Demographics of the Soviet Union

Demographics of the Soviet Union
Demographics of the Soviet Union
	Population pyramid of the Soviet Union as of 1989
Population	285,742,511 (January 1989)
Growth rate	0.7% (1990)
Birth rate	18 births/1,000 population (1990)
Death rate	10 deaths/1,000 population (1990)
Life expectancy	69.5 years (1988)
• male	65 years (1990)
• female	74 years (1990)
Fertility rate	2.4 (1990)
Infant mortality rate	24 deaths/1,000 live births (1990)
Net migration rate	1 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2020)
Nationality
Nationality	noun: Soviet(s) adjective: Soviet
Major ethnic	Russians (50.8%)
Minor ethnic	Ukrainians (15.5%); Uzbeks (5.8%); Belarusians (3.5%); Kazakhs (2.8%); Azerbaijanis (2.4%); Tatars (2.3%); Armenians (1.6%); Tajiks (1.5%); Georgians (1.4%); Moldovans (1.2%); Lithuanians (1.1%); Turkmens (1.0%); Kyrgyz (0.9%); Germans (0.7%); Chuvash (0.6%); Latvians (0.5%); Jews (0.5%); Mordvinian (0.4%); Poles (0.4%); Estonians (0.4%); Others (4.7%); ;
Language
Official	Russian
Spoken	Languages of the Soviet Union

Historical population
Year	Pop.	±% p.a.
1920	136,800,000	—
1926	147,027,915	+1.21%
1937	162,039,470	+0.89%
1939	170,557,093	+2.59%
1940	194,077,000	+13.79%
1950	178,547,000	−0.83%
1959	208,826,650	+1.76%
1970	241,720,134	+1.34%
1979	262,084,654	+0.90%
1989	285,742,511	+0.87%
Source:

Demographic features of the population of the Soviet Union include vital statistics, ethnicity, religious affiliations, education level, health of the populace, and other aspects of the population.

During its existence from 1922 until 1991, the Soviet Union had one of the largest populations in the world. When the last census was taken in 1989, the USSR had the third largest in the world with over 285 million citizens, behind China and India. The former nation was a federal union of national republics, home to hundreds of different ethnicities. By the time the Soviet Union dissolved, Russians were the largest ethnic group by making up nearly 51% of the country. The remaining 49% of Soviet citizens identified with a variety of groups, including Ukrainians, Belarusians, Uzbeks, Kazakhs, Georgians, Jews, etc.