Editing Soviet Union (section)

== Demographics ==
{{Main|Demographics of the Soviet Union}}
[[File:Population of former USSR.PNG|thumb|upright=1.15|Population of the Soviet Union (red) and the [[post-Soviet states]] (blue) from 1961 to 2009 as well as projection (dotted blue) from 2010 to 2100]]
Excess deaths throughout [[World War I]] and the [[Russian Civil War]] (including the [[Russian famine of 1921–1922|famine of 1921–1922]] that was triggered by Lenin's [[war communism]] policies)<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/War-Communism |title=War Communism |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopaedia Britannica]] |author=((The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica)) |date=8 June 2023}}</ref> amounted to a combined total of 18&nbsp;million,<ref>{{cite book |author=Mark Harrison |title=Accounting for War: Soviet Production, Employment, and the Defence Burden, 1940–1945 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yJcD7_Q_rQ8C&pg=PA167 |year=1996 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-89424-1 |page=167 |access-date=25 May 2020 |archive-date=17 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200617211223/https://books.google.com/books?id=yJcD7_Q_rQ8C&pg=PA167 |url-status=live}}</ref> some 10&nbsp;million in the 1930s,<ref>{{Cite book |first=Geoffrey A. |last=Hosking |url=https://archive.org/details/russiarussianshi00hosk |title=Russia and the Russians: a history |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-674-00473-3 |page=[https://archive.org/details/russiarussianshi00hosk/page/469 469] |url-access=registration}}</ref> and more than 20&nbsp;million in 1941–1945. The postwar [[Population of the Soviet Union|Soviet population]] was 45 to 50&nbsp;million smaller than it would have been if pre-war demographic growth had continued.<ref>{{cite book |author=Geoffrey A. Hosking |title=Rulers and victims: the Russians in the Soviet Union |url=https://archive.org/details/rulersvictimsrus00hosk |url-access=registration |year=2006 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-02178-5 |page=[https://archive.org/details/rulersvictimsrus00hosk/page/242 242]}}</ref> According to [[Catherine Merridale]], '...{{nbsp}}reasonable estimate would place the total number of excess deaths for the whole period somewhere around 60 million.'<ref>{{cite book |first1=Jay |last1=Winter |first2=Emmanuel |last2=Sivan |title=War and Remembrance in the Twentieth Century |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZK2A5x7E8IkC&pg=PA64 |date=2000 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-79436-7 |page=64 |access-date=20 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150904015129/https://books.google.com/books?id=ZK2A5x7E8IkC&pg=PA64 |archive-date=4 September 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref>

The [[birth rate]] of the USSR decreased from 44.0 per thousand in 1926 to 18.0 in 1974, mainly due to increasing urbanization and the rising average age of marriages. The [[mortality rate]] demonstrated a gradual decrease as well—from 23.7 per thousand in 1926 to 8.7 in 1974. In general, the birth rates of the southern republics in Transcaucasia and Central Asia were considerably higher than those in the northern parts of the Soviet Union, and in some cases even increased in the post–World War II period, a phenomenon partly attributed to slower rates of urbanization and traditionally earlier marriages in the southern republics.<ref>{{cite book |author=Government of the USSR |script-title=ru:Большая советская энциклопедия |trans-title=[[Great Soviet Encyclopaedia]] |volume=24 |page=15 |year=1977 |location=Moscow |publisher=[[State Committee for Publishing]] |language=ru |author-link=Government of the USSR}}</ref> Soviet Europe moved towards [[sub-replacement fertility]], while [[Soviet Central Asia]] continued to exhibit population growth well above replacement-level fertility.<ref>{{cite book |author=Anderson, Barbara A. |title=Growth and Diversity of the Population of the Soviet Union |volume=510 |pages=155–77 |year=1990 |publisher=Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences}}</ref>

The late 1960s and the 1970s witnessed a reversal of the declining trajectory of the rate of mortality in the USSR, and was especially notable among men of working age, but was also prevalent in Russia and other predominantly Slavic areas of the country.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Vallin, J. |author2=Chesnais, J.C. |title=Recent Developments of Mortality in Europe, English-Speaking Countries and the Soviet Union, 1960–1970 |volume=29 |pages=861–898 |year=1970 |publisher=Population Studies}}</ref> An analysis of the official data from the late 1980s showed that after worsening in the late-1970s and the early 1980s, adult mortality began to improve again.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Ryan |first=Michael |title=Life Expectancy and Mortality Data from the Soviet Union |volume=296 |pages=1, 513–1515 |date=28 May 1988 |journal=[[British Medical Journal]] |issue=6635 |doi=10.1136/bmj.296.6635.1513 |pmid=3134093 |pmc=2546027}}</ref> The infant mortality rate increased from 24.7 in 1970 to 27.9 in 1974. Some researchers regarded the rise as mostly real, a consequence of worsening health conditions and services.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Davis, Christopher |author2-link=Murray Feshbach |author2=Feshbach, Murray |title=Rising Infant Mortality in the USSR in the 1970s |page=95 |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=United States Census Bureau}}</ref> The rises in both adult and infant mortality were not explained or defended by Soviet officials, and the [[Soviet government]] stopped publishing all mortality statistics for ten years. Soviet demographers and health specialists remained silent about the mortality increases until the late-1980s, when the publication of mortality data resumed, and researchers could delve into the real causes.<ref>{{cite book |author=Krimins, Juris |title=The Changing Mortality Patterns in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia: Experience of the Past Three Decades |date=3–7 December 1990}} Paper presented at the International Conference on Healthy, Morbidity and Mortality by Cause of Death in Europe.</ref>

