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Demography in the Russian Empire. Population growth of the Russian Empire. Demographic victory of the Russians Population in the 18th century

Yes, you can see for yourself that these are estimates and not real numbers. Moreover, in some countries they differ by a factor of two.
Secondly, if the population of Europe was still somehow known, then about the other continents there were only very, very vague ideas and very approximate figures. Literally, as we say, floor, ceiling.
In my opinion, the total figure, which is somewhere around a billion, can be safely divided by 2 or even 5-10. Otherwise, the countries of Europe would not have colonies on other continents. One in the field is not a warrior, even if you have a musket. Moreover, while you are reloading it, they can run up to you and simply crush you in hand-to-hand combat.
Another very important point. The names on the sign are not countries. And the territories. Germany and Italy, as states, appeared only 100 years later. And Russia is also a region here. What I already wrote about. Apparently this is the modern European part of Russia with Ukraine and Belarus.
By region Russia. Back in 1722, according to my research, about 7 million people lived in the Russian state. I did not conduct further research. But it is a fact that the population grew very quickly in the 18th century. So 24 million is approximately, approximately, exactly.
In general, this table should rather be considered from the point of view of the proportions of the population of various territories of Europe. And England is surprising here. Like Switzerland, whose mercenaries were famous throughout Europe. How bad was life there that you had to go to latrine work? And the figure itself speaks of the very low standard of living of the then residents of the Switzerland region.
Again, pay attention to the ratio of the figures of the then mistresses of the seas, Portugal and Spain, with America. And this is the second half of the 18th century. What happened before? In the same Russia, back at the end of the 17th century, the entire population did not exceed 2 million people. But Moscow was at the beginning of the 18th century the largest metropolis in Europe, with a population of about 50 thousand people. Well, if in our Eastern Siberia at the beginning of the 17th century about 20 thousand people lived, then in America and Africa there were clearly not millions. Otherwise, they would not have been conquered by such small states as Spain and especially tiny Portugal.
In general, I have a strong belief that the population increases only with an increase in labor productivity. Otherwise, there is simply no way to feed a lot of people. And at that time it was high only in Europe. In the rest of the world everything was very, very sad.
In general, another confirmation of my thesis that history on planet Earth began to develop only in the 16th century. And before that there was simply no one to write it.

The post was written as part of my series -.

The population of the ancient world - small small villages

Original taken from well_p in The population of the ancient world - small small villages

In this post I have collected all my research on the topic of population of the ancient world.

Now let's summarize. In order to write all these posts, I collected a lot of historical maps, including plans of cities around the world. So the earliest of them date back to the second half of the 16th century. There are, of course, earlier ones, but there are only a few of them and they were usually drawn already in the 18th-19th centuries. And this is logical. In those small villages that represented medieval cities, science was simply not needed. They didn't have enough money or time. Again, the process of making paper and ink were very imperfect. This means that the quality of these products did not allow them to be stored for a long time. The first paper was loose and simply fell apart over time. And don't tell me about parchment or anything like that. As far as I understand, the manufacturing process there is approximately the same. This means the quality was comparable.
Again, the level of technological progress in such villages in the 16th and 17th centuries was at a very low level. Trade was practically in its infancy, compared to modern times, of course. The armies consisted entirely of nobles who served in them as privates. And the armies themselves were small in number. There were no states as such, in the modern concept. The bureaucracy was minimal; there was simply no money for it. The province lived by its own laws and rules. And interaction with the state took place about once a year, when tribute was collected. You can't call it taxes. Because the local residents themselves collected them. Then they chose a trusted person and he already took this money to the capital.
Almost no documents have survived from that time. And they weren’t particularly needed. Everyone already knew each other, who, what and to whom belonged, and there were only one or two literate people and that’s it.
Therefore, the most important conclusion from this cycle of my research is this: in Russia we practically do not know history before the second half of the 16th century. Unfortunately, I haven’t read the European documents in the originals due to my lack of knowledge of languages, but I think that everything is about the same there. Only adjusted for a higher and faster level of development compared to Russia. This means the second half of the 15th century maximum. And these are the best results. The rest of the world lagged even further behind Europe in development.

Addition, posts on the same topic:
Chronology in Rus' from the birth of Christ.


