The Demographic Processes in the South of the RSFSR during the Great Patriotic War

Abstract

This article explores demographical processes during the Great Patriotic War in the southern regions of the RSFSR: in the Krasnodar Krai and Ordzhonikidze (Stavropol) Krai, Rostov Oblast, Stalingrad Oblast, and Astrakhan Oblast. The study is based on published and archival documents from the Central Statistical Administration under the Council of Ministers of the USSR Fund in the Russian State Archive of Economics. Demographic dynamics in the southern regions of the RSFSR in 1941–1945 had common features with the main demographic trends elsewhere in the RSFSR and the USSR. This was a deterioration in indicators of natural reproduction in the second half of 1941–1942: a decrease in the birth rate and an increase in mortality, including that of children, and a decrease in natural growth in the first half of 1942. At the end of 1942 and the beginning of 1943, the main trends in demographic dynamics changed: the birth rate stabilized at an extremely low level, followed by slow growth, and mortality decreased markedly in comparison with 1942. Regions in the south of the RSFSR differed by more significant scales of population decrease and directly irretrievable losses. The reasons for this were not only the loss of mobilized cohorts, but also demographic consequences of evacuation and Nazi occupation. After occupation, the population of the southern Russian regions amounted to 60–70 % of the pre-war level.