declared "wrecking", the results were confiscated and classified, and the workers who carried out the registration were arrested.
1939 - 170.6 million
1959 - 208.8 million
1970 - 241.7 million
1979 - 262.4 million
1989 - 286.7 million

This information is unlikely to make it possible to determine demographic processes, but there are intermediate results, studies, and accounting data. In any case, the population of the USSR by years is an interesting field for research.

Classification of demographic data since the early 30s

Classification of demographic information has been going on since the early thirties. Demographic institutions were liquidated, publications disappeared, and demographers themselves were repressed. In those years, even the total population of the USSR was not known. 1926 was the last year in which statistics were collected more or less clearly. The results of 1937 did not suit the leadership of the country, but the results of 1939, apparently, turned out to be more favorable. Only six years after Stalin's death and 20 years after the 1926 census, a new count was carried out, according to these data, one can judge the results of Stalin's rule.

The decline in the birth rate in the USSR under Stalin and the ban on abortion

At the beginning of the 20th century, Russia had a really high birth rate, but by the mid-1920s it had declined very significantly. The rate of decline in the birth rate accelerated even more after 1929. The maximum depth of the fall was reached in 1934. To normalize the figures, Stalin banned abortion. The years following this were marked by some rise in the birth rate, but insignificant and short-lived. Then - war and a new fall.

According to official estimates, the population of the USSR grew over the years due to a drop in mortality and an increase in the birth rate. With the birth rate, it is already clear that everything was completely different. But as for mortality, by 1935 it had decreased by 44% compared with 1913. But many years had to pass for the researchers to get to the real data. In fact, the death rate in 1930 was not declared 16 ppm, but about 21.

The main causes of demographic disasters

Modern researchers identify several demographic disasters that overtook the USSR. Of course, one of them was the Second World War, in which the losses, according to Stalin, amounted to "about seven million." Now it is believed that about 27 million died in battles and battles, and this amounted to about 14% of the population. Other demographic catastrophes were political repression and famine.

Some events of demographic policy in the USSR

In 1956, abortion was again allowed, in 1969 a new family code was adopted, and in 1981 new child care benefits were established. in the country from 1985 to 1987. an anti-alcohol campaign was carried out, which somewhat contributed to the improvement of the situation with the population. But in the nineties, due to the deepest economic crisis, any actions in the field of demography were practically not taken at all. The population of the USSR in 1991 was 290 million people.

All-Union census of the population of 1939.

1 Carrying out
2 Census results
3 National composition
4 Links

Holding

Carried out as of January 17, 1939 instead of the 1937 census, the results of which were recognized as "defective" (Resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR of 25/IX 1937).

Census results

The census data on the total population of the country was artificially increased by 3 million people. According to the census, the population of the country amounted to 170.6 million people, including urban - 56.1 million people (33%). The development of census materials was mechanized and carried out over a period of 15 months at three special machine counting stations. Brief summaries were published in 1939-1940. The final results were published for selected indicators in 1947-1949. The full census results were published in the early 1990s.

National composition

The national composition of the population of the USSR(according to 1939 censuses - preliminary data, 1959, 1970, 1979, 1989)

