A NEW LOOK AT THE SOVIET POPULATION STRUCTURE OF 1939.

Full details of the age-sex structure of the Soviet Union were published for 1926 and are now out-dated over a quarter of a century. From the 1939 All-Union Census only partial data were published, and the form in which this material was published suggests that the Soviet have been interested in suppressing factual information about certain aspects of the population structure. It is the purpose of the present paper to show in broad groupings the 1939 age-sex position of the USSR total, urban, and population. The method used in calculating the three age-sex compositions is described in the article. It is hoped that this material will not only increase the knowledge of the Soviet Union's population, but also, in view of the extensive use made by scholars of the 1939 partial data as a basis for making 1950-1970 population projections, contribute to a better understanding of the USSR's population at present and in the immediate future. In 1940 the Soviet government published a preliminary tabulation from the 1939 All-Union Census showing the distribution of 99.44 percent of the population among certain age classes, but with no indication of the sex ratios of the population within these age classes.