p The Soviet Union covers a vast area on two continentsEurope and Asia. From east to west it stretches for more than 9,000 km and from north to south—for more than 4,500 km. The territory of the USSR is 22.4 million sq. km. which is one-sixth of the earth’s surface. Of course such vast spaces include most of the known climatic zones.

p The USSR is a multinational socialist state with more than 100 nationalities living in a friendly, fraternal union. It is 11 composed of 15 Union Republics. The most typical administrative territorial unit is a region usually having a population of one million or more. Regions are divided into districts with a population of 20,000 to 100,000 or even more.

p On January 15, 1970 the population of the USSR numbered 243.9 million. The majority of the population (56 per cent, according to the figures of the 1970 census) lives in towns and urban-type settlements. The rural inhabitants account for 44 per cent of the country’s population. These two simple figures evidence the truly immense leap forward made in the country’s industrial development. Pre- revolutionary Russia was characterised by a great predominance ol rural over urban inhabitants; in 1913 the former accounted for 82 per cent of the country’s population.

p According to the 1968 figures of the Central Statistical Administration, 77.7 per cent of the population are industrial and office workers, 22.27 per cent are collective farmers and co-operative artisans, and only 0.03 per cent are individual peasants and artisans not united in co-operatives.

p Socialism has done away with the exploiter classes. In the USSR there are no bourgeois, landowners or private businessmen. There are two friendly classes—workers and collective farmers. The intelligentsia—brain workers—- constitutes a fairly large part of the population and numbers more than 30 million.

p The people of the Soviet Union endured the terrible sufferings during the Civil War and the Great Patriotic War against the nazi invaders. Even today, nearly 30 years after the end of the Second World War, it would be hard to find a family that did not lose a dear one. During this war alone the USSR lost at least 20 million people—officers, soldiers and civilians. This ordeal, courageously endured by the Soviet people has unfavourably affected the age and sex composition of the population. It has resulted in a considerable sex disproportion, i.e., in a substantial predominance of women in the population. The 1959 census, the first since the Great Patriotic War, showed that 45 per cent of the population of the Soviet Union were men and 55 per cent were women. This disproportion still persists, although in a somewhat attenuated form. It stands to reason that this unfavourable ratio particularly affected those who at that time were in their prime. Today there are still twice as many women aged 45 and older as there are men oi that age.

p Pre-revolutionary Russia was characterised by what is called frequent change of generations, caused by a high birthrate (45.5 per 1,000 in 1913), high general mortality (29.1 per 1,000 population) and particularly high child mortality—of 1,000 newborn children 269 died before reaching one year of age. Average life expectancy, which is a comprehensive index of the health of the population and demographic phenomena, was only 32 years for both sexes, in most gubernias (regions) of Russia at the end of the 19th century. Despite the high mortality rate, especially of children, the high birthrate compensated, in large measure, for the human losses caused by disease, injuries and other factors. According to statistics, the population of pre-revolutionary Russia increased at a comparatively high rate; in 1913 it was 16.4 per 1,000.

p The radical changes that have taken place in the country in Soviet times—the creation of a modern industry, the development of culture, science and technology and a sharp rise in the living standards of the population—have greatly altered demographic processes and phenomena. The very pattern of population turnover has changed and is no longer characterised by a frequent change of generations. On the contrary, generations are replaced now at a slow rate. This means that general and child mortality has sharply decreased and life expectancy has grown. According to official data, in 1968 life expectancy was 66 years for men and 74 for women.

p Characteristic of the age structure of the Soviet population today is the so-called ageing of the population, which manifests itself in an increased proportion of people aged 60 years or more and a relatively lower proportion of younger people. Whereas, according to the 1939 census, people 60 years old and older accounted for just over six per cent of the population, the 1959 census showed that this figure had grown to 9.3 per cent. The proportion of elderly and old people has increased still further and, as the 1970 census showed, about 11-12 per cent of the population are 60 years old or older.

p The population of the Soviet Union is increasing annually by about 3 million. Since the 1959 census it has increased by more than 35 million (as of January 15, 1970).

p However, an increasing population is no cause for alarm in the Soviet Union as it often is in countries with a large 13 population but without an adequate economic potential. Both control and family planning, i.e., in the final analysis, measures aimed at curtailing the natural increase in population, have never been encouraged in the USSR. On the contrary, all social policy, since the very first days of Soviet power, has favoured a high natural increase in the population. The content of Soviet demographic policy has always been the same—the encouragement of childbirth and state protection of mothers and young children.

p We shall have further cause to dwell on this question and on the system of medical care for women and children, which has contributed much to improving the health of the Soviet population. We shall just note here that the fact that abortions are permitted in the USSR does not mean an attempt to reduce birthrate. It merely gives the women themselves, and their families the right to decide how many children they wish to have.

The Soviet state is interested in increasing the population since everybody in the Soviet Union is guaranteed work and normal conditions of life. The distressing effects of the capitalist economic system—unemployment and poverty among the working people—have long since been abolished in the USSR.