Soviet Union

Communist stateIndependence 1721 (Russian Empire proclaimed)

Soviet Union as the 1990 edition of the CIA World Factbook published it: 75 fields, one of 2 editions from 1990 to 1991.

field in that editiontext changed from the edition beforenot in that editionthe open editionEach field below ends in its editions, 1990 to 2025. Point at a year above to follow it down.

CapitalMoscow

Area22,402,200 km2

Populationas each edition published it

290.94 million July 1990 · 293.05m in 1991

Fertility ratechildren per woman

2.4 children per woman 1990 · 2.4 in 1991

Infant mortalitydeaths per 1,000 live births

24 deaths per 1,000 live births 1990 · 23 in 1991

Corrected. Source files these entries under Somalia. The Soviet Union and Somalia shared the code so. All corrections

Geography

14 fields

Land useshare of 22,402,200 km2

arable land 10%meadows and pastures 17%forest and woodland 41%other 32%NEGL% permanent crops; includes 1% irrigated

Total area

22,402,200km2

land area: 22,272,000 km2Comparative area: slightly less than 2.5 times the size of US

Coastline

42,777km

Territorial sea: 12 nm

Land boundaries

19,933 km total; Afghanistan 2,384 km, Czechoslovakia 98 km, China 7,520 km, Finland 1,313 km, Hungary 135 km, Iran 1,690 km, North Korea 17 km, Mongolia 3,441 km, Norway 196 km, Poland 1,215 km, Romania 1,307 km, Turkey 617 km

Continental shelf

200 meters or to depth of exploitation;

Extended economic zone

200 nm;

Disputes

bilateral negotiations are under way to resolve four disputed sections of the boundary with China (Pamir, Argun, Amur, and Khabarovsk areas);
US Government has not recognized the incorporation of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania into the Soviet Union;
Habomai Islands, Etorofu, Kunashiri, and Shikotan islands occupied by Soviet Union since 1945, claimed by Japan;
Kuril Islands administered by Soviet Union;
maritime dispute with Norway over portion of Barents Sea;
has made no territorial claim in Antarctica (but has reserved the right to do so) and does not recognize the claims of any other nation;
Bessarabia question with Romania;
Kurdish question among Iran, Iraq, Syria, Turkey, and the USSR

Climate

mostly temperate to arctic continental;
winters vary from cool along Black Sea to frigid in Siberia;
summers vary from hot in southern deserts to cool along Arctic coast

Terrain

broad plain with low hills west of Urals; vast coniferous forest and tundra in Siberia, deserts in Central Asia, mountains in south

Natural resources

self-sufficient in oil, natural gas, coal, and strategic minerals (except bauxite, alumina, tantalum, tin, tungsten, fluorspar, and molybdenum), timber, gold, manganese, lead, zinc, nickel, mercury, potash, phosphates

Environment

despite size and diversity, small percentage of land is arable and much is too far north;
some of most fertile land is water deficient or has insufficient growing season;
many better climates have poor soils;
hot, dry, desiccating sukhovey wind affects south;
desertification;
continuous permafrost over much of Siberia is a major impediment to development

Note

largest country in world, but unfavorably located in relation to major sea lanes of world

People

14 fields

Population

290,938,469

(July 1990), growth rate 0.7% (1990)

Per 1,000 population(1990)

Birth

18Death

10Net migration

Ethnic divisions

Russian 50.78%Ukrainian 15.45%Uzbek 5.84%Byelorussian 3.51%Kazakh 2.85%Azerbaijan 2.38%Armenian 1.62%Tajik 1.48%Georgian 1.39%Moldavian 1.17%Lithuanian 1.07%Turkmen 0.95%Kirghiz 0.89%Latvian 0.51%Estonian 0.36%others 9.75%

Religion

Russian Orthodox 20%Muslim 10%Protestant 7%atheist (est.) 60%Georgian Orthodox; Armenian Orthodox; and Roman Catholic; less than 1% Jewish

Labor force

152,300,000civilians

80% industry and other nonagricultural fields, 20% agriculture; shortage of skilled labor (1989)

Literacy

99%

Infant mortality rate

24 deaths/1,000 live births (1990)

Life expectancy at birth

65 years male, 74 years female (1990)

Total fertility rate

2.4 children born/woman (1990)

Nationality

noun--Soviet(s); adjective--Soviet

Language

Russian (official);
more than 200 languages and dialects (at least 18 with more than 1 million speakers);
75% Slavic group, 8% other Indo-European, 12% Altaic, 3% Uralian, 2% Caucasian

Organized labor

98% of workers are union members; all trade unions are organized within the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions (AUCCTU) and conduct their work under guidance of the Communist party

Government

Communist state

18 fields

Congress of People's Deputies, 2,250 seats, elected 12 March 1990seats by party

(2,250 total) CPSU 1,931non-CPSU 319

Long-form name

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics; abbreviated USSR

Type

Communist state

Capital

Moscow

Administrative divisions

1 soviet federative socialist republic* (sovetskaya federativnaya sotsialistcheskaya respublika) and 14 soviet socialist republics (sovetskiye sotsialisticheskiye respubliki, singular--sovetskaya sotsialisticheskaya respublika);
Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic, Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic, Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic, Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic, Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic, Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic, Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic, Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic*, Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic, Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic;
note--the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic is often abbreviated RSFSR and Soviet Socialist Republic is often abbreviated SSR

Independence

1721 (Russian Empire proclaimed)

Constitution

7 October 1977

Legal system

civil law system as modified by Communist legal theory;
no judicial review of legislative acts;
has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

National holiday

Great October Socialist Revolution, 7-8 November (1917)

Executive branch

president

Legislative branch

the Congress of People's Deputies is the supreme organ of USSR state power and selects the bicameral USSR Supreme Soviet (Verkhovnyy Sovyet) which consists of two coequal houses--Council of the Union (Sovet Soyuza) and Council of Nationalities (Sovet Natsionalnostey)

Judicial branch

Supreme Court of the USSR Chief of State--President Mikhail Sergeyevich GORBACHEV (since 14 March 1990; General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party since 11 March 1985);
Head of Government--Chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers Nikolay Ivanovich RYZHKOV (since 28 September 1985)

Political parties and leaders

only party--Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), President Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev, general secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU;
note--the CPSU is the only party, but others are forming

Suffrage

universal at age 18 President--last held 14 March 1990 (next to be held NA 1995);
results--Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev was elected by the Congress of People's Deputies;
Congress of People's Deputies--last held 12 March 1990 (next to be held NA);
results--CPSU is the only party;
seats--(2,250 total) CPSU 1,931, non-CPSU 319;
USSR Supreme Soviet--last held NA June 1989 (next to be held NA);
results--CPSU is the only party;
seats--(542 total) CPSU 475, non-CPSU 67;
Council of the Union--last held Spring 1989 (next to be held NA);
results--CPSU is the only party;
seats--(271 total) CPSU 239, non-CPSU 32;
Council of Nationalities--last held Spring 1989 (next to be held NA);
results--CPSU is the only party;
seats--(271 total) CPSU 236, non-CPSU 35

Communists

about 19 million party members

Other political or pressure groups

Komsomol, trade unions, and other organizations that facilitate Communist control;
regional popular fronts, informal organizations, and nascent parties with varying attitudes toward the Communist Party establishment

Member of

CEMA, ESCAP, IAEA, IBEC, ICAC, ICAO, ICCO, ICES, ILO, ILZSG, IMO, INRO, INTERPOL, IPU, ISO, ITC, ITU, International Whaling Commission, IWC--International Wheat Council, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UPU, Warsaw Pact, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO

Diplomatic representation

Ambassador-designate Aleksandr BESSMERTNYKH;
Chancery at 1125 16th Street NW, Washington DC 20036;
telephone (202) 628-7551 or 8548;
there is a Soviet Consulate General in San Francisco;
US--Ambassador Jack F. MATLOCK, Jr.;
Embassy at Ulitsa Chaykovskogo 19/21/23, Moscow (mailing address is APO New York 09862);
telephone [7] (096) 252-24-51 through 59;
there is a US Consulate General in Leningrad

Flag

red with the yellow silhouette of a crossed hammer and sickle below a yellow-edged five-pointed red star in the upper hoist-side corner

Economy

The first five years of perestroyka (economic restructuring) have undermined the institutions and processes of the Soviet command economy without replacing them with efficiently functioning markets.

17 fields

Inflation, consumer prices

(1989 est.)

External debt

$27.3billion

(1988)

Budget

Revenues

$622 billionExpenditures

$781 billion

expenditures, including capital expenditures of $119 billion (1989 est.)

Overview

The first five years of perestroyka (economic restructuring) have undermined the institutions and processes of the Soviet command economy without replacing them with efficiently functioning markets. The initial reforms featured greater authority for enterprise managers over prices, wages, product mix, investment, sources of supply, and customers.

But in the absence of effective market discipline, the result was the disappearance of low-price goods, excessive wage increases, an even larger volume of unfinished construction projects, and, in general, continued economic stagnation. The Gorbachev regime has made at least four serious errors in economic policy in these five years: the unpopular and short-lived anti-alcohol campaign;

the initial cutback in imports of consumer goods; the failure to act decisively for the privatization of agriculture; and the buildup of a massive overhang of unspent rubles in the hands of households and enterprises. In October 1989, a top economic adviser, Leonid Abalkin presented an ambitious but reasonable timetable for the conversion to a partially privatized market system in the 1990s.

In December 1989, however, Premier Ryzhkov's conservative approach prevailed, namely, the contention that a period of retrenchment was necessary to provide a stable financial and legislative base for launching further reforms. Accordingly, the new strategy was to put the reform process on hold in 1990-92 by recentralizing economic authority and to placate the rank-and-file through sharp increases in consumer goods output.

In still another policy twist, the leadership in early 1990 was considering a marked speedup in the marketization process. Because the economy is caught in between two systems, there was in 1989 an even greater mismatch between what was produced and what would serve the best interests of enterprises and households.

Meanwhile, the seething nationality problems have been dislocating regional patterns of economic specialization and pose a further major threat to growth prospects over the next few years.

GNP

$2,659.5 billion, per capita $9,211; real growth rate 1.4% (1989 est. based on Soviet statistics; cutbacks in Soviet reporting on products included in sample make the estimate subject to greater uncertainty than in earlier years)

Unemployment rate

officially, no unemployment

Exports

$110.7 billion (f.o.b., 1988);
commodities--petroleum and petroleum products, natural gas, metals, wood, agricultural products, and a wide variety of manufactured goods (primarily capital goods and arms);
partners--Eastern Europe 49%, EC 14%, Cuba 5%, US, Afghanistan (1988)

Imports

$107.3 billion (c.i.f., 1988);
commodities--grain and other agricultural products, machinery and equipment, steel products (including large-diameter pipe), consumer manufactures;
partners--Eastern Europe 54%, EC 11%, Cuba, China, US (1988)

Industrial production

growth rate 0.2% (1989 est.)

Electricity

355,000,000 kW capacity; 1,790,000 million kWh produced, 6,150 kWh per capita (1989)

Industries

diversified, highly developed capital goods and defense industries; consumer goods industries comparatively less developed

Agriculture

accounts for roughly 20% of GNP and labor force;
production based on large collective and state farms;
inefficiently managed;
wide range of temperate crops and livestock produced;
world's second-largest grain producer after the US;
shortages of grain, oilseeds, and meat;
world's leading producer of sawnwood and roundwood;
annual fish catch among the world's largest--11.2 million metric tons (1987)

Illicit drugs

illegal producer of cannabis and opium poppy, mostly for domestic consumption;
government has begun eradication program to control cultivation;
used as a transshipment country

Aid

donor--extended to non-Communist less developed countries (1954-88), $47.4 billion; extended to other Communist countries (1954-88), $147.6 billion

Currency

ruble (plural--rubles); 1 ruble (R) = 100 kopeks

Exchange rates

rubles (R) per US$1--0.600 (February 1990), 0.629 (1989), 0.629 (1988), 0.633 (1987), 0.704 (1986), 0.838 (1985);
note--the exchange rate is administratively set and should not be used indiscriminately to convert domestic rubles to dollars;
on 1 November 1989 the USSR began using a rate of 6.26 rubles to the dollar for Western tourists buying rubles and for Soviets traveling abroad, but retained the official exchange rate for most trade transactions

Fiscal year

calendar year

Communications

9 fields

Airports, 6,950 total, 4,530 usable

permanent-surface runways

1,050runways over 3,659 m

30runways 2,440-3,659 m

490runways 1,220-2,439 m

660

Networkskm · (1987)

Highways

1,609,900Railroads

146,100Inland waterways

122,500

Highways: ; 1,196,000 km hard-surfaced (asphalt, concrete, stone block, asphalt treated, gravel, crushed stone); 413,900 km earth · Railroads: ; 51,700 km electrified; does not include industrial lines · Inland waterways: , exclusive of Caspian Sea

Railroads

146,100 km total;
51,700 km electrified;
does not include industrial lines (1987)

Highways

1,609,900 km total;
1,196,000 km hard-surfaced (asphalt, concrete, stone block, asphalt treated, gravel, crushed stone);
413,900 km earth (1987)

Leningrad, Riga, Tallinn, Kaliningrad, Liepaja, Ventspils, Murmansk, Arkhangel'sk, Odessa, Novorossiysk, Il'ichevsk, Nikolayev, Sevastopol', Vladivostok, Nakhodka;
inland ports are Astrakhan', Baku, Gor'kiy, Kazan', Khabarovsk, Krasnoyarsk, Kuybyshev, Moscow, Rostov, Volgograd, Kiev

Merchant marine

1,646 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 16,436,063 GRT/22,732,215 DWT;
includes 53 passenger, 937 cargo, 52 container, 11 barge carrier, 5 roll-on/float off cargo, 5 railcar carrier, 108 roll-on/roll-off cargo, 251 petroleum, oils, and lubricants (POL) tanker, 11 liquefied gas, 21 combination ore/oil, 4 specialized liquid carrier, 17 chemical tanker, 171 bulk;
note--639 merchant ships are based in Black Sea, 383 in Baltic Sea, 408 in Soviet Far East, and 216 in Barents Sea and White Sea;
the Soviet Ministry of Merchant Marine is beginning to use foreign registries for its merchant ships to increase the economic competitiveness of the fleet in the international market--the first reregistered ships have gone to the Cypriot flag

Civil air

4,500 major transport aircraft

Telecommunications

extensive network of AM-FM stations broadcasting both Moscow and regional programs;
main TV centers in Moscow and Leningrad plus 11 more in the Soviet republics;
hundreds of TV stations;
85,000,000 TV sets;
162,000,000 radio receivers;
many satellite earth stations and extensive satellite networks (including 2 Atlantic Ocean INTELSAT and 1 Indian Ocean INTELSAT earth stations)