nationality	1939	1959	1970	1979	1989
Russians	99591520	114113579	129015140	137397089	145155489
Ukrainians	28111007	37252930	40753246	42347387	44186006
Uzbeks	4845140	6015416	9195093	12455978	16697825
Belarusians	5275393	7913488	9051755	9462715	10036251
Kazakhs	3100949	3621610	5298818	6556442	8135818
Azerbaijanis	2275678	2939728	4379937	5477330	6770403
Tatars	4313488	4917991	5783111	6185196	6648760
Armenians	2152860	2786912	3559151	4151241	4623232
Tajiks	1229170	1396939	2135883	2897697	4215372
Georgians	2249636	2691950	3245300	3570504	3981045
Moldovans	260418	2214139	2697994	2968224	3352352
Lithuanians	32624	2326094	2664944	2850905	3067390
Turkmens	812404	1001585	1525284	2027913	2728965
Kyrgyz	884615	968659	1452222	1906271	2528946
Germans	1427232	1619655	1846317	1936214	2038603
Chuvash	1369574	1469766	1694351	1751366	1842346
Latvians	114476	1399539	1429844	1439037	1458986
Bashkirs	843648	989040	1239681	1371452	1449157
Jews	3028538	2266334	2148917	1807876	1449063
Mordovians	1456330	1285116	1262670	1191765	1153987
Poles	630097	1380282	1167523	1150991	1126334
Estonians	143589	988616	1007356	1019851	1026649
Chechens	407968	418756	612674	755782	956879
Udmurts	606326	624794	704328	713696	746793
Mari	481587	504205	598628	621961	670868
Avars	252818	270394	396297	482844	600989
Ossetians	354818	412592	488039	541893	597998
Lezgins	220969	223129	323829	382611	466006
Koreans	182339	313735	357507	388926	438650
Karakalpaks	185766	172556	236009	303324	423520
Buryats	224719	252959	314671	352646	421380
Kabardians	164185	203620	279928	321719	390814
Yakuts	242080	233344	296244	328018	381922
Bulgarians	113494	324251	351168	361082	372941
Dargins	153837	158149	230932	287282	365038
Greeks	286444	309308	336869	343809	358068
Komi	422317	287027	321894	326700	344519
Kumyks	112604	134967	188792	228418	281933
Crimean Tatars		49710	147559	132272	271715
Uighurs	97448	95208	173276	210612	262643
gypsies	88242	132014	175335	209159	262015
Ingush	92120	105980	157605	186198	237438
Turks	10592	35306	79489	92689	207512
Tuvans	817	100145	139388	166082	206629
Gagauz		123821	156606	173179	197768
Kalmyks	134402	106066	137194	146631	173821
Hungarians		154738	166451	170553	171420
Karachays	75763	81403	112741	131074	155936
Kurds	45877	58799	88930	115858	152717
Komi-Permyaks		143901	153451	150768	152060
Romanians	4030	106366	119292	128792	146071
Karelians	252716	167278	146081	138429	130929
Adyghe	55048	65908	81478	86388	124826
laks	56054	63529	85822	100148	118074
Abkhazians	59003	65430	83240	90915	105308
tabasarans	33607	34700	55188	75239	97531
Balkars	42685	42408	59501	66334	85126
Khakass	52771	56584	66725	70776	80328
Nogais	36615	38583	51784	59546	75181
Altaians	47867	45270	55812	60015	70777
Dungan	13930	21928	38644	51694	69323
Finns	143437	92717	84750	77079	67359
Circassians		30453	39785	46470	52363
Persians	39370	20766	27501	31313	40176
Nenets	24791	23007	28705	29894	34665
Abaza	15294	19591	25448	29497	33613
tats		11463	17109	22441	30669
Evenki	29666	24151	25149	27294	30163
Balochi	5496	7842	12582	18997	28796
Assyrians	20256	21803	24294	25170	26160
Khanty	18468	19410	21138	20934	22521
Talysh	88026	162			21602
rutulians		6732	12071	15032	20388
tsakhurs		7321	11103	13478	19972
Aguls		6709	8831	12078	18740
Evens	9698	9121	12029	12523	17199
Shors	16265	15274	16494	16033	16652
Czechs	26194	24557	20981	17182	16102
Chukchi	13835	11727	13597	14000	15184
Vepsians	31679	16374	8281	8094	12501
Nanais	8526	8026	10005	10516	12023
Chinese	32023	25781	14681	12021	11355
Koryaks	7354	6287	7487	7879	9242
Slovaks	887	14674	11658	9409	9060
Mansi	6315	6449	7710	7563	8474
udins		3678	5919	6863	7971
Arabs	21786	7987	8024	6813	7747
Dolgans		3932	4877	5053	6945
Afghans	2166	1855	4184	3983	6695
Nivkhs	3902	3717	4420	4397	4673
Albanians	1770	5258	4402	4336	3988
Selkups	2612	3768	4282	3565	3612
Vietnamese		838	12100	2785	3396
ulchi		2055	2448	2552	3233
Spaniards	3187	2446	4107	3039	3172
Mongols		1774	5170	3228
Cubans				2593	2811
Serbs	3674	4998	3285	1737	2685
Karaites		5727	4571	3341	2602
Itelmens		1109	1301	1370	2481
Udege	1743	1444	1469	1551	2011
Saami	1836	1792	1884	1888	1890
peoples of India and Pakistan		371	1945	537	1728
eskimos		1118	1308	1510	1719
Chuvans					1511
Krymchaks		1480	1790	3000	1448
Italians	1891	1158	2040	963	1337
Nganasans		748	953	867	1278
Yukagirs		442	615	835	1142
chum salmon		1019	1182	1122	1113
orochi		782	1089	1198	915
Izhorians	7847	1062	781	748	820
Dutch	742		1298	712	794
Croats			384	249	780
tofalars		586	620	763	731
Aleuts		421	441	546	702
French people	1637	1013	2470	796	701
Japanese	1027	961	1288	752	683
negidals			537	504	622
Austrians			1054	554	504
English	546	399	903	239	348
Americans	515	327	1039	120	277
Do you		197			226
Enets					209
Oroks					190
Swedes	1519
Norse	272
Belgians	164
Basques	85
kryzy		273
other	167281	19839	22250	27534	32447
Total	170 557 093	208 826 923	241 720 134	262 087 369	285 739 561

Links

About the 1939 census on the website of Altaikraistat
All-Union census of the population of 1939. Ethnic Composition of the Population by Republics of the USSR - Institute of Demography, National Research University Higher School of Economics
All-Union population census of 1939 - posters

General censuses of the population of Russia
Russian empire	1897
RSFSR	1920
USSR	1926 19371 1939 1959 1970 1979 1989
Russian Federation	2002 2010 2014 (Crimea) 2020
1 Officially recognized as "defective"

Now the generally accepted opinion is that the results of the 1939 census were artificially increased, because. the results of the 1937 census, the organizers of which were repressed, turned out to be lower than the data that had previously been made public in Soviet statistical publications. However, was the 1939 census really falsified?

1937 census

The picture in the publications of recent decades (Volkov, Zhyromskaya and Andreev, Darsky, Kharkov) is drawn approximately in this way. They say the 1937 census revealed the terrible truth about the population, repression, and famine of 1932-1933. It was classified, and the organizers of the census were repressed. At the same time, the intervention of Comrade Stalin is emphasized, who built all sorts of intrigues on the statisticians and prevented them from conducting a competent census. As a result, modern demographers consider the 1937 census almost as the only accurate one in the entire history of our country. For example, Mr. Andreev E.M. courageously corrects and tears the covers from all censuses - 1959, 1970, 1979 and 1989, did not ignore the modern censuses of the population of the Russian Federation in 2002 and 2010, where the immediate results of the censuses exceeded the calculated data by 2.8 million people ( this is in the absence of Comrade Stalin and the USSR) 1 , but he retains a reverent attitude towards the 1937 census. And here are the reasons for this paradox, we will try to figure it out.

The population census, after repeated transfers since 1932, by the decision of the Council of People's Commissars of April 28, 1936, was scheduled for January 1937.

“The main features of the 1937 census were as follows:

1) it was the only "one-day" Soviet population census;

2) for the first time, the main form was not an individual personal sheet, but a census form of the list form;

3) its program was quite specific - the range of studied characteristics of residents;

4) the actual population was the object of the census.