{{Largest cities
| country      = the Soviet Union
| stat_ref     = Sources: [http://unstats.un.org/unsd/Demographic/Products/dyb/DYBHist/HistTab02.pdf 1989 Soviet census]
| class = info
| div_name     = City
| div_link     = Republics of the Soviet Union{{!}}Republic

| city_1 = Moscow | div_1 = Russian SFSR | pop_1 = 8,967,332 | img_1 = Red Square Lenin's mausoleum 02.jpg
| city_2 = Saint Petersburg{{!}}Leningrad | div_2 = Russian SFSR | pop_2 = 4,990,749 | img_2 = Hermitage, Leningrad (St. Petersburg).jpg
| city_3 = Kyiv{{!}}Kiev | div_3 = Ukrainian SSR | pop_3 = 2,571,000 | img_3 = Peremohy Square in Kiev, 1985.JPEG
| city_4 = Tashkent | div_4 = Uzbek SSR | pop_4 = 2,072,459 | img_4 = Здание штаба ТуркВО.jpg
| city_5 = Baku | div_5 = Azerbaijan SSR | pop_5 = 1,727,000
| city_6 = Kharkiv{{!}}Kharkov | div_6 = Ukrainian SSR | pop_6 = 1,593,970
| city_7 = Minsk | div_7 = Byelorussian SSR | pop_7 = 1,607,077
| city_8 = Nizhny Novgorod{{!}}Gorki | div_8 = Russian SFSR | pop_8 = 1,438,133
| city_9 = Novosibirsk | div_9 = Russian SFSR | pop_9 = 1,436,516
| city_10 = Yekaterinburg{{!}}Sverdlovsk | div_10 = Russian SFSR | pop_10 = 1,364,621
| city_11 = Tbilisi | div_11 = Georgian SSR | pop_11 = 1,246,936
| city_12 = Samara{{!}}Kuybyshev | div_12 = Russian SFSR | pop_12 = 1,254,460
| city_13 = Yerevan | div_13 = Armenian SSR | pop_13 = 1,201,539
| city_14 = Dnipro{{!}}Dnepropetrovsk | div_14 = Ukrainian SSR | pop_14 = 1,178,000
| city_15 = Omsk | div_15 = Russian SFSR | pop_15 = 1,148,418
| city_16 = Chelyabinsk | div_16 = Russian SFSR | pop_16 = 1,141,777
| city_17 = Odesa{{!}}Odessa | div_17 = Ukrainian SSR | pop_17 = 1,115,371
| city_18 = Donetsk | div_18 = Ukrainian SSR | pop_18 = 1,109,900
| city_19 = Kazan | div_19 = Russian SFSR | pop_19 = 1,094,378
| city_20 = Almaty{{!}}Alma-Ata | div_20 = Kazakh SSR | pop_20 = 1,071,900
}}

=== Urbanism ===
[[File:Largest cities USSR 1989.svg|thumb|right|Largest cities of the USSR according to the 1989 census]]
The Soviet Union imposed heavy control on city growth, preventing some cities from reaching their full potential while promoting others.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Clayton |first1=Elizabeth |last2=Richardson |first2=Thomas |title=Soviet Control of City Size |journal=Economic Development and Cultural Change |publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]] |volume=38 |issue=1 |year=1989 |jstor=1154166 |pages=155–165 |doi=10.1086/451781 |s2cid=154477882 |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/1154166 |access-date=23 February 2024}}</ref><ref name="Stronski-2010">{{cite book |last=Stronski |first=Paul |date=2010 |title=Tashkent: Forging a Soviet City, 1930–1966 |publisher=University of Pittsburgh Press |url=https://mytashkent.uz/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/tashkent.-forging-a-soviet-city-1930%E2%80%931966.pdf |isbn=978-0-8229-4394-5}}</ref>

For the entirety of its existence, the most populous cities were [[Moscow]] and [[Leningrad]] (both in [[Russian SFSR]]), with the third far place taken by [[Kiev]] ([[Ukrainian SSR]]). At its inception, the Top 5 was completed by [[Kharkov]] (Ukrainian SSR) and [[Baku]] ([[Azerbaijan SSR]]), but, by the end of the century, [[Tashkent]] ([[Uzbek SSR]]), which had assumed the position of capital of Soviet Central Asia, had risen to fourth place. Another city worth mentioning is [[Minsk]] ([[Byelorussian SSR]]), which saw rapid growth during the 20th century, rising from the 32nd most populous in the union to the 7th.<ref name="Stronski-2010" /><ref>{{cite journal |last=Harris |first=Chauncy D. |title=The Cities of the Soviet Union |journal=[[Geographical Review]] |volume=35 |issue=1 |date=1945 |doi=10.2307/210935 |page=119 |jstor=210935 |bibcode=1945GeoRv..35..107H}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Statistics For Everyone |website=istmat.info |date=19 February 2018 |url=http://istmat.info/files/uploads/17594/naselenie_sssr._po_dannym_vsesoyuznoy_perepisi_naseleniya_1989g.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180620003708/http://istmat.info/files/uploads/17594/naselenie_sssr._po_dannym_vsesoyuznoy_perepisi_naseleniya_1989g.pdf |archive-date=20 June 2018 |url-status=dead |access-date=23 February 2024}}</ref>

