Editing Eastern Bloc (section)

==Population==
Eastern Bloc countries such as the Soviet Union had high rates of population growth. In 1917, the population of Russia in its present borders was 91&nbsp;million. Despite the destruction in the [[Russian Civil War]], the population grew to 92.7&nbsp;million in 1926. In 1939, the population increased by 17 percent to 108&nbsp;million. Despite more than 20&nbsp;million deaths suffered throughout World War II, Russia's population grew to 117.2&nbsp;million in 1959. The Soviet census of 1989 showed Russia's population at 147&nbsp;million people.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://kprf.ru/rus_soc/56296.html |title=Г.А.Зюганов. Система вымирания. Лидер КПРФ анализирует безрадостные итоги правления Путина. Демографическая проблема отражает все недуги общества |publisher=Kprf.ru |date=13 April 2008 |access-date=19 November 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402135400/http://kprf.ru/rus_soc/56296.html |archive-date=2 April 2015 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The Soviet economical and political system produced further consequences such as, for example, in [[Baltic states]], where the population was approximately half of what it should have been compared with similar countries such as Denmark, Finland and Norway over the years 1939–1990. Poor housing was one factor leading to severely declining birth rates throughout the Eastern Bloc.<ref name="sillince35"/> However, birth rates were still higher than in Western European countries. A reliance upon abortion, in part because periodic shortages of birth control pills and [[intrauterine devices]] made these systems unreliable,<ref name="frucht851">{{Harvard citation no brackets|Frucht|2003|p=851}}</ref> also depressed the birth rate and forced a shift to pro-natalist policies by the late 1960s, including severe checks on abortion and propagandist exhortations like the 'heroine mother' distinction bestowed on those [[People's Republic of Romania|Romanian]] women who bore ten or more children.<ref name="turnock17">{{Harvard citation no brackets|Turnock|1997|p=17}}</ref>

In October 1966, artificial birth control was proscribed in [[People's Republic of Romania|Romania]] and regular pregnancy tests were mandated for women of child-bearing age, with severe penalties for anyone who was found to have terminated a pregnancy.<ref name="crampton355">{{Harvard citation no brackets|Crampton|1997|p=355}}</ref> Despite such restrictions, birth rates continued to lag, in part because of unskilled induced abortions.<ref name="turnock17"/> The populations of the Eastern Bloc countries were as follows:<ref name="turnock15">{{Harvard citation no brackets|Turnock|1997|p=15}}</ref><ref>Andreev, E.M., et al., Naselenie Sovetskogo Soiuza, 1922–1991. Moscow, Nauka, 1993. {{ISBN|978-5-02-013479-9}}</ref>

{|class="wikitable" style="text-align: left"
|+Eastern Bloc population
|-
!Country
!Area (000s)
!1950 (mil)
!1970 (mil)
!1980 (mil)
!1985 (mil)
!Annual growth (1950–1985)
!Density (1980)
|-
|align=left|[[People's Republic of Albania|Albania]] || {{convert|28.7|km2}} || 1.22 || 2.16 || 2.59 || 2.96 || +4.07% || 90.2/km<sup>2</sup>
|-
|align=left|[[People's Republic of Bulgaria|Bulgaria]] || {{convert|110.9|km2}}|| 7.27 || 8.49 || 8.88 || 8.97 || +0.67% || 80.1/km<sup>2</sup>
|-
|align=left|[[Czechoslovak Socialist Republic|Czechoslovakia]] || {{convert|127.9|km2}} || 13.09 || 14.47 || 15.28 || 15.50 || +0.53% || 119.5/km<sup>2</sup>
|-
|align=left|[[People's Republic of Hungary|Hungary]] || {{convert|93.0|km2}}|| 9.20 || 10.30 || 10.71 || 10.60 || +0.43% || 115.2/km<sup>2</sup>
|-
|align=left|[[East Germany]] || {{convert|108.3|km2}} || 17.94 || 17.26 || 16.74 || 16.69 || −0.20% || 154.6/km<sup>2</sup>
|-
|align=left|[[People's Republic of Poland|Poland]] || {{convert|312.7|km2}}|| 24.82 || 30.69 || 35.73 || 37.23 || +1.43% || 114.3/km<sup>2</sup>
|-
|align=left|[[People's Republic of Romania|Romania]] || {{convert|237.5|km2}}|| 16.31 || 20.35 || 22.20 || 22.73 || +1.12% || 93.5/km<sup>2</sup>
|-
|align=left|[[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics|Soviet Union]] || {{convert|22300|km2}}|| 182.32 || 241.72 || 265.00 || 272.00 || +1.41% || 11.9/km<sup>2</sup>
|-
|align=left|[[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]] ||{{convert|255.8|km2}} ||16.34 ||20.4 ||22.36 ||23.1 || +1.15% ||92.6/km<sup>2</sup>
|}