The "one-day" census was as follows. The entire census was subdivided, as it were, into three stages: a) from January 1 to January 5, 1937, census sheets are pre-filled; b) on the same day, January 6, from 8 a.m. to 12 a.m., the census itself is carried out, i.e. population count, verification and collection of pre-filled census forms, as well as additional entry into the sheets of those persons who for some reason were not entered into them during pre-filling; c) from January 7 to 11, the correctness of the entire population count and filling in the census forms is checked. 2

And although Andreev, Darsky and Kharkova write in the book “Population of the Soviet Union 1922-1991” that “in recent years, a thorough analysis of both the methodology of the 1937 census and its organization has been carried out and it has been shown that the accusations made against it are groundless (F. D. Livshits, A.G. Volkov, M.S. Tolts). 3, it is precisely in the publications cited by the authors that these accusations are by and large confirmed. Both Livshits and Volkov note the following facts:

1. That the reduction and simplification of the questions of the census form did not allow obtaining a complete picture of the population being enumerated.

2. “The principle of “one day”, first laid at the basis of the foundations of the 1937 census, but after it forever left, entailed many adverse consequences - both direct and indirect. First of all, to complete the census "on the same day", more precisely, at 4 p.m. on January 6, and the subsequent control rounds - in five days, it took an unprecedented large number of census workers - enumerators, controllers-instructors, heads of census departments and their assistants, assistants of city and district inspectors of economic accounting for the census, etc. The census staff consisted of 1.1 million people, including 913 thousand enumerators and 132 thousand supervisors-instructors” 4 .

And this staff had to be recruited in a very short time, in three months from August 1 to November 1, 1936, and prepared before December 15, which in turn could not affect the quality of training of census executors.

3. “Undoubted damage to the population census was also caused by the restriction of categories of the population to only one - the actual population. Even then it was well known in statistics that taking into account two categories of the population - permanent and cash - gives more accurate results also for the total count. Registration of only the actual population clearly worsened the situation” 5 .

In addition to the above, the main stumbling block, and in 1937 the accusation of sabotage, was the discrepancy between paragraph 2 of the “Instructions for filling out the census form”, approved by the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, and paragraph 4 of the “Memo for the counter”.

If in clause 2 of the Instruction it was written that

The census is carried out at the place of residence in each dwelling. The census sheet should include:

b) night shift workers and those who were on duty at night at posts or in institutions, as well as railway workers (drivers, stokers, conductors, conductors, etc.) who were on the night of January 5-6, 1937 on duty, at least and outside the settlement in which they live, and persons who left on the evening of January 5, 1937 for the market or for a cab. These persons are recorded in the census forms, regardless of whether they spent the night at home or not.”

Then in paragraph 4 of the Reminder

"4. January 6, Census Day, go around your area, check and correct all forms. When checking sheets:

a) enumerate everyone who spent the night in this apartment, hut, hut, etc. on the night of January 5-6, but not recorded during pre-filling (born, who arrived after pre-filling the sheet, before 12 o'clock at night from January 5 to 6);

b) cross out all those who were recorded in the census forms during the preliminary filling, but were absent on the night of January 5-6 (the dead who left before 12 o'clock at night from January 5 to 6, etc.).

When checking and correcting the census sheets, strictly observe paragraphs. 1,2 and 3 Instructions" 6 .

Those. The instruction requires to enter, and the Reminder to cross out the missing ones, and the Reminder also manages to refer to the relevant paragraphs of the instruction.

For comparison, we present the criticism of the census by the former head of the Central Statistical Administration P.I. Popov in 1937.

“The wrong organizational plan led to:

a) to the wrong choice of census method. Calculating only the present population instead of the present and permanent,

b) refusal of registration by families

c) the wrong method of calculating the population in two stages, preliminary (January 1-5) and final on January 6

d) the wrong choice of census days - the beginning of the preliminary recording on 1 / I new year, the census itself 6 / I - Christmas Eve - Christmas Eve,

e) the wrong decision to conduct a census on one day, as a result of this, the creation of a huge army of enumerators who are not sufficiently prepared for the census

f) defective instructional indications” 7 .

It is not difficult to see that the "attacks on the census" of the 1937 model are almost one to one identical to the statements of those researchers who claim "that the accusations made against it are groundless."

But that's not all. So, according to a closed letter from the Bureau of the All-Union Population Census of 1939, dated December 10, 1937, “in the Kalmyk ASSR, 932 settlements were identified during the census, not shown in the list of settlements, in the Northern Territory - 555 settlements, in the Buryat-Mongolian ASSR about 600 settlements, in the Dagestan ASSR - 686 settlements, in the Kirghiz SSR - 115 settlements, in the Western Region - 948 settlements, in the Sverdlovsk Region about 900 settlements, in the West Siberian Territory - 468 settlements, in Alma-Ata region - 135 settlements, in Kustanai region - 19" 8 . And looking ahead, we can note the following facts. In preparation for the 1939 census, on June 15, 1938, when checking households and settlements on the basis of 1937 census data, it was revealed

Settlements 4174

Population 219,263

Households 3820

Population 248,455 9

And the troubles of the census did not end there. Contrary to popular belief that "after the decision of the Council of People's Commissars of September 25, 1937, to scold the 1937 census, its methodology, results and organizers became an indispensable attribute of almost every statistical and demographic publication" 10 , criticism fell upon the census from the very beginning of its conduct . For example, in the newspaper Soviet Siberia from January 3 to 10, the following picture emerges:

Page 1 "The first days of the population census in Narym"

“In Kolpashevo, for example, the enumerator discovered that the house at the corner of Sovetskaya and Dzerzhinskaya streets was not listed in any census section.”