=== Women and fertility ===
[[File:RIAN archive 16735 Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Valentina Tereshkova]], the first woman in space, visiting the [[Lvov]] confectionery, Ukrainian SSR, 1967]]
Under Lenin, the state made explicit commitments to promote the equality of men and women. Many early Russian feminists and ordinary Russian working women actively participated in the Revolution, and many more were affected by the events of that period and the new policies. Beginning in October 1918, Lenin's government liberalized divorce and abortion laws, decriminalized homosexuality (re-criminalized in 1932), permitted cohabitation, and ushered in a host of reforms.<ref>Wendy Z. Goldman, ''Women, the State and Revolution: Soviet Family Policy and Social Life, 1917–1936''. Cambridge: [[Cambridge University Press]], 1993</ref> However, without [[birth control]], the new system produced many broken marriages, as well as countless out-of-wedlock children.<ref>Richard Stites, ''The Women's Liberation Movement in Russia: Feminism, Nihilism, and Bolshevism, 1860–1930'' (1978)</ref> The epidemic of divorces and extramarital affairs created social hardships when Soviet leaders wanted people to concentrate their efforts on growing the economy. Giving women control over their fertility also led to a precipitous decline in the birth rate, perceived as a threat to their country's military power. By 1936, Stalin reversed most of the liberal laws, ushering in a [[Natalism|pronatalist]] era that lasted for decades.<ref>Rebecca Balmas Neary, "Mothering Socialist Society: The Wife-Activists' Movement and the Soviet Culture of Daily Life, 1934–1941", ''[[Russian Review]]'' (58) 3, July 1999: 396–412</ref>

By 1917, Russia became the first [[great power]] to grant women the right to vote.<ref>{{cite web |last=Figes |first=Orlando |title=From Tsar to U.S.S.R.: Russia's Chaotic Year of Revolution. |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/archaeology-and-history/magazine/2017/09-10/russian-revolution-history-lenin/ |website=National Geographic |publisher=[[National Geographic Society]] |access-date=28 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190322092654/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/archaeology-and-history/magazine/2017/09-10/russian-revolution-history-lenin/ |archive-date=22 March 2019 |url-status=dead |date=25 October 2017}}</ref> After heavy casualties in World Wars I and II, women outnumbered men in the Soviet Union by a 4:3 ratio.<ref>{{cite web |last=Gao |first=George |title=Why the Former USSR Has Far Fewer Men than Women |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/08/14/why-the-former-ussr-has-far-fewer-men-than-women/ |website=[[Pew Research Center]] |date=14 August 2015 |access-date=28 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190328231028/https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/08/14/why-the-former-ussr-has-far-fewer-men-than-women/ |archive-date=28 March 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref> This contributed to the larger role women played in Soviet society compared to other great powers at the time.

=== LGBT rights ===
The Soviet Union repressed [[homosexuality]]. Even during the period when homosexuality was officially legal after the abolition of the Tsarist penal code criminalising it, Soviet courts attempted to repress non-traditional forms of sexuality, which were widely viewed by Russian revolutionaries as a form of capitalist decadence despite more liberal views on homosexuality from Soviet academic sexologists. After Stalin's consolidation of power, homosexuality became officially recriminalised in 1934 and remained a criminal offence throughout the remainder of the Soviet Union's existence.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Engelstein |first=Laura |date=27 November 1995 |title=Soviet Policy Toward Male Homosexuality:: Its Origins and Historical Roots |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1300/J082v29n02_06 |journal=[[Journal of Homosexuality]] |language=en |volume=29 |issue=2–3 |pages=155–178 |doi=10.1300/J082v29n02_06 |pmid=8666753 |issn=0091-8369 |access-date=7 April 2025 |via=Taylor and Francis Online}}</ref>

=== Education ===
{{Main|Education in the Soviet Union}}
[[File:Young Pioneers in Kazakh SSR.jpg|thumb|[[Young Pioneer organization of the Soviet Union|Young Pioneers]] at a Young Pioneer camp in the Kazakh SSR]]
[[Anatoly Lunacharsky]] became the first [[People's Commissar]] for Education of Soviet Russia. In the beginning, the Soviet authorities placed great emphasis on the [[Likbez|elimination of illiteracy]]. All left-handed children were forced to write with their right hand in the Soviet school system.<ref>А.&nbsp;П.&nbsp;Чуприков, В.&nbsp;Д.&nbsp;Мишиев. // Латеральность населения СССР в конце 70-х и начале 80-х годов. К истории латеральной нейропсихологии и нейропсихиатрии. Хрестоматия. Донецк, 2010, 192 с.</ref><ref>А.&nbsp;П.&nbsp;Чуприков, Е.&nbsp;А.&nbsp;Волков. // Мир леворуких. Киев. 2008.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1998-03-27-1998086130-story.html |title=In Russia, left isn't quite right Handedness: The official Moscow line is that lefties are OK, but suspicion of those who are different persists from the old Soviet days. |last=Englund |first=Will |website=baltimoresun.com |access-date=24 June 2019 |archive-date=24 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190624220243/https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1998-03-27-1998086130-story.html |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite report |url=https://eera-ecer.de/ecer-programmes/conference/21/contribution/38628/ |title=Wrong Hand/Wrong Children: Education of Left Handed Children in the Soviet Union |first1=Linda |last1=Daniela |first2=Zanda |last2=Rubene |first3=Dace |last3=Medne |date=23 August 2016 |website=European Educational Research Association |access-date=24 June 2019 |archive-date=13 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171013124517/https://eera-ecer.de/ecer-programmes/conference/21/contribution/38628/ |url-status=live}}</ref> Literate people were automatically hired as teachers. {{citation needed|date=May 2017}} For a short period, quality was sacrificed for quantity. By 1940, Stalin could announce that illiteracy had been eliminated. Throughout the 1930s, [[social mobility]] rose sharply, which has been attributed to reforms in education.<ref>[[Sheila Fitzpatrick]], ''[http://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/history/twentieth-century-european-history/education-and-social-mobility-soviet-union-19211934 Education and Social Mobility in the Soviet Union 1921–1934] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141118133419/http://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/history/twentieth-century-european-history/education-and-social-mobility-soviet-union-19211934 |date=18 November 2014 }}'', [[Cambridge University Press]] (2002), {{ISBN|978-0-521-89423-4}}</ref> In the aftermath of World War II, the country's educational system expanded dramatically, which had a tremendous effect. In the 1960s, nearly all children had access to education, the only exception being those living in remote areas. [[Nikita Khrushchev]] tried to make education more accessible, making it clear to children that education was closely linked to the needs of society. Education also became important in giving rise to the [[New Soviet man|New Man]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Law |first=David A. |title=Russian Civilization |publisher=Ardent Media |year=1975 |pages=300–301 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f3ky9qBavl4C |isbn=978-0-8422-0529-0 |access-date=20 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150512055909/http://books.google.com/books?id=f3ky9qBavl4C&dq |archive-date=12 May 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref> Citizens directly entering the workforce had the constitutional right to a job and to free [[Vocational-technical school|vocational training]].

