Nationality and Population Change in Russia and the USSR: An Evaluation of Census Data, 1897-1970.

Research Guide to the Russian and Soviet Censuses

“…In addition to the total population, the Leasure and Lewis project also generated estimates for the urban population (based on a standard definition) , for the rural population, and for a variety of socioeconomic characteristics. These data were utilized in the study of migration (Leasure and Lewis, 1967 ;1968), urbanization (Lewis and Rowland , 1969) , ethnicity (Lewis, Rowland, and Clem, 1976), and population redistribution (Lewis and Rowland, 1979). Using essentially the same method , Clem (1977) developed a set of population estimates for 1926, 1959, and 1970 which had the 142 oblast and equivalent level units of 1959 as the standard geographic framework .…”

“…Since historical evidence shows that Russians have assimilated substantial numbers of non-Russians (cf. Kozlov, 1975;Lewis, Rowland , and Clem, 1976;Anderson and Silver, 1983), one can speculate that many people who identified themselves as Russians in the 1979 census and who could trace their ancestry to non-Russian origins might well have chosen the label "Soviet nationality" rather than "Russian" if encouraged to do so. The number of self-identified Russians who chose this label might have exceeded the number of self-identified non Russians who found it attractive to call themselves "Soviet."…”

“…Major studies employing migration data from the 1897 and 1926 censuses include Rashin (1956), Leasure and Lewis (1967;1968), Lewis andRowland (1979) , Lorimer (1946: 44-49), Anderson (1980) , Rowland (19761982a), andTikhonov (1978).…”

“…Researchers using Soviet data have more often used the ratio of children aged 0--9 to women aged 20-49 because of the age categories in which Soviet data are presented (cf. Lewis, Rowland, and Clem, 1976;Mazur, 1967 ;Silver, 1974) . Child/woman ratios are , however, imperfect measures of fertility because they are affected by differential mortality and by differences in the age structure of women within the childbearing ages.…”

National Sentiment and Migration in Soviet Central Asia

“…Scholars have paid particular attention to the implications of differential birthrates first systematically explored by Robert Lewis and his associates. 9 Western literature has explored the magnitude and direction of these trends, 10 the political and economic implications associated with them, 11 and, to a lesser extent, the public policies which are associated with them. 12 The rationale behind the focus on demographic trends has been that a causal relationship exists between demographic processes and shifts in "political constituencies," somehow defined, which would imply consequent changes in Soviet political and economic functioning.…”