Page 2 "The census has begun"

“Filling out the census forms in the city is generally going smoothly, but there are also rough edges. For example, on December 31, the counter in the Zapsibzolota hostel announces to the residents of all 20 apartments: “I will be with you tomorrow at eight in the morning.” In fact, the counter came exactly at eight to only one apartment, while most of the residents, after waiting for the counter for several hours, dispersed.

Page 2 "Gross violation of census rules"

“... the census forms should not be filled out from the words of unauthorized persons, the enumerators are required to interview all citizens personally. But this rule is grossly violated.

There are many such facts. Even for the Deputy Chairman of the City Council, Comrade Gerasimov, the signature sheet was filled out according to the words of a neighbor in the apartment.

... in the house number 24-26 on the street. Rykov's counters were not at all. Residents of three houses located in the fence of the construction yard of the housing and communal services were also missed.

Counters do not enter those institutions and offices where cleaners and watchmen live. Even in the building where the city's census office is located, the caretaker's family has so far remained unaccounted for.

Page 2. "Maximum organization"

“In Kemerovo, census rules are grossly violated by filling out census forms in absentia, in Novosibirsk, individual enumerators disclose census data, give wrong advice, etc.

Page 2. "The course of the census on the edge"

… some enumerators, having received the census forms, had not yet begun to bypass their sites until January 4.”

Page 1 "Census Decisive Day"

“In Slavgorod, the staff of counters was chosen poorly and there was no one to replace people unsuitable for this work.

In Kemerovo and a number of other places, the counters missed individual citizens, since they recorded only those who were present when they arrived at the apartment.

In Stalinsk, even the instructors get confused about the census.”

Page 2. "The final stage of the census"

“... they are signaling from Stalinsk. … an unlisted two-story house and a fire station with 59 people were discovered. In the 4th census department, 17 unrecorded houses were identified. Even in the city center on Kirov Avenue, house number 8 was skipped during the preliminary census. There is also a case when residential premises were immediately included in the list of two counters.

Page 2. "Carry out the control rounds with particular care"

"Anzherka

In the second census department at 8 pm it was found that 18 families of workers of the mountain rescue team were not taken into account during the preliminary filling of the census forms, and on the day of the census - January 6 - the enumerator Fedorov missed more than 100 residents in his area. ... counters began to rewrite these workers while they were waiting for a movie show. The secrecy of the census was violated: the counters interviewed everyone in the common room, and the head of the family gave information on all family members, including those who were absent.

Page 2. "To avoid trouble"

“Head of the 7th census department, comrade. Titov also has little control over the work of meters and does not know his area well. When he was informed that on the street to them. Dzerzhinsky, six members of the family of citizen Plotnikov, ..., were not recorded during the preliminary filling of the sheets and the census on January 6, he stated: "This is not my site."

Page 2. "Census in distant tracts and camps of Oirotia"

“In the village of Viryulya, 11 people came to the census station. They said that they were missed by the counter.

Ultimately, the preliminary result of the census is 162,039,470 people, instead of the expected 170 million. Kurman wrote in his note that “the one-day census of 1937 led, as the audit showed, to some underestimation of the population. With various estimates of the degree of underestimation, it can be assumed that on average for the USSR the 1937 census underestimated 0.5-0.6% of the population, which is about 1 million people” 11 .

Starovsky V.N. in 1965, being the head of the Central Statistical Administration, with corrections for underestimation, he estimated the population in 1937 at 164 million, and in 1973 in the reference book "Population of the USSR" a figure was published at the beginning of 1937 at 163,772 thousand people.

As we can see, all of the above sources introduce correction factors from 0.5 to 1.2%, while Kurman refers to the verification. Andreev, Darsky and Kharkova write in part about these checks.

“The surviving materials of some inspections testified that even with a strong desire to find an underestimation, its size was not as terrible as the inspectors wanted. So, a team led by I.D. Vermenichev (soon appointed to the place of the repressed I L. Kraval, head of the TsUNKhU), who checked the accuracy of the census for Kazakhstan, chose for verification areas where the largest decrease in population was noted compared to the 1926 census. 1937, 655.9 thousand people. With a very great captiousness and the interpretation of each doubtful case as an omission, the amount of underestimation turned out to be only 0.99% in these areas. However, the results obtained by unsubstantiated assumptions were arbitrarily exaggerated. In a memorandum addressed to the Deputy Chairman of the People's Control Committee Ya.L. Yakovleva, I.D. Vermenichev reports the final underestimation for Kazakhstan - 4.7%.» 12

Although if you look at Vermenichev's note, you can read the conclusion, which in its final part sounds like this

“... As a result, the number of missed should be raised to 2.7%.

The TsUNKhU of the USSR reported to the Central Committee on 14/I-37 that, according to urgent reports, the population in Kazakhstan without the contingents of the NKVD, NKOdefense and without rewritten by rail. roads amounted to 4820 thousand people. On the day of departure from the mountains. Alma-Ata, the head of the Census Bureau of the UNKhU of the KazASSR presented us with the preliminary results of the census (according to form 7), according to which the population of Kazakhstan is 4,928,216 people.

If we add to this figure 2.7% of the underestimation we accepted, compared with the figure reported by TsUNKhU to the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, the population is actually 4.7% higher, or 220 thousand. 13

Those. 4.7% of the underestimation is the total value of the updated data of the UNKhU of the Kazakh SSR, and the results of the Vermenichev commission, and not the violent fantasy of the commission, as Andreev, Darsky and Kharkova give us. Of these, Vermenichev considers 1.5% documented, and the difference between “unfounded assumptions” between 1.5 and 2.7 percent is part of the towns and villages, which, as we have already found out, were not covered by the census at all. Plus the faces hiding from the census.