The [[Education in the Soviet Union|education system]] was highly centralized and universally accessible to all citizens, with [[affirmative action]] for applicants from nations associated with [[cultural backwardness]]. However, as part of a general [[Antisemitism in the Soviet Union|antisemitic policy]], an unofficial [[Jewish quota]] was applied{{when|date=July 2019}} in the leading institutions of higher education by subjecting Jewish applicants to harsher entrance examinations.<ref>{{cite book |editor=[[Mikhail Shifman]] |title=You Failed Your Math Test, Comrade Einstein: Adventures and Misadventures of Young Mathematicians Or Test Your Skills in Almost Recreational Mathematics |publisher=World Scientific |date=2005 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ho6fMF8ehogC |isbn=978-981-270-116-9}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author=Edward Frenkel |title=The Fifth problem: math & anti-Semitism in the Soviet Union |date=October 2012 |journal=The New Criterion |url=http://www.newcriterion.com/articles.cfm/The-Fifth-problem--math---anti-Semitism-in-the-Soviet-Union-7446 |access-date=12 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151207161404/http://www.newcriterion.com/articles.cfm/The-Fifth-problem--math---anti-Semitism-in-the-Soviet-Union-7446 |archive-date=7 December 2015 |url-status=live |author-link=Edward Frenkel}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/dominic-lawson/dominic-lawson-more-migrants-please-especially-the-clever-ones-2368622.html |location=London |work=[[The Independent]] |date=11 October 2011 |title=More migrants please, especially the clever ones |author=Dominic Lawson |access-date=14 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120204140558/http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/dominic-lawson/dominic-lawson-more-migrants-please-especially-the-clever-ones-2368622.html |archive-date=4 February 2012 |url-status=live |author-link=Dominic Lawson}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author=Andre Geim |title=Biographical |publisher=Nobelprize.org |date=2010 |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/2010/geim-bio.html |access-date=14 June 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170616114451/http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/2010/geim-bio.html |archive-date=16 June 2017 |url-status=live |author-link=Andre Geim}}</ref> The Brezhnev era also introduced a rule that required all university applicants to present a reference from the local [[Komsomol]] party secretary.<ref>{{cite book |last=Shlapentokh |first=Vladimir |title=Soviet Intellectuals and Political Power: The Post-Stalin Era |page=26 |publisher=[[I.B. Tauris]] |year=1990 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7VFqqE5995UC |isbn=978-1-85043-284-5 |access-date=20 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150512041316/http://books.google.com/books?id=7VFqqE5995UC&dq |archive-date=12 May 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref> According to statistics from 1986, the number of higher education students per the population of 10,000 was 181 for the USSR, compared to 517 for the US.<ref>{{cite book |last=Pejovich |first=Svetozar |title=The Economics of Property Rights: Towards a Theory of Comparative Systems |page=130 |year=1990 |publisher=[[Springer Science+Business Media]] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ocQKHRReKdcC |isbn=978-0-7923-0878-2 |access-date=25 May 2020 |archive-date=17 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200617225600/https://books.google.com/books?id=ocQKHRReKdcC |url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Nationalities and ethnic groups ===
{{Main|Islam in the Soviet Union|National delimitation in the Soviet Union|Korenizatsiia|Soviet Central Asia}}
[[File:Samarkand-1981-0013.JPG|thumb|People in [[Samarkand]], Uzbek SSR, 1981]]
[[File:Mestia, Svaneti. October 30, 1929.JPG|thumb|[[Svaneti]] man in [[Mestia]], Georgian SSR, 1929]]
The Soviet Union was an ethnically diverse country, with more than 100 distinct ethnic groups. The total population of the country was estimated at 293&nbsp;million in 1991. According to a 1990 estimate, the majority of the population were [[Russians]] (50.78%), followed by [[Ukrainians]] (15.45%) and [[Uzbeks]] (5.84%).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.theodora.com/wfb1991/soviet_union/soviet_union_people.html |title=Soviet Union – People |author=Central Intelligence Agency |website=[[The World Factbook]] |year=1991 |access-date=25 October 2010 |author-link=Central Intelligence Agency |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101004135453/http://www.theodora.com/wfb1991/soviet_union/soviet_union_people.html |archive-date=4 October 2010 |url-status=live}}</ref> Overall, in 1989 the ethnic demography of the country showed that 69.8% was [[East Slavs|East Slavic]], 17.5% was [[Turkic peoples|Turkic]], 1.6% were [[Armenians]], 1.6% were [[Balts]], 1.5% were [[Uralic peoples|Uralic]], 1.5% were [[Tajiks|Tajik]], 1.4% were [[Georgians|Georgian]], 1.2% were [[Moldovans|Moldovan]] and 4.1% were of other various ethnic groups.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/sng_nac_89.php |title=Демоскоп Weekly – Приложение. Справочник статистических показателей. |website=www.demoscope.ru}}</ref>

