IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/rrorus/v14y2024i1d10.1134_s2079970524600707.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Paradoxes of the Population Record of Closed Cities in the Soviet Union and Subsequent Urban Dynamics

Author

Listed:
  • A. E. Raisikh

    (Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences)

Abstract

In the postwar period, the Soviet Union developed a unique practice of classifying a large number of cities and towns the activities of which were aimed at maintaining the country’s defense capability. More than 1 million people lived in the cities of the nuclear industry, located in the Urals, Siberia, and the Volga region, and cities and towns at the bases of the navy, strategic missile forces, and the space industry, not marked on any map. This population was included in the composition of other cities (acceptors) and even other regions. Therefore, official data on the population of many cities in the postwar (after 1945) population censuses of the Soviet Union are false, and the calculations of dynamics based on them are incorrect. The data from the Soviet population censuses have never been recalculated. There are no publications estimating the population of closed cities and acceptor cities during the Soviet period. The author has developed a methodology for such an assessment and, on its basis, calculated the population of 46 closed settlements and 89 acceptor cities in the territory of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic on the dates of the censuses of 1959, 1970, 1979, and 1989. In addition to Rosstat data on the population, information from the Dom.MinGKH Online Service on the number of apartments in closed settlements by year of commissioning was used. The analysis showed that the majority of the populations of the closed cities of the nuclear industry was counted in other regions, as a result of which the population of eight regions was constantly overestimated, while that of six ones was underestimated. As a rule, the population was assigned to regional centers, but in some regions, to other cities as well. The population of other closed settlements was counted in their regions—in nearby urban settlements or in oblast centers. The result of this practice was an overestimation of the population of 21 oblast centers of Russia and 68 other cities, as well as urban-type settlements, located primarily in the Urals and Siberia.

Suggested Citation

  • A. E. Raisikh, 2024. "Paradoxes of the Population Record of Closed Cities in the Soviet Union and Subsequent Urban Dynamics," Regional Research of Russia, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 110-124, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:rrorus:v:14:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1134_s2079970524600707
    DOI: 10.1134/S2079970524600707
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1134/S2079970524600707
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1134/S2079970524600707?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. L. B. Karachurina, 2018. "Population Dynamics of Centers and Secondary Cities of Russia’s Regions: Trends Towards Polycentricity?," Regional Research of Russia, Springer, vol. 8(4), pages 308-321, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. M. V. Zotova & A. G. Makhrova & O. B. Glezer, 2024. "Trends in Urban Studies in Russia: Topics in Light of the Current State of the Arts of Geography," Regional Research of Russia, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 1-9, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. L. B. Karachurina & N. V. Mkrtchyan, 2021. "Intraregional Population Migration in Russia: Suburbs Outperform Capitals," Regional Research of Russia, Springer, vol. 11(1), pages 48-60, January.
    2. L. B. Karachurina, 2020. "Attractiveness of Centers and Secondary Cities of Regions for Internal Migrants in Russia," Regional Research of Russia, Springer, vol. 10(3), pages 352-359, July.
    3. Nadezhda Zamyatina & Ruslan Goncharov, 2022. "“Agglomeration of flows”: Case of migration ties between the Arctic and the southern regions of Russia," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(1), pages 63-85, February.
    4. D. Yu. Zemlyanskii & L. V. Kalinovskii & A. G. Makhrova & D. M. Medvednikova & V. A. Chuzhenkova, 2021. "Integrated Socioeconomic Development Index for Russian Cities," Regional Research of Russia, Springer, vol. 11(1), pages 29-39, January.
    5. D. Kh. Krasnoselskaya & V. M. Timiryanova, 2024. "Assessment of Regional Polycentricity of the Settlement Pattern: Analysis of Modern Methods Based on Russian Data," Regional Research of Russia, Springer, vol. 14(2), pages 194-212, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:rrorus:v:14:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1134_s2079970524600707. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.