You can add the fact that, for example, a similar check was carried out in the Odessa region. Three districts of Odessa were checked - 51,635 people, in Nikolaev - 9,823 people, and three districts of rural areas - 110,526 people. a total of 171,984 people 14 .

Result of checking

"1. Adjustment made as a result of the control calculation of preliminary data -1%

2. Correction of the population crossed out on January 6 from the census forms filled out on January 1-5 - 0.52%.

3. Adjustment for persons not enumerated according to the census 1.5%

4. Correction for persons for those persons who showed that they were rewritten - …% [ so in the text]

Total 3.79-3.8%"

Plus, 0.2% are estimated census evaders. 15

In the note "On the results of the population according to the 1937 census" with the calculations of the Leningrad UNKhU, the underestimation of the census in Leningrad was "about 35.5 thousand people. (1.3%) and in the region about 128.9 thousand people (3.2%)” 16 .

As we can see, there are still a number of documents with amendments from 1.5% to 4%, while the situation is complicated by the fact that there is no exact way to determine the amendment.

Some modern demographers, dismissing the above figures of checks, cite a counter-figure of underestimation of 450 thousand people, or about 0.3%. This figure is taken from an article by F.D. Livshits Census of the population of 1937. Moreover, they cite it as the only true and justified one.

And here you can only shrug, from such a peculiarity of the argument. In his article, Livshits does not assess the underestimation of the census. Livshits calculates only a possible underestimation as a result of discrepancies between the Instruction and the Memo. And it also calculates in a very original way. As we remember, according to the instructions, the counters had to enter the following categories of citizens:

“night shift workers and those on duty at night at posts or in institutions, as well as railway workers (engineers, stokers, conductors, conductors, etc.) who were on the night of January 5-6, 1937 in the line of duty, even if outside the locality in which they live.

Using open statistical sources, Livshits calculates this value at 399 thousand. And for “persons who left on the evening of January 5, 1937 for the market or for a cart”, before Christmas, in a country with 110 million agricultural population, for some reason he modestly estimated in 50 thousand people 17 .

Justifying by the fact that “it is now impossible to estimate the number of these two subgroups of the population in any approximate way, however, one should not exaggerate their possible number, and, consequently, their possible underestimation in the census” 18 .

Let's summarize briefly. As you can clearly see, the 1937 census did not work out initially. Neither in terms of methodology, nor in terms of preparation, nor in terms of implementation. And the result, in which the census was declared invalid, looks quite natural. In principle, the country's leadership could have acted simply. Throw 2-4 percent on the resulting figure, pull the desired result, since there is every reason, and close the issue. Moreover, such proposals came from TsUNKhU and the State Planning Commission. But no, contrary to popular belief about the total falsification of everything and everything in the USSR, the census was declared invalid, and it was decided to conduct a new one in 1939. But through the efforts of modern researchers, a very surreal picture emerges. The results of the census, and the results are preliminary, some researchers leave practically unchanged, making at best a minor adjustment, only for one, the most obvious methodological error. And the result looks rather paradoxical. The census, which by and large looks like a complete misunderstanding, suddenly shows, perhaps the most accurate result in the history of domestic censuses.

1939 census

Before we begin, perhaps one point needs to be clarified. Reading modern demographers, one might get the impression that the census is being carried out for the sake of some dubious pleasure. Like they did it, everyone was happy and happiness came from the consciousness of the work done. There are so many of us, let everyone die of envy. And of course, everyone in the USSR only did what they strove to attribute the non-existent or pull the figure on the fantasies of the leader and teacher. In reality, the significance of the census for the national economy is very high, and even more so for this it is necessary to have accurate information about the population necessary for the development of planning for socio-economic development, current calculations, forecasting the size and composition of the population, and the use of labor and mobilization resources. As we remember from the chapter on the 1937 census, the state could well have announced a figure close to the predicted one, but nevertheless it was decided to conduct another census.

In addition to numerous shortcomings in the conduct, the 1937 census revealed the most pressing problem, namely, how to count those not covered by the census. Estimated figures jumped from 0.5 to 5%, but there was no real opportunity to somehow get a real picture.

Therefore, given the shortcomings of the 1937 census, the following changes were made to the census

1. Rejection of the principle of "one-day". The duration of registration was set at 7, and for rural areas 10 days. A period of 10 days was allotted for inspection rounds. Accordingly, the census staff amounted to 474 thousand people, of which there were 374 enumerators and 71 thousand instructor supervisors.

2. Accounting not only for the current population, but also for the permanent population.

3. Using the American experience, a "control form" was introduced. What it is? Having met a new person, the enumerator, in case of doubt that this person had passed the census in another place, filled out a control form. The form contained all the questions of the census program, as well as the address of the place where the person being enumerated was to be enumerated as cash. After that, each form was checked on the spot with the census lists, and if the person was on these lists, then the form was canceled. In the absence of information, the data were entered into the census form. Thus, it became possible to “intercept” moving persons and avoid double counting.

4. Introduction of a certificate of passing the census. It was issued to anyone rewritten as a “temporarily resident”, for whom a “control form” was drawn up, and to everyone who was going to leave, etc. Those. the certificate also made it possible to avoid re-filling of control forms and rediscounting.

5. Preliminary rounds of counters of their sites. Five days before the start of the census, the enumerators visited all the premises of their precincts, warned the population about the upcoming census, and explained the procedure and significance of the census.

6. The census of the regions of the Far North was to be carried out separately in the second half of 1939.

In addition to the above, a powerful agitation and propaganda campaign was launched, the range of issues was expanded and finalized. And most importantly, until the very beginning of the 1939 census, gigantic work was going on, taking into account settlements, households, a complete check of door-to-door books and the quality of population registration.

The conduct of the census was close to ideal. Its quality of the result can be judged by the fact that the number of cash and permanent practically coincided.

