POPULATION SOARS

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20912, 18 September 1939, Page 9

POPULATION SOARS

189 PER CENT IN RUSSIA INDUSTRIALISATION IN CITIES Whither Russia? From an International political standpoint this is a serious question today. From 1926 to 1939, says a statement from Moscow, the population of Soviet Russia increased 15.9 per cent, a rate almost twice as high as the rest of Europe, according to figures from the latest census. The population of the U.5.6.R. January 17, 1939, was 170,4*67,1«G, compared with 147,027,915 registered on December 17, 19&6. That is a growth of 1.23 per cent each year. During that period the death rate decreased more than 40 per cent in comparison with pre-revolutionary Russia. Industrialisation of the country resulted in a growth of urban population. In 1926 a total of 2*6,314,114 persons lived in towns, while in 1939 their number grew to 55,909,908. Thus In the course of I*2 years the urban population increased by 112 per cent. The percentage of urban population, which amounted to 17.9 in 1926, reached 32.>8 in 1939. The Soviet Union counts now 174 cities with population of more than 50,000 each, of which 82 have population of more than 100,000, and 11 cities have a population of more than 500,000. , The population of Moscow has more than doubled—from 2,029,425 in 19*26 to 4,137,018 in 1939.