Excess mortality in the Soviet Union: a reconsideration of the demographic consequences of forced industrialization 1929-1949.

Abstract

A reconsideration of the extent of excess mortality resulting from the policy of forced industrialization in the USSR between 1929 and 1949 is presented. The study is based on recently published, adjusted serial data on natality in the 1930s and on data from the suppressed census of 1937. These data suggest that excess mortality due to Stalin's policies, including the forced labor camp system, may have involved a minimum of 12.6 million and a maximum of more than 23.5 million deaths. Various alternative estimates using different methods and data sources are compared.