The preliminary results of the census of 170,467,186 people were published on June 2, 1939. “As a result of the calculation at the machine counting stations, the population of the USSR without the regions of the Far North, compared with the preliminary results, turned out to be more than 17,628 people. According to the census data, the population in the regions of the Far North turned out to be 72,279 people more than the calculated data” 19 . The final total of 170,557,093 was officially published in 1956.

Until recently, the census did not attract attention. Moreover, the change of territory in 1940 and the Great Patriotic War significantly depreciated both the result and the significance. They returned to it already in the 90s, at the peak of the disruption of the covers from everything and everything, and also in connection with the declassified data of the 1937 census. And unexpectedly, the 1939 census became one of the key episodes in the pre-war history of the USSR. The casket opened simply, the censuses of 1937 and 1939, by and large, turned out to be incompatible with each other. If the result of 1939 is the personification of the Soviet official point of view, then the 1937 census, according to the results, ideally suited the promotion of the famine campaign of 1932-1933. Therefore, like mushrooms in the rain, mass publications began to appear in which modern researchers and demographers began to prove the accuracy of the results of 1937, and, accordingly, the falsification of the results of 1939. Let us therefore consider contemporary criticism of the 1939 census. The reason for it was the memorandum "On the population census of 1939" with preliminary data dated March 21, 1939 by Voznesensky and Sautin addressed to Molotov and Stalin. The note contained a fragment that made it possible to cast doubt on the final result.

We quote:

“It must be taken into account, however, that there is a relatively small part of the population that cannot be fully specified by the census method. These include: those living without a residence permit in cities, who evaded the census for fear of a fine (in case of finding residence without a residence permit), sectarians and other class-hostile elements who evaded the census for malicious reasons, criminal elements, etc.
There could be, despite the presence of control rounds, also isolated cases of direct omission of the population by enumerators during the census. It is generally accepted in statistical science that a census cannot give an exhaustively accurate count of the population. The coefficient of error is determined by individual bourgeois statisticians at 1-2%.
Evaluating the results of the 1939 census, we consider it possible to make a correction at the expense of the population that cannot be fully counted by the census method, in the amount of 1%.
According to the data of acceptance of census forms with the inclusion of organizational plan data for the Far North (780 thousand people), the actual population of the USSR is 167.3 million people.
The indicated number does not include the population enumerated on the control forms. In total, control forms were compiled - 4.569 thousand.
With the addition of this population, as well as a one percent correction, the total population of the Soviet Union is determined by us in the amount of 170.126 thousand people. 20

Now let's look at the criticism.

A.G. Vokov "Population Census of 1937: Fiction and Truth" Published in: Population Census of the USSR in 1937. History and materials / Express information. Series "History of statistics". Issue 3-5 (Part II). M., 1990/ C. 6-63

“The fact is that the population according to the 1939 census was deliberately exaggerated. Reporting on March 21, 1939 to Stalin and Molotov on the results of the 1939 census, the then Chairman of the State Planning Committee of the USSR N.A. Voznesensky and Head of the TsUNKhU I.V. Sautin estimated the preliminary population according to the data of acceptance of census forms at 167.3 million people. They believed that as a result of checking the control forms (there were 4569 thousand of them) "into the census sheets will be recorded(underlined by us - A.V.) from the control forms of 1142 thousand people. "In addition, in their opinion, part of the population cannot be fully accounted for by the census method: living without a residence permit in cities and therefore evading the census, sectarians, criminal elements etc., there is also the possibility of "isolated cases of direct omission of the population by enumerators during the census" (ibid.). will be taken into account when disassembling control forms) an amendment to the census results of 1%, i.e. another 1684 thousand, and a total of 2826 thousand people. In total, this gives 170,126 thousand people - the same 170 million that Stalin named 10 days earlier in his report at the 18th Party Congress. Therefore, V.V. Tsaplin, who estimates the rediscount in the results of the 1939 census at 1-2 million, is certainly right, believing that, in all likelihood, this rediscount was deliberate.”

E.M. Andreev, L.E. Darsky, T.L. Kharkov "Population of the Soviet Union: 1922-1991" M., Nauka, 1993, Pp. 31

“In the note of the chairman of the State Planning Committee of the USSR N. A. Voznesensky and the head of the TsUPKhU I.V. Sautin dated March 21, 1939 in the name of I.V. Stalin and V.M. Molotov, the population according to the results of the 1939 census is indicated as 170,126 thousand people. This document contains information that during the census 4,569 thousand control forms were filled out and that “1,142 thousand people will be recorded on the census forms from control forms”, i.e. exactly 1/4 of those recorded in the control forms necessary to justify the 170 million named by Stalin. The number of control forms in 1939 was 6.8 for every 1000 rewritten, in 1959 - 3.8, in 1970 - 1 ,4 with much greater mobility of the population. In addition, another one percent adjustment was made to the census results for possible undercounting, i.e. The population increased by more than 1.7 million people. The note is dated March 21, although the organizational plan provided for the completion of work with control forms only on March 31; in fact, the disassembly of the forms ended even later. ”

All-Union Population Census of 1939: Main Results / Ed. Yu. A. Polyakova, M., Nauka, 1992. P. 8

“It seems that 0.2% for undercounting the population covers the number of those really missing people who were legitimately included in the control forms. Taking into account all these considerations, in our opinion, the final figure of the population did not actually exceed about 167.6 million people. In other words, the deliberate count of the population amounted to 2.9 million, based on the figure of 170,557 thousand or 1.7%.»

