Editing Soviet Union (section)

=== 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>