A COMMENT ON SOME ADDITIONAL RESULTS OF THE 1959 POPULATION CENSUS IN THE USSR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79T01003A001000070002-1
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• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 24, 2002
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: February 15, 1961
• Content Type: BRIEF

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CIA/RR--CD'-61-7 Copy No. -
15 February 1961
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CURRENT SUPPORT BRIEF
A COMMENT ON SOME ADDITIONAL RESULTS OF THE 1959 POPULATION
CENSUS IN THE USSR
OFFICE OF RESEARCH AND REPORTS
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
This report represents the immediate views of the
originating intelligence components of the Office
of Research and Reports. Comments are solicited.
W-A-R-N-I-N-G
This document contains information affecting the national defense of
the United States, within the meaning of the espionage laws, Title 18
USC, Sections 793 and 794, the transmission or revelation of which
in any manner to an unauthorized person is prohibited by law.
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CONFIDENTIAL
A COMMENT ON SOME ADDITIONAL RESULTS OF THE 1959 POPULATION
CENSUS IN THE USSR
The USSR recently announced more summary results of the popula-
tion census conducted in January 1959. 1/ The new data, which in-
clude a distribution of the total population by social class and
means of support, and a distribution of the labor force by occupation
and educational attainment, provide a type of information that here-
tofore has been available only in the published volumes for the 1926
census. For Soviet planners and policy makers, the detailed data
underlying the few results made public are the first such data avail-
able in census form since 1939.
Distribution of the Population by Social Class
According to the census results, the population of 208.8 million
in January 1959 was distributed by social class as follows: Workers
and Employees--68.3 percent; Kolkhoz Peasantry--31.4 percent; and
Private Peasants and Handicraftsmen--0.3 percent. Since 1939, Workers
and Employees and members of their fami-lies have increased from a little
over half to more than two-thirds of the population, reflecting pri-
marily the growth of the urban working class and the decline of 'the
peasantry. State farms also contributed to this development as 'their
population, which is included in the class Workers and Employees, more
than doubled since 1939 to roughly 13 million in 1959.
Distribution of the Population by Means of Subsistence
The distribution of the Soviet population by source of income or
support is shown in Table 1. According to the census results, 99.1
million persons were "gainfully occupied?'--that is, were reported as
having an occupation as their chief means of support, and an additional
9.9 million were exclusively engaged in personal subsidiary agricul-
ture--in farming. personal plots of land and tending privately-owned
livestock. and poultry. The remaining 100 million persons were depend-
ent on the state or on other individuals.
The questions asked in the census, as well as the instructions
issued to the census-takers, made no provision for an individual to
report himself as unemployed. Persons with an occupation as their
chief means of support but not working on the census date were asked
to specify where they last worked and---were classified accordingly. 2/
Since the census was conducted in mid-January, when outdoor work was
at a seasonal low point, the number of gainfully occupied persons was
much higher than the number of persons actually at work. For example,
the census reported 32,3 million gainfully occupied individuals on
collective farms, but average employment during the census month was
only 18.0 million. 3/ Similarly, the census counted 63 million gain-
fully occupied Workers and Employees in mid-January, compared to a
reported 56 million actually at work at the end of 1958. 4/ Although
not a measure of unemployment by the rigidly defined US standard--
which counts an individual as unemployed only if he is actively seek-
ing work 5/--these differences show the extent of idleness in mid-
winter among persons who usually work: 44 percent among collective
farmers and 11 percent among other-workers
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Table 2 compares the census results wi estimates of the
civilian labor force. In order to make these comparisons it is
necessary (1) to add to the census figure for the total number of
gainfully-occupied persons the number of persons engaged in personal
subsidiary agriculture, and (2) to subtract the number in the armed
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POPULATION OF THE USSR BY MEANS OF SUBSISTENCE
15 JANUARY 1959
Means of Subsistence
Million Persons
Total population
208.8
Gainfully occupied
99.1
Armed forces
3.6
Workers and employees a/
62.9
Collective farmers
32.3
Individual peasants and handi-
craftsmen
0.3
Engaged in personal subsidiary
agriculture
9.9
Dependent on stipends or pensions b/
14.1
Dependent on other individuals
85.4
Dependent on other means, or status
not reported
0.3
a. Persons employed in State-owned enterprises including State farms.
and members of Producers' Cooperatives.
b. Excluding employed persons receiving pensions (included as Gain-
fully occupied); including all members of families receiving
veterans' pensions, except those who were also employed.