Secrets of Soviet demography. Mark Tolts 21

The 1937 census showed the population of the USSR at only 162 million. Because it revealed the falsehood of Stalin's statements and Soviet propaganda, the authorities declared its results "defective." They were declassified only in the era of glasnost. In 1939, a new census was conducted, which, as a result of direct falsification, made it possible to reach a figure of 170 million people. Stalin announced this figure at the 18th Party Congress even before the results of the census could be fully processed.

In fact, the 1939 census gave a figure of 167.6 million people, which was overestimated by almost 3 million. The official census results deliberately included data for more than one million people from special forms for checking the correctness of the counting in the census ("control forms "). After that, taking into account their total figure of the population of the USSR was once again increased by one percent. It is clear that by the beginning of 1939 the population of the USSR was less than the 168 million that Stalin announced in 1934 at the 17th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks. However, the "final results" of the 1939 census, published by the Central Statistical Bureau in 1956 after Stalin's death, contained a figure of about 170.6 million

Now let's try to bring all these statements into one picture. As we remember, the authorities in 1937 had reason in the form of inspections to introduce a correction factor into the census figure, and, if they wanted to, to stretch the population figure to the coveted 170 million. But they did not take this step, announcing a new census. Moreover, the 1939 census methodology included measures to exclude the possibility of double counting, such as certificates of passage and control forms, and it also became possible to finally calculate those who were not included in the census for various reasons. Those. all innovations were aimed precisely at the accuracy of the account, and not at reduction or addition. If they wrote about the 1937 census that they say Comrade Stalin in January 1934 blurted out about 168 million people of the population, “deadly” puzzled TsUNKhU, then in the 1939 census we see a repetition of the scenario. On March 10, Stalin announces 170 million, and statistics begin to lay down bones in order to please the leader and teacher, and with a careless movement of the hand they throw in from 1 to 3 million, depending on the fantasies of demographers tearing off the covers from the 1939 census. Moreover, the piquancy of the situation is also in the fact that the TsUNKhU workers repressed in 1937 distinguished themselves by feeding the government with inflated figures about the population in the first half of the 30s. And here the echo of repressions did not have time to subside, as they again took up the old. Nothing but mass suicidal moods. True, the question still remains unclear, why then it was necessary to conduct as many as two censuses, if it was easier and cheaper to write to the stat. reference books the desired number and rejoice. But this question, apparently, does not bother modern researchers at all.

So, we listened to the main opinions, so to speak, and now we will try to figure out what happened on the basis of the facts.

1. Voznesensky and Sautin, stretch the figure to 170 million, because Comrade Stalin had already announced it on March 10, 1939 in a report at the XVIII Congress of the CPSU (b).

Stalin announced the result two months after the census. It is logical to assume that TsUNKHU informed the government about the progress of the calculations. In the archive, you can easily see notes dated February 1, 9 and 10 and March 5. And just in a note dated March 5, Sautin reports that the population, taking into account preliminary results, is about 170 million. Stalin announced the figure that he was told by the statistical authorities, and not vice versa.

2. “This document contains information that 4,569,000 control forms were filled out during the census and that “1,142,000 people will be recorded on the census forms from control forms,” i.e. exactly 1/4 of the part of the control forms written down, necessary in order to justify the 170 million called by Stalin. 23

As we can see, 1142 thousand people are rewritten from the control forms, 170 million are not given in any way. Now, if Voznesensky and Sautin had copied 2.8 million people, then the conclusion that the rewritten figures justify the 170 million people named by Stalin would have been at least somehow appropriate. Therefore, we will once again quote verbatim the fragment of interest to us from the note.

“The indicated number does not include the population enumerated on the control forms. In total, control forms were compiled - 4.569 thousand.

Based on the results of the verification of the control forms, which is currently being carried out, 1,142 thousand people will be recorded in the census forms from the control forms.

With the addition of this population, as well as a one percent correction, the total population of the Soviet Union is determined by us in the amount of 170.126 thousand people. 24

So. The sheets have not been sorted yet. Therefore, if at the end of the disassembly of the control forms, the figure remains 1,142 thousand, then the argument about falsification is appropriate. If, after the end of the disassembly of the control forms, the figure of 1,142 thousand changes upwards, then it would be logical to assume that we are dealing with an intermediate result. Therefore, we open the archival file at the link of Andreev, Darsky and Kharkov and look at the table called "The result of checking the control forms." And we see that not 1,142,000 people were added to the census sheets, but 1,522,442 people. present population 25 . Those. 380 thousand more. It would seem that in the future it is necessary to operate with this figure, but no, all modern researchers are satisfied with the figure, until the end of the disassembly of the forms.

3. "The number of control forms in 1939 was 6.8 for every 1,000 enrolled, in 1959 - 3.8, in 1970 - 1.4 with a significantly higher population mobility" 26 .

“Given the haste with control forms, the proportion of persons not found in the census forms and entered into them from the control forms should be recognized as overestimated. Focusing on the experience of the 1959 census (the 1939 and 1959 censuses were carried out according to the same methodology), it can be considered reasonable to include 0.38% of the number of those enumerated instead of 0.68% in the census forms from control forms” 27 .

During the 1939 census, control rounds revealed 414 thousand people, plus 1522 thousand according to the results of sorting control forms. Total 1936 people. or 1.1% of the total present population. In 1959, with the help of similar control measures, 1074 thousand people or 0.51% of the population were identified, in 1970 612 thousand people or 0.25%, in 1979 305 thousand or 0.12%. With the naked eye, a steady downward trend in the number of people not covered by the census and identified through appropriate activities is visible. Therefore, the thesis of greater mobility of the population, frankly speaking, is not clear from which side to stick, and it is also not clear what relation it has to this issue at all. Either this mobility reduced the number, or before 1979 everything was falsified and it is necessary to make a correction for all previous censuses according to the last minimum figure. About such trifles as the deliberate loss of 382 thousand people, the shameless substitution of documented material only on the basis of one's own desire, the complete disregard for harsh instructions on checking control forms and detours, it is even embarrassing to mention. If the books of the census critics had not been published by the Nauka publishing house, thereby hinting at the scientific nature of the work, one would think that you are reading Petrosyan's memoirs. And since the control form is an American invention, you can ask. But what about them there? And there they have according to owls. CSO secret report on the preliminary results of the all-Union census for January 15, 1959, “a random control check of the 1950 US census found a net undercount of 2.1 million people, which is 1.4 percent of the total US population taken into account in the census (As a result of control rounds and verification of control forms, the number of the population was corrected by 0.5 percent) 28 . It remains only to understand whether the Americans are very mobile, or not at all.

