Evening star., 1952-08-11
Red Population Grows,
But Birth Rute Drops
Worried Soviets Are Trying -,
To PopuIorize Motherhood
By T. R. Henry

W - ". tbSuty
The population of Russia now is in
creasing at rate of about three million
a year. -/
The total population, according to the
1852 estimate, now is 07,000,000. The
Russian death rate has gone down enor-
mouSly during the past generation, due
to better medical care and new drugs.
But, despite strenuous efforts, the Soviet
has been unable to escape the trend all
over the Western world towards lower
birth rate.
In fact. the Russian birth decline
since 1889 may be unprecedented.
Seep Through Iron Curtain.
These are the conclusions of DR.. Ro-
bert C. Cook, population expert and
editor of the Population Reference Bu-
reau here. They are derived from such
fragmentary scraps of information as
have been allowed unwittingly to Seep
through the Iron Curtain.
The best evidence available, Cook
says, is that the increase rate-that is,
the excess of births over deaths-now
is about Is per thousand.
CzariSt Russia, he says, was a land
of high birth and death rates similar
to those of India and China today. In
only 35 years the USSR has made the
shift to low birth and death rates which
took almost century to be established
in Western Europe and North America.
vital statistics would indicate" he
says, that the Kremlin is not pleased
with the population trend. While the
population still is growing rapidly. the
Russian people appear to be following
the general reproduction pattern char
acteristic of their neighbors to the west
who were the first to enjoy the benefits
of modern medicine and technology"
Births Drop IL Per Thousand.
The government reported an eSti-
mated death rate of 17.8 per thousand
in 1888. 1t probably remained much the
same up to the start of the war. The
same year the birth rate was estimated
at 1913 per thousand. Since then. Cook
says, it may have dropped as much as
IL per thousand.
Much of the decline, Cook says, ap-
pears to have been the result of the
new ways of life. With the country's
industrial development. there has been
an accelerated movement from the
farms to the cities, although Russia
still remains essentially rural. City life
puts a premium on small families.
Another factor. however, is the great
majority of women in the country dis
tricts. Many more men than women have
been moved to the concentrated war
industries. The men leave the women
behind-perhaps because they must.
There was also an enormous loss Of men
during the war.
C&ol:,~ Rlo cLS Ouk CfafscAio~
There can be little doubt. Cook holds.
that Stain is worried. This is reflected
in a nearly complete blackout of vital
statistics.
lat the time of the Bolshevik revolu-
tion," the report says, 1.-The Russian
population was subjected to extreme
and violent changes. The II years OF
turmoil from 1914 to 1926 resulted in
a deficit of % million. only million Of
which can be explained through migra-
tion."
This resulted, he says. in great
tightening of divorce laws and laws
against birth control. The cost of di-
vorce now is almost prohibitive. A
series of laws has been passed to en-
courage large families. State payments
to mothers now start with the birth Of
the third child. rather than the seventh.
as was the case before the war. A
series of special medals. following the
line of Hitler, has been introduced for
mothers of five or more children. Special
income tax provisions have been made
for parents of large families.
But all these, Cook holds, are feeble
barriers against force that is sweeping
the whole Western world and from which
Russia cannot escape.