All citizens of the USSR had their own ethnic affiliation. The ethnicity of a person was chosen at the age of sixteen by the child's parents.{{sfn|Comrie|1981|p=2}} If the parents did not agree, the child was automatically assigned the ethnicity of the father. Partly due to Soviet policies, some of the smaller minority ethnic groups were considered part of larger ones, such as the [[Mingrelians]] of [[Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic|Georgia]], who were classified with the linguistically related [[Georgians]].<ref>{{harvnb|Comrie|1981|p=3}}</ref> Some ethnic groups voluntarily assimilated, while others were brought in by force. Russians, [[Belarusians]], and Ukrainians, who were all East Slavic and Orthodox, shared close cultural, ethnic, and religious ties, while other groups did not. With multiple nationalities living in the same territory, [[Ethnic conflicts in the Soviet Union|ethnic antagonisms]] developed over the years.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.historytoday.com/geoffrey-hosking/rulers-and-victims-russians-soviet-union |title=Rulers and Victims: The Russians in the Soviet Union |author=Hosking, Geoffrey |date=13 March 2006 |website=[[History Today]] |access-date=25 October 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110501085443/http://www.historytoday.com/geoffrey-hosking/rulers-and-victims-russians-soviet-union |archive-date=1 May 2011 |url-status=live}} (pay-fee)</ref>{{POV statement|date=February 2013}}

Members of various ethnicities participated in legislative bodies. Organs of power like the Politburo, the Secretariat of the Central Committee etc., were formally ethnically neutral, but in reality, ethnic Russians were overrepresented, although there were also non-Russian leaders in the [[List of leaders of the Soviet Union|Soviet leadership]], such as [[Joseph Stalin]], [[Grigory Zinoviev]], [[Nikolai Podgorny]] or [[Andrei Gromyko]]. During the Soviet era, a significant number of ethnic Russians and Ukrainians migrated to other Soviet republics, and many of them settled there. According to the last census in 1989, the Russian 'diaspora' in the Soviet republics had reached 25&nbsp;million.<ref>Pål Kolstø, "Political construction sites: Nation-building in Russia and the post-Soviet States". Boulder, Colorado: Westview press 2000, pp. 81–104
uncorrected version, [https://folk.uio.no/palk/ch02.htm Chapter 2, par. "Nations and Nation-Building in Eastern Europe"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171219130957/http://folk.uio.no/palk/ch02.htm|date=19 December 2017}} and [https://folk.uio.no/palk/PCSch05russian%20diasporas.htm Chapter 5] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050102081015/http://folk.uio.no/palk/PCSch05russian%20diasporas.htm|date=2 January 2005}}</ref>

<gallery widths="300" heights="210">
File:Ethnic map USSR 1930.jpg|Ethnographic map of the USSR, 1930
File:European Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) Ethnic Groups (Before 1939) - DPLA - 9820cc06b72e7b131366b861f5ee351a.jpg|European Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) Ethnic Groups, before 1939
File:Ethnic map USSR 1941.jpg|Ethnographic map of the Soviet Union, 1941
File:U.S. S.R. - Ethnic Compositions - DPLA - 754227d4ec980a6b169104b656de499a.jpg|Ethnic composition of the Soviet Union in 1949
File:Map of the ethnic groups of the Soviet Union.png|Ethnographic map of the Soviet Union, 1970
File:French map of the ethnic groups living in USSR.png|Map of the ethnic groups living in USSR, 1970
File:Ethnic Groups in the Soviet Union - DPLA - d7a6475bd436c74e2b67e621a6b2afad.jpg|Ethnic Groups in the Soviet Union, 1979
File:Comparative Soviet Nationalities by Republic, 1989 - DPLA - 23930ee870e66bd2efa5417463128b28.jpg|Comparative Soviet Nationalities by Republic, 1989
</gallery>

=== Health ===
{{Main|Healthcare in Russia#Healthcare in the Soviet Union|l1=Health care in the Soviet Union}}
[[File:RussianAbortionPoster.jpg|thumb|An early Soviet-era poster discouraging unsafe abortion practices]]
In 1917, before the revolution, health conditions were significantly behind those of developed countries. As Lenin later noted, "Either the lice will defeat socialism, or socialism will defeat the lice".<ref>{{harvnb|Lane|1992|p=353}}</ref> The Soviet health care system was conceived by the [[People's Commissariat for Health]] in 1918. Under the [[Semashko model]], health care was to be controlled by the state and would be provided to its citizens free of charge, a revolutionary concept at the time. Article 42 of the [[1977 Soviet Constitution]] gave all citizens the [[right to health]] protection and free access to any health institutions in the USSR. Before [[Leonid Brezhnev]] became general secretary, the Soviet healthcare system was held in high esteem by many foreign specialists. This changed, however, from Brezhnev's accession and [[Mikhail Gorbachev]]'s tenure as leader, during which the health care system was heavily criticized for many basic faults, such as the quality of service and the unevenness in its provision.<ref>{{harvnb|Lane|1992|p=352}}</ref> [[Ministry of Health (Soviet Union)|Minister of Health]] [[Yevgeniy Chazov]], during the [[19th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union]], while highlighting such successes as having the most doctors and hospitals in the world, recognized the system's areas for improvement and felt that billions of [[Soviet ruble|ruble]]s were squandered.<ref>{{harvnb|Lane|1992|pp=352–353}}</ref> <!-- Billions in the previous line was prior milliard, but was changed according to [[WP:MOSNUM]]. Don't be fooled by the surrounding British English. I checked the rest of the article: All other named numbers were either "million" (same on both scales) or "trillion USD", where a value of $10^18 is completely implausible. -->

