Russian Censuses: Differences between Soviet and Modern Censuses
On May 21, 2026, the International Laboratory for Population and Health held a seminar on “Russian Censuses: Differences between Soviet and Modern Censuses”. Evgeny Andreev, academic supervisor of the laboratory, presented a lecture on history and methodological features of censuses in Russia.
Relevance
The seminar was devoted to the history of censuses in the USSR and in modern Russia. With an educational aim, the seminar discussed the characteristics and methodological differences between the seven censuses conducted in Russia over the last 80 years: 1959, 1970, 1979, 1989, 2002, 2010 and 2021.
Differences between Soviet and modern censuses
Censuses conducted during the Soviet period differ significantly from subsequent Russian censuses from a methodological point of view. It was precisely these differences that formed the key theme of the presentation:
· Modern censuses count the resident population, and people are surveyed only at their places of residence. Soviet censuses, which counted the present-in-area population, were also conducted in non-residential locations where people might be present at the critical moment of the census.
· Moreover, in Soviet censuses, when a person was interviewed outside their place of permanent residence, they were included in the present-in-area population, and a verification form was also sent to their place of permanent residence to include them in the resident population. Because the survey was conducted not only at places of residence, under the Soviet approach to the census, the chances of a person not encountering census staff were low. Under the modern approach, if an enumerator does not find a person at their place of permanent residence, data on them is completed either based on information from other household members or from administrative sources. However, administrative sources contain only minimal data, and the accuracy of this information is not verified in any way. Furthermore, based on the experience of the 2002 census in Moscow, there were instances where enumerators filled in information missing from administrative records by themselves.
· During the Soviet era, regional authorities had no influence over census results; however, starting with the 1994 microcensus, attempts were made—motivated by ‘prestige’ and financial incentives—to inflate the population figures of certain regions.
Features of population censuses in the USSR and in Russia
The possibility of being counted twice was mentioned, a phenomenon present in both Soviet and modern censuses, particularly for ‘active’ individuals. The main principle for accounting for special groups, such as residents of closed settlements, was outlined: the redistribution of these groups across the country. At the same time, in the 2002 census, those serving compulsory military service were in many cases counted at their place of service, which created future problems with the age and sex structure of the population in these areas. Other problems with censuses in Russia were also highlighted: undercounting of young children, overcounting of the elderly, and discrepancies in the numbers of married men and women (observed in 6 out of 7 censuses examined). The issue of the ‘sensitivity’ of certain questions and the unreliability of responses to them was also discussed, given that information on all household members was collected based on the statements of a single representative. Attention was paid to the fact that the population figures for Russia and many regions, based on the results of the last three censuses, turned out to be higher than current population estimates.
A critical review was presented of the procedure for conducting the 2020 (2021) All-Russian Population Census: the postponement of the census by one year and, as a consequence, its conduct under adverse epidemic conditions. A key problem has also been identified, which must be resolved before future population censuses are conducted: the insufficient reliability of administrative sources, combined with their frequent use.
Discussion
The presentation sparked a lively and wide-ranging discussion. Vladimir Voronin, a representative of Rosstat, spoke in defence of the procedures for conducting the 2021 Census. Olga Chudinovskikh expressed concerns that the numerous errors made during the last census had not been taken into account in the preparations for the upcoming one. Sergey Zakharov added to the historical account of the experience of conducting censuses and analysing census data, and shared his thoughts on verifying the accuracy of the data. Mark Tolts expressed concern that censuses are a 19th-century ideology which may not correspond to the reality of the 21st century with its mobile population. Mikhail Balaban, a postgraduate student at the Vishnevsky Institute of Demography, spoke about his personal experience of participating in the 2020 (2021) All-Russian Population Census as an enumerator in Moscow. Pavel Polyan spoke on the retrospective evaluation of census data and the assessment of their ‘defectiveness’.
Overall, the seminar participants agreed that the history of censuses in Russia is useful both for researchers, for whom it is important to understand the limitations of the data, and for practitioners, for whom it is important to take into account the errors and peculiarities of the past when planning new censuses.