4. One percent correction.

It all comes down to how accurate the 1% correction is and how much it reflects reality. The first question that comes up. Is there any documentary evidence that such persons existed? Yes, there are documents on this subject in the Russian Archive of Economics. There are also cases of evasion, cases of refusal, and there are also cases of agitation against the census. With a high degree of probability, they are in other archives, and especially in the FSB. Is it possible to estimate the number of people hiding? No, because that's why they are the people who are hiding from the census. In any case, for the assessment it is necessary to focus on indirect data, such as reports and reports from the field. Some researchers recognize the presence of such people, though not in such numbers. And here I would like to draw attention to the next moment. Sautin and Voznesensky indicate 1-2%. According to the arguments of the census critics, in theory, the census organizers should be closer to a larger figure, but they chose a smaller one. And this also does not fit into the pathological desire to throw several million on the results of the census.

Outcome.

Let's express our personal opinion. Why is she still shy? The 1939 census was literally two heads taller than all its predecessors, it can be said that it was revolutionary, I’m not afraid of this word, and in my opinion it was undeservedly deprived of attention. Both in terms of methodology and in terms of implementation. Looking ahead, I would like to note the fact that the methodology of this census formed the basis for conducting subsequent censuses of the population of the USSR with minor changes. Unfortunately, subsequent events nullified its significance. And the 1937 census, pulled out of the closet as part of the famine campaign, made the 1939 census an object of attack.

As for the result, by and large, it is possible to conduct disputes within the framework of a one percent correction for those who are hiding. But then, by and large, idle disputes, since tools for calculating this value do not exist in nature. Although it is logical to assume that when making a one percent correction, they were still guided by some data. The fact that the principle of the 1937 census has disappeared into history as a kind of misunderstanding is not at all surprising. Although if you follow the logic of some "scientific" researchers, a miraculously accurate method for determining the country's population should have been carried to the masses in every possible way. But this is already behind the looking glass, and thank God we are partially in it.

Draw your own conclusions. There are all possibilities for comparison. Where the legs grow from in making this or that decision, in principle, it is clear how the result was obtained and refuted is clearly visible.

1
2 F.D. Livshits Census of 1937. Demographic processes in the USSR. M. Science. 1990. Pp. 178
3 E.M. Andreev, L.E. Darsky, T.L. Kharkov "Population of the Soviet Union: 1922-1991" M., Nauka, 1993, p. 24
4 F.D. Livshits Census of 1937. Demographic processes in the USSR. M. Science. 1990. Pp. 183.
5 A.G. Volkov Population census of 1937: fiction and truth
6 V. B. Zhyromskaya, I. N. Kiselev, Yu.A. Polyakov "Half a century classified secret" M. Nauka. 1996. Pp. 14, 16
7 RGAE 105.1.10 L.8-9
8 RGAE 1562.1.978 L.191 about
9 RGAE 1562.336.1282 L.8.10
10 E.M. Andreev, L.E. Darsky, T.L. Kharkov "Population of the Soviet Union: 1922-1991" M., Nauka, 1993, p. 23
11 Memorandum on the natural movement of the population between the two censuses 12/17/1926 - 01/06/1937. RGAE. F. 1562. Op. 329.D. 132. L.25-27
12 E.M. Andreev, L.E. Darsky, T.L. Kharkov "Population of the Soviet Union: 1922-1991" M., Nauka, 1993, Pp. 26
13 From the memorandum on the results of the verification of the population census in the Kazakh SSR. 29.2.1937 (dated according to a neighboring document) RGAE 1562.1.967 L.47-48
14 RGAE 105.1.82 L.1
15 Explanatory note by P.I. Popov on the results of the check of the population census in the Odessa region RGAE 105.1.82 L.14
16 RGAE 1562.329.151 L.19
17 F.D. Livshits Census of 1937. Demographic processes in the USSR. M. Science. 1990 Page 197
18 Ibid p. 206
19 RGAE 1562.329.4535 L.2 All-Union population census of 1939. Main results.
20 RGAE. 1562.329.256 L. 39
21 Mark Tolts. Secrets of Soviet demography (The article is based on a revised and supplemented by the author translation of the report presented at the XXIV General Congress on Population of the International Union for the Scientific Study of the Population (Salvador, Bagia, Brazil, August 18-24, 2001). Unauthorized Russian translation of the report, without specifying the source, was previously published under the title "Statistics as an instrument of the policy of the Soviet Union" (Sociological magazine. 2003. No. 4. P. 108-125).
22 RGAE 1562. 329. 279 L. 15-16
23 E.M. Andreev, L.E. Darsky, T.L. Kharkov "Population of the Soviet Union: 1922-1991" M., Nauka, 1993, p. 24
24 RGAE. 1562.329.256 L. 39
25 (RGAE 1562.336.95 L.41).
26 E.M. Andreev, L.E. Darsky, T.L. Kharkov "Population of the Soviet Union: 1922-1991" M., Nauka, 1993, p. 31
27 Ibid p. 32
28 RGAE F.1562.Op.41.D.189 L.2v.