After the revolution, life expectancy for all age groups went up. This statistic in itself was seen by some that the [[Socialist mode of production|socialist system]] was superior to the [[capitalist system]]. These improvements continued into the 1960s when statistics indicated that the life expectancy briefly surpassed that of the United States. Life expectancy started to decline in the 1970s, possibly because of [[Alcohol consumption in Russia|alcohol abuse]]. At the same time, infant mortality began to rise. After 1974, the government stopped publishing statistics on the matter. This trend can be partly explained by the number of pregnancies rising drastically in the Asian part of the country where infant mortality was the highest while declining markedly in the more developed European part of the Soviet Union.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Dinkel, R.H. |title=The Seeming Paradox of Increasing Mortality in a Highly Industrialized Nation: the Example of the Soviet Union |journal=Population Studies |pages=155–177 |year=1990 |volume=39 |issue=1 |doi=10.1080/0032472031000141296 |pmid=11611752}}</ref>

==== Dentistry ====
Soviet dental technology and dental health were considered notoriously bad. In 1991, the average 35-year-old had 12 to 14 cavities, fillings or missing teeth. Toothpaste was often not available, and toothbrushes did not conform to standards of modern dentistry.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Niedowski |title=Dentistry in Russia is finally leaving the Dark Ages behind |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2007-03-04-0703040477-story.html |agency=[[Chicago Tribune]] |date=2007 |access-date=30 April 2021 |archive-date=5 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210405013455/https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2007-03-04-0703040477-story.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ferber |first1=Irwin |last2=Bedrick |first2=Anthony E. |title=Dental survey of 620 Soviet immigrants |journal=JADA |date=1979 |volume=98 |issue=3 |pages=379–383 |pmid=283158 |url=https://jada.ada.org/article/S0002-8177(79)83017-2/pdf |access-date=14 July 2021 |archive-date=24 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220424221556/https://jada.ada.org/article/S0002-8177%2879%2983017-2/pdf |url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Language ===
{{Main|Languages of the Soviet Union|Reforms of Russian orthography}}
Under Lenin, the government gave small language groups their own writing systems.{{sfn|Comrie|1981|pp=3–4}} The development of these writing systems was highly successful, even though some flaws were detected. During the later days of the USSR, countries with the same [[multilingual]] situation implemented similar policies. A serious problem when creating these writing systems was that the languages differed [[dialect]]ally greatly from each other.{{sfn|Comrie|1981|p=4}} When a language had been given a writing system and appeared in a notable publication, it would attain 'official language' status. There were many minority languages which never received their own writing system; therefore, their speakers were forced to have a [[second language]].{{sfn|Comrie|1981|p=25}} There are examples where the government retreated from this policy, most notably under Stalin where education was discontinued in languages that were not widespread. These languages were then assimilated into another language, mostly Russian.{{sfn|Comrie|1981|p=26}} During World War II, some minority languages were banned, and their speakers accused of collaborating with the enemy.{{sfn|Comrie|1981|p=27}}

As the most widely spoken of the Soviet Union's many languages, Russian ''de facto'' functioned as an official language, as the 'language of interethnic communication' ({{langx|ru|link=no|язык межнационального общения}}), but only assumed the ''[[de jure]]'' status as the official national language in 1990.<ref>{{cite web |script-title=ru:ЗАКОН СССР ОТ 24 April 1990 О ЯЗЫКАХ НАРОДОВ СССР |publisher=[[Government of the Soviet Union]] |date=24 April 1990 |url=http://legal-ussr.narod.ru/data01/tex10935.htm |trans-title=Law of the USSR from 24 April 1990 on languages of the USSR |access-date=24 October 2010 |language=ru |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160508201331/http://legal-ussr.narod.ru/data01/tex10935.htm |archive-date=8 May 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

