The results of the 1939 Soviet census: two problems of adequacy

Abstract

The article examines the adequacy of contemporary estimates of the total population of the Soviet Union based on the 1939 census. To do so, it analyzes the instructions for filling in the census form. Comparison of the better worded 1959 census instructions with the poorly worded instructions of the 1939 census shows that the latter created possibilities for double counting of the population. These findings confirm the validity of the lowest estimate of the total population of the USSR based on the 1939 census, given by the famous Russian demographer Andrei G. Volkov, which stood at only 167.6 million people. The impact of the inter-republic reallocation of prisoners’ census forms was also estimated. For the entire population of Russia these estimates do not, for most indicators, change the picture previously known from the official census results. On the other hand, for Ukraine and especially Kazakhstan, the recalculations produced noticeable changes, in some cases resulting in significant corrections of the composition of the pre-war population.