CIVILIAN LABOR FORCE IN THE USSR, CENSUS RESULTS
ANDORR-ESTIMATES, 1959 (MILLION PERSONS)
Census 25X1
Results Es
timat
es a/
Civilian labor force
105.4
104.2
Agriculture
48.3
51.4
Nonagriculture
57.1
52.8
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forces. The number in the armed forces given in the published cen-
sus results for January 1959 (3,623,000) is identical with the
figure given by Khrushchev as the size of the armed forces as of
y 1960. 7/
14 Janua
r
he -ku estimate of the civilian labor force combines esti-
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nrtes of the number of collective farmers who worked during the year
with annual averages of employment on state farms and in nonagr.i---
cultural branches of the economy 8/ and therefore could not be ex-
pected to agree with the census figure. Nevertheless, the totals
are quite close; the. substantial differences in the two figures for
agriculture and nonagricultural branches can be explained largely in
terms of differences in concepts and definitions:
(1)-T-he estimate of agricultural employment includes all
employment at State and collective farms, and would therefore 15e
higher than the census figure which includes only agricultural em-
ployment at these. farms? In 1959, an average of a out 3 million
farm workers were employed in nonagricultural activities at State
and collective farms. 9/
(2) -Tit AWestimate of nonagricultural employment is an annual
average and would necessarily be lower than the census figure, pri-
marily because seasonal and part-time workers are treated the same
as full-year workers in the census figure, but are included only as
fractions in the annual average.
(3) The census figure for nonagricultural employment probably
includes certain small groups, such as domestic servants and the
military security forces, thae excluded from reported annual
averages and therefore from e fit-estimate.
Educational Attainment of the Labor Force
The census results were reported in a manner which shows im-
pressive gains in the educational level of the labor force since
1939. The proportion of the labor force with at least an elemen-
tary (7 year) education increased from 12 percent in 1939 to 43
percent in 1959. Among the intelligentsia, which included 202 mil-
lion persons or one-fifth of the labor force in 1959, the propor-
tion with at least an elementary education increased from 50 per-
cent to 88 percent, and among the manual workers--the remainder of
the labor force--the proportion rose from 4 percent to 32 percent.
When average (median) years of schooling are computed for the
various groups, however, the results (Table 3) show more clearly
how low is the educational attainment of the.Soviet labor force and
how very unequally the groups have shared in the educational pro-
gress since 1939. Although the absolute difference between the
educational attainment of the intelligentsia and manual workers is
now greater than in 1939, the relative difference has remained the
same--the intelligentsia had about twice as much schooling as
manual workers both in 1939 and in 1959. The gap between the edu-
cational attainment of State workers and collective farmers, how-
ever, widened both absolutely and relatively since 1939. Although
State workers had only 0.3 more years of schooling than collective
farmers in 1939, they now have 1.2 more years; State workers now
have 27 percent more schooling than collective farmers, compared to
only 9 percent more in 1939.
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AVERAGE (MEDIAN) YEARS OF EDUCATION OF THE
USSR LABOR FORCE a/ 1939 AND 1959
a/ nc u ing t e.armed forces; excluding personal subsi-
diary agriculture.
Years
Category
1939
1959
Total labor force
3.9
6.1
Intelligentsia
6.9
9.8
Manual workers
3.6
5.0
State workers
3..8
5.6
Collective farmers
3..5
4.4
Despite the rapid educational progress made by the USSR since
1939, the Soviet labor force, on the average, had only half as much
education in 1959 as the US labor force--6.1 years compared to 12.0
years. US urban. workers averaged 12.1 years of schooling, and.US
farm workers averaged 8.6 years. 10/
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