=== Religion ===
{{Main|Religion in the Soviet Union}}
[[File:Bezbozhnik u stanka 22-1929.jpg|thumb|left|Cover of [[Bezbozhnik (magazine)|Bezbozhnik]] in 1929, magazine of the Society of the Godless. The first five-year plan of the Soviet Union is shown crushing the gods of the [[Abrahamic religions]].]]
[[File:Christ saviour explosion.jpg|thumb|The [[Cathedral of Christ the Saviour]] in Moscow during its demolition in 1931]]
[[File:Sennaia-1900.jpg|thumb|The [[Saviour Church on Sennaya Square]] in Leningrad was one of many notable church buildings destroyed during the [[Khrushchev Thaw]].]]
[[File:Hujum.png|thumb|A [[paranja]] burning ceremony in the [[Uzbek SSR]] as part of Soviet [[Hujum]] policies]]
[[File:U.S.S.R.-Major religious groups. 4-61. LOC 75694086.jpg|thumb|Major religious groups in the Soviet Union as published by the [[CIA]]]]
[[Christianity]] and [[Islam]] had the highest number of adherents among the religious citizens.<ref name="Eaton, Katherine Bliss-2004">{{cite book |author=Eaton, Katherine Bliss |title=Daily life in the Soviet Union |publisher=[[Greenwood Publishing Group]] |year=2004 |url=https://archive.org/details/dailylifeinsovie00eato |url-access=registration |isbn=978-0-313-31628-9 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/dailylifeinsovie00eato/page/285 285] and 286 |access-date=20 June 2015}}</ref> [[Eastern Christianity]] predominated among Christians, with Russia's traditional [[Russian Orthodox Church]] being the largest [[Christian denomination]]. About 90% of the Soviet Union's Muslims were [[Sunni]]s, with [[Shias]] being concentrated in the [[Azerbaijan SSR]].<ref name="Eaton, Katherine Bliss-2004" /> Smaller groups included [[Roman Catholics]], Jews, [[Buddhists]], and a variety of [[Protestant]] denominations (especially [[Baptists]] and [[Lutherans]]).<ref name="Eaton, Katherine Bliss-2004" />

Religious influence had been strong in the Russian Empire. The Russian Orthodox Church enjoyed a privileged status as the church of the monarchy and took part in carrying out official state functions.<ref>{{cite book |author=Silvio Ferrari |author2=W. Cole Durham |author3=Elizabeth A. Sewell |title=Law and religion in post-communist Europe |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QEucgny-0k4C |year=2003 |publisher=Peeters Pub & Booksellers |isbn=978-90-429-1262-5 |page=261 |access-date=25 May 2020 |archive-date=22 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200622083150/https://books.google.com/books?id=QEucgny-0k4C |url-status=live}}</ref> The immediate period following the establishment of the Soviet state included a struggle against the Orthodox Church, which the revolutionaries considered an ally of the former [[ruling class]]es.<ref name="Simon 1974">{{harvnb|Simon|1974|pp=64–65}}</ref>

In Soviet law, the 'freedom to hold religious services' was constitutionally guaranteed, although the ruling Communist Party regarded religion as incompatible with the [[Marxist]] spirit of [[scientific materialism]].<ref name="Simon 1974" /> In practice, the Soviet system subscribed to a narrow interpretation of this right, and in fact used a range of official measures to discourage religion and curb the activities of religious groups.<ref name="Simon 1974" />

The 1918 [[Council of People's Commissars]] decree establishing the Russian SFSR as a secular state also decreed that 'the teaching of religion in all [places] where subjects of general instruction are taught, is forbidden. Citizens may teach and may be taught religion privately.'<ref>{{harvnb|Simon|1974|p=209}}</ref> Among further restrictions, those adopted in 1929 included express prohibitions on a range of church activities, including meetings for organized [[Bible study (Christian)|Bible study]].<ref name="Simon 1974" /> Both Christian and non-Christian establishments were shut down by the thousands in the 1920s and 1930s. By 1940, as many as 90% of the churches, synagogues, and mosques that had been operating in 1917 were closed; the majority of them were demolished or re-purposed for state needs with little concern for their historic and cultural value.<ref>{{cite book |author=Atwood, Craig D. |title=Always Reforming: A History of Christianity Since 1300 |location=Macon, Georgia |publisher=[[Mercer University Press]] |year=2001 |url=https://archive.org/details/alwaysreformingh0000atwo |url-access=registration |isbn=978-0-86554-679-0 |page=[https://archive.org/details/alwaysreformingh0000atwo/page/311 311] |access-date=20 June 2015}}</ref>

More than 85,000 Orthodox priests were shot in 1937 alone.<ref>{{cite web |url-status=dead |work=The Globe and Mail (Canada) |date=9 March 2001 |title=Johnson's Russia List #5141 - Why father of glasnost is despised in Russia |via=CDI |first1=Geoffrey |last1=York |url=http://www.cdi.org/russia/johnson/5141.html# |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120120105914/http://www.cdi.org/russia/johnson/5141.html |archive-date=20 January 2012 |quote=In his new book, Maelstrom of Memory, Mr. Yakovlev lists some of the nightmares uncovered by his commission. More than 41 million Soviets were imprisoned from 1923 to 1953. More than 884,000 children were in internal exile by 1954. More than 85,000 Orthodox priests were shot in 1937 alone.}}</ref> Only a twelfth of the Russian Orthodox Church's priests were left functioning in their parishes by 1941.<ref>D. Pospielovsky, ''The Russian Orthodox Church under the Soviet Regime'', vol. 1, p. 175.</ref> In the period between 1927 and 1940, the number of Orthodox Churches in Russia fell from 29,584 to less than 500 (1.7%).<ref>Dimitry V. Pospielovsky. ''A History of Soviet Atheism in Theory, and Practice, and the Believer'', vol 2: Soviet Antireligious Campaigns and Persecutions, St Martin's Press, New York (1988)</ref>