And now about the conclusions. The fact is that every time I read ancient decrees and documents on the topic of censuses, I was perplexed. The figures indicated there very much did not coincide with those cited by historians. Moreover, by several times and not by tens of percent.
I found a very interesting text in one book. Book: Herman, Karl Fedorovich (1767-1838). Statistical studies regarding the Russian Empire, / Essay by Karl Hermann. - St. Petersburg: Printed at the Imperial Academy of Sciences, 1819.



Russia's population figures date back to the early 19th century. Can you imagine the range in estimates, from 14 to 42 million? And in the end there is a very interesting conclusion that either the authorities never really dealt with this, or the information was kept secret. And then I realized this is the key to the riddle.
Any state can exist only if it can and knows how to collect taxes. Moreover, an accurate assessment of the amount of these taxes is one of the most important tasks of any government. Underestimation leads to incorrect planning. And overestimation threatens to result in budget losses, an urgent increase in taxes and subsequent turmoil in the state. And with this, with the censuses, the authorities in Rus', at the very least, coped with it. I have read many documents on this topic. Censuses usually indicated the exact number of households in a particular settlement or area. It also described in detail who lived in these yards and what their names were, indicating their rank, if any, profession and other identifying information. In one census of Moscow, somewhere in the early 17th century, even the weapons available in each specific yard were indicated. Half of Moscow then had arquebuses, many sabres, and all the rest, without fail, had spears. The times were harsh.
To estimate the budget, the total number of households was considered as the main unit of taxation at that time. It was also needed for a clear understanding of how many recruits can and should be recruited to form an army. To estimate the total population, demographers recommend multiplying the number of households by 8. But this is usually the maximum. In reality it was less.
And this is where the whole problem of estimating the population of that time lies. To make it clearer for you, I will give an excerpt from my study of the population of Siberia at the beginning of the 17th century. Then the authorities counted only 3,000 yasak people. This is an analogue of our yards. And more than a hundred years before that, the then authorities of Siberia said something completely different.


I have my doubts about the death of foreigners. Firstly, there is so much space there. Taiga. It’s very difficult to simply find people there. And secondly, even if our Cossacks had destroyed the entire male population during the conquest, and this is usually 14 percent of the total number, (by the way, this is where demographers came from with the number 8), then even then there would have been much more than the 3,000 thousand that were counted Then. Not to mention the fact that by this time the population could have simply recovered naturally.

You see, population size was strategic information back then. It made it possible to assess the financial and human resources of a country in the upcoming war. Therefore, in open sources it was always shamelessly overestimated, for the sake of psychological effect. Like those Ediger ambassadors. . It really didn't help them.
Do you think differently now? Yes, the same thing, only for different reasons.

The All-Russian Census of 2002, unfortunately, took into account only the permanent population, depriving demographers of the opportunity to control the repeated counting that arises due to double counting of the same people - at their location and at their place of permanent residence. The result was a huge exaggeration of the population in Chechnya and Ingushetia. Apparently, the residents themselves were interested in it, counting on receiving compensation for the loss of property and various benefits and therefore classifying themselves as several places of permanent residence at once (a refugee camp, their native village, the city of Grozny, where the opportunity arose to occupy an apartment, Moscow or Krasnodar, where some relatives have already moved and others are planning to move). Local authorities, whose budget and prestige are directly dependent on the number of citizens under their care, most likely also took an active part in distorting the census results. Memorial activist A. Cherkasov reports on one of the assessments of the census error. According to his information, in the Shali region, with a population of 104 thousand people, “dead souls” accounted for 27%.

The statisticians who processed the census did not take the necessary measures to eliminate errors and published results that largely contradicted common sense..

For example, in my city of Perm, even under Soviet rule, they tried in every possible way to increase the city’s population to a million. Then we could count on the construction of a Metro in our city at the expense of the federal budget. And they did it. But it didn’t work out with the metro. Geology, long distances (Perm is almost second in area after Moscow) and other difficulties prevented the cherished dream of our local authorities from being realized. Now our population is again below the million-person mark. And again, our authorities from time to time try to increase it by including some nearby villages within the city limits. Suspecting again in the hope of Moscow subsidies.

Therefore, in one way or another, I always try to objectively assess the country’s population figures, which historians usually give.

The population of the Russian Empire was multinational in composition. Only peoples numbering more than 10 thousand people lived in the empire over 20. Most of all in the Russian Empire there were Russians. However, the share of the Russian population in Catherine’s era decreased: from 62.8% in 1762 to 48.9% in 1796. This was due to the fact that new territories were annexed to Russia, in which representatives of other nationalities lived.

Second place in population in the Russian Empire at the end of the 18th century. Ukrainians occupied third place, Belarusians took third place. Next came the Poles, Lithuanians, Latvians, Tatars, Finns, and Jews. The list was completed by peoples whose number did not exceed several hundred people.

The position of non-Russian peoples was different. The rights of some of them were limited. Thus, for Jews in 1791, the so-called Pale of Settlement was introduced, outside of which they were forbidden to live permanently.

The Pale of Settlement covered a significant part of the Kingdom of Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, Bessarabia, Courland, and most of Ukraine. Jews were allowed to settle only in cities or so-called shtetls.

Subjects of the Russian Empire professed different religions. The majority of the population was Orthodox.

The annexation of new territories to Russia entailed an increase in the number of Catholics (residents of Western lands) and Muslims (Crimea). In 1773, Catherine II signed the Decree on Tolerance. All religions in the Russian Empire received the right to exist, and forced conversion to Orthodoxy was abolished.

The principle of religious tolerance was easily detected on the main street of the capital of the Russian Empire. On Nevsky Prospekt in St. Petersburg, in close proximity to each other, in the second half of the 18th century there were: the Orthodox Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary (on the site of the Kazan Cathedral), the Lutheran Church of St. Peter and Paul, the Dutch Reformed Church, the Catholic Church of St. Catherine , Armenian Church of St. Catherine. The last two churches were erected under Catherine II.

The social status of subjects of the Russian Empire was different. People living in Russia belonged to various classes and social groups. They all differed from each other in their rights and responsibilities. There were three main social groups: Material from the site

  • nobility ( see Nobility under Catherine II) - the smallest population group;
  • peasantry ( see Peasants under Catherine II);
  • merchants ( see Merchant Guild).

Pictures (photos, drawings)

On this page there is material on the following topics:

He carried out population censuses mainly by mechanically calculating data on fertility and mortality presented by provincial statistical committees. These data, published in the Statistical Yearbook of Russia, fairly accurately reflected the natural population growth, but did not fully take into account migration processes - both internal (between provinces, between cities and villages) and external (emigration and immigration). If the latter, due to their small scale, did not have a noticeable impact on the total population, then the errors due to underestimation of the internal migration factor were much more significant. Since 1906, the Central Committee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs tried to adjust its calculations by introducing amendments to the expanding resettlement movement. But still, the current system of counting the population did not allow completely avoiding repeated counting of migrants - at the place of permanent residence (registration) and place of stay. As a result, the data from the CSK Ministry of Internal Affairs somewhat overestimated the real population, and this circumstance should be kept in mind when using materials from the CSK Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Population according to the Central Statistics Committee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs

The permanent population of the Russian Empire according to data
CSK Ministry of Internal Affairs in 1897 and 1909-1914. (as of January, thousand people)
Region 1897 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914
European Russia 94244,1 116505,5 118690,6 120558,0 122550,7 125683,8 128864,3
Vistula provinces 9456,1 11671,8 12129,2 12467,3 12776,1 11960,5* 12247,6*
Caucasus 9354,8 11392,4 11735,1 12037,2 12288,1 12512,8 12921,7
Siberia 5784,4 7878,5 8220,1 8719,2 9577,9 9788,4 10000,7
middle Asia 7747,2 9631,3 9973,4 10107,3 10727,0 10957,4 11103,5
Finland 2555,5 3015,7 3030,4 3084,4 3140,1 3196,7 3241,0
Total for the empire 129142,1 160095,2 163778,8 167003,4 171059,9 174099,6 178378,8
Without Finland 126586,6 157079,5 160748,4 163919,0 167919,8 170902,9 175137,8
* - Data without the Kholm province, which was included in European Russia in 1911.

Population according to the State Inspectorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs

According to adjusted calculations by the Office of the Chief Medical Inspector of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the population of Russia (without Finland) at the middle of the year was: 1909 - 156.0 million, 1910 - 158.3 million, 1911 - 160.8 million, 1912 - 164.0 million, 1913 - 166.7 million people.

