The natural movement of the population of the Southern Urals and Trans-Urals in 1933

Abstract

This paper examines the historiography of the 1932–1933 famine and assesses the natural movement of the population in the Southern Urals (Bashkortostan Republic, and Chelyabinsk, Kurgan and Orenburg Regions). It has been ascertained that the underestimation of the number of residents was relatively low. The analysis of the vital statistics of the population of the Urals has been examined at the level of the administrative district and the dynamics of birth rate, mor tality, and natural population increase at the peak of the famine of 1933 is considered. Opinions about the demographic catastrophe in the countryside of the Southern Urals, and the intentional homicide of the rural population by famine are not confirmed by demographic statistics. There was a decrease in natural population growth in the Southern Ural rural population but without a demographic crisis, and the increase in mortality in the overwhelming majority of districts was compensated for by a high birth rate. The sites of natural population losses were mainly in and around large industrial centers. The demographic catastrophe was in the cities of the Urals (natural population losses 26,100 people or 2% of the urban population). The dynamics of mortal ity in the Urals is not always explained by hunger, and in many instances the increase in mortality of the population was caused by epidemic infections imported by migrant workers and deportees. The assessment of losses from the famine of 1932–1933 in the Southern Urals is complicated by the lack of demographic series in the Chelyabinsk, Kurgan and Orenburg Regions before 1934.