The Soviet Union was officially a [[secular state]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.departments.bucknell.edu/russian/const/36cons04.html |title=ARTICLE 124. |access-date=4 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190102163245/http://www.departments.bucknell.edu/russian/const/36cons04.html |archive-date=2 January 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.departments.bucknell.edu/russian/const/77cons02.html |title=Article 52. |access-date=4 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190216062245/http://www.departments.bucknell.edu/russian/const/77cons02.html |archive-date=16 February 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref> but a 'government-sponsored program of forced conversion to [[Marxist-Leninist atheism|atheism]]' was conducted under the doctrine of [[state atheism]].<ref>Religion and the State in Russia and China: Suppression, Survival, and Revival, by Christopher Marsh, page 47. Continuum International Publishing Group, 2011.</ref><ref>Inside Central Asia: A Political and Cultural History, by Dilip Hiro. Penguin, 2009.</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Adappur |first=Abraham |title=Religion and the Cultural Crisis in India and the West |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=44DYAAAAMAAJ |access-date=14 July 2016 |year=2000 |publisher=Intercultural Publications |isbn=978-81-85574-47-9 |quote=Forced Conversion under Atheistic Regimes: It might be added that the most modern example of forced "conversions" came not from any theocratic state, but from a professedly atheist government—that of the Soviet Union under the Communists. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170314065732/https://books.google.com/books?id=44DYAAAAMAAJ |archive-date=14 March 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref> The government targeted religions based on state interests, and while most organized religions were never outlawed, religious property was confiscated, believers were harassed, and religion was ridiculed while atheism was propagated in schools.<ref>USGOV1.{{full citation needed|date=August 2023}}</ref> In 1925, the government founded the [[League of Militant Atheists]] to intensify the propaganda campaign.<ref>{{cite book |first=Geoffrey |last=Blainey |title=A Short History of Christianity |publisher=Viking |year=2011 |page=494}}</ref> Accordingly, although personal expressions of religious faith were not explicitly banned, a strong sense of social stigma was imposed on them by the formal structures and mass media, and it was generally considered unacceptable for members of certain professions (teachers, state bureaucrats, soldiers) to be openly religious. While persecution accelerated following Stalin's rise to power, a revival of Orthodoxy was fostered by the government during World War II and the Soviet authorities sought to control the Russian Orthodox Church rather than liquidate it. During the first five years of Soviet power, the Bolsheviks executed 28 Russian Orthodox bishops and over 1,200 Russian Orthodox priests. Many others were imprisoned or exiled. Believers were harassed and persecuted. Most seminaries were closed, and the publication of most religious material was prohibited. By 1941, only 500 churches remained open out of about 54,000 in existence before World War I.

Convinced that religious [[anti-Sovietism]] had become a thing of the past, and with the looming threat of war, the Stalin administration began shifting to a more moderate religion policy in the late 1930s.<ref name="Janz 1998">{{harvnb|Janz|1998|pp=38–39}}</ref> Soviet religious establishments overwhelmingly rallied to support the war effort during World War II. Amid other accommodations to religious faith after the German invasion, churches were reopened. [[Radio Moscow]] began broadcasting a religious hour, and a historic meeting between Stalin and Orthodox Church leader [[Patriarch Sergius of Moscow]] was held in 1943. Stalin had the support of the majority of the religious people in the USSR even through the late 1980s.<ref name="Janz 1998" /> The general tendency of this period was an increase in religious activity among believers of all faiths.<ref>{{cite book |author=Ro'i, Yaacov |title=Jews and Jewish Life in Russia and the Soviet Union |location=London |publisher=[[Frank Cass]] |year=1995 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bJBH5pxzSyMC |isbn=978-0-7146-4619-0 |page=263 |access-date=20 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150512055620/http://books.google.com/books?id=bJBH5pxzSyMC |archive-date=12 May 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Under [[Nikita Khrushchev]], the state leadership clashed with the churches in 1958–1964, a period when [[atheism]] was emphasized in the educational curriculum, and numerous state publications promoted atheistic views.<ref name="Janz 1998" /> During this period, the number of churches fell from 20,000 to 10,000 from 1959 to 1965, and the number of synagogues dropped from 500 to 97.<ref name="Victor Swoboda-1990">{{cite book |author1=Nahaylo, Bohdan |author2=Victor Swoboda |name-list-style=amp |title=Soviet Disunion: A History of the Nationalities Problem in the USSR |location=London |publisher=[[Hamish Hamilton]] |year=1990 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZrG7vrPue4wC |isbn=978-0-02-922401-4 |page=144 |access-date=20 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150512050225/http://books.google.com/books?id=ZrG7vrPue4wC |archive-date=12 May 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref> The number of working mosques also declined, falling from 1,500 to 500 within a decade.<ref name="Victor Swoboda-1990" />

Religious institutions remained monitored by the Soviet government, but churches, synagogues, temples, and mosques were all given more leeway in the [[Brezhnev era]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Mark D. Steinberg |author2=Catherine Wanner |title=Religion, morality, and community in post-Soviet societies |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LR6X3EY8oPIC |date=2008 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=978-0-253-22038-7 |page=6 |access-date=25 May 2020 |archive-date=17 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200617211211/https://books.google.com/books?id=LR6X3EY8oPIC |url-status=live}}</ref> Official relations between the Orthodox Church and the government again warmed to the point that the Brezhnev government twice honored Orthodox Patriarch [[Alexy I]] with the [[Order of the Red Banner of Labour]].<ref>{{harvnb|Janz|1998|p=42}}</ref> A poll conducted by Soviet authorities in 1982 recorded 20% of the Soviet population as 'active religious believers.'<ref>{{cite book |author1=McKay, George |author2=Williams, Christopher |title=Subcultures and New Religious Movements in Russia and East-Central Europe |publisher=[[Peter Lang (publishing company)|Peter Lang]] |year=2009 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xpNBm-z7aOYC |isbn=978-3-03911-921-9 |pages=231–232 |access-date=20 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150512035801/http://books.google.com/books?id=xpNBm-z7aOYC&dq |archive-date=12 May 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref>