Soviet census

The following is a summary of censuses carried out in the Soviet Union:

Year	Territory	Total population	Rank	Density per km²	Change	Urban population	Share	Males	Share	Females	Share	Largest city	Second largest city	Third largest city	Ethnic Russians	Share	Ethnic minorities	Notes
1926	21 176 187	147 027 915	3rd	6.94	7.5%	26 314 114		71 043 352		75 984 563		Moscow	Leningrad	Kiev	77 791 124
1937	21 176 187	162 039 470	3rd	7.65	10.2%	43 729 514	27.0%	75 789 892	46.8%	84 331 656	53.2%	Moscow	Leningrad	93 933 065	58.0%
1939	21 176 187	170 557 093	4th	8.05	5.3%	56 125 139	32.9%	81 694 889	48.0%	88 862 204	52.0%	Moscow	Leningrad	Kiev	99 591 520	58.4%
1959	22 402 200	208 826 650	3rd	9.32	22.4%	99 977 695	47.9%	94 050 303	45.0%	114 776 347	55.0%	Moscow	Leningrad	Kiev	114 113 579	54.6%
1970	22 402 200	241 720 134	3rd	10.79	15.7%	135 991 514	56.2%	111 399 377	46.1%	130 320 757	53.9%	Moscow	Leningrad	Kiev	129 015 140	53.4%
1979	22 402 200	262 436 227	3rd	11.71	8.6%	163 585 944	62.3%	122 328 833	46.6%	140 107 394	53.4%	Moscow	Leningrad	Kiev	137 397 089	52.3%
1989	22 402 200	286 730 817	3rd	12.80	9.3%	188 813 355	65.8%	135 360 790	47.2%	151 370 027	52.8%	Moscow	Leningrad	Kiev	145 155 489	50.6%