According to calculations by the Office of the Chief Medical Inspector of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which were based on data on fertility and mortality, the population of Russia (without Finland) as of January 1, 1914 was 174,074.9 thousand people, i.e. approximately 1.1 million people less than according to the Central Committee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. But the Department considered this figure to be too high. The compilers of the “Report” of the Office for 1913 noted that “ the total population according to local statistical committees is exaggerated, exceeding the sum of the population figures from the 1897 census and the natural increase figures for the elapsed time" According to the calculations of the compilers of the “Report”, the population of Russia (without Finland) in mid-1913 was 166,650 thousand people.

Population calculation for 1897-1914.

Calculation of the population of Russia (without Finland) for 1897-1914.
Years Natural
growth
(adjusted)
thousand people		 External
migration
thousand people		 Population Natural
growth
per 100 people
average annual
population, million
to the beginning
year, million		 average annual
million
1897 2075,7 -6,9 125,6 126,7 1,79
1898 2010,2 -15,1 127,7 128,7 1,56
1899 2305,7 -42,8 129,7 130,8 1,76
1900 2375,2 -66,7 131,9 133,1 1,78
1901 2184,8 -19,6 134,2 135,3 1,61
1902 2412,4 -13,7 136,4 137,6 1,75
1903 2518,0 -87,2 138,8 140,0 1,80
1904 2582,7 -70,7 141,2 142,5 1,81
1905 1980,6 -228,3 143,7 144,6 1,37
1906 2502,5 -147,4 145,5 146,7 1,71
1907 2769,8 -139,1 147,8 149,2 1,86
1908 2520,4 -46,5 150,5 151,8 1,66
1909 2375,6 -10,8 153,0 154,2 1,54
1910 2266,0 -105,8 155,3 153,4 1,44
1911 2779,1 -56,0 157,5 158,9 1,75
1912 2823,9 -64,8 160,2 161,6 1,75
1913 2754,5 +25,1 163,7 164,4 1,68
1914 - - 165,7 - -

Number, composition and density of population by province and region

Population of Russia in comparison with other countries

Population of Russia and other states (without their colonies)
Countries Population,
thousand people		 Countries Population,
thousand people
Russia (1911) 167003,4 Belgium (1910) 7516,7
USA (USA, 1910) 93402,2 Romania (1909) 6866,7
Germany (1910) 65140,0 Holland (1910) 5945,2
Japan (1911) 51591,4 Sweden (1910) 5521,9
Austria-Hungary (1910) 51340,4 Bulgaria (1910) 4329,1
England (1910) 45365,6 Switzerland (1910) 3472,0
France (1908) 39267,0 Denmark (1911) 2775,1
Italy (1911) 34686,7 Norway (1910) 2392,7

Ratio of urban and rural population

In terms of the ratio of urban and rural population, Russia occupied one of the last places among the largest states of the early 20th century.

Ratio of urban and rural population in Russia
and some of the largest countries (1908-1914)
A country Urban population
V %		 Rural population
V %
Russia 15,0 85,0
European Russia 14,4 85,6
Privislinsky lips. 24,7 75,3
Caucasus 14,5 85,5
Siberia 11,9 88,1
middle Asia 14,5 85,5
Finland 15,5 84,5
England and Wales 78,0 22,0
Norway 72,0 28,0
Germany 56,1 43,9
USA (USA) 41,5 58,5
France 41,2 58,8
Denmark 38,2 61,8
Holland 36,9 63,1
Italy 26,4 73,6
Sweden 22,1 77,9
Hungary (proper) 18,8 81,2

As can be seen from the table, the largest percentage of the empire's urban population is in the Vistula provinces, followed in gradual order by: Finland, Central Asian regions, European Russia, the Caucasus and Siberia.

If we consider the percentage of the urban population for individual provinces, it is clear that a few provinces with large industrial, commercial and administrative centers influence the increase in the percentage. Of the 51 provinces of European Russia, there are seven such provinces: Estland, Tauride, Courland, Kherson, Livland, Moscow and St. Petersburg, where the percentage of the urban population is above 20. Of these, two capital provinces especially stand out (50.2% and 74.0% ). In the Vistula region, out of 9 provinces, there are only two where the percentage of the urban population is above 20 (Petrokovskaya - 40.2%, Warsaw - 41.7%). In the Caucasus, there are four out of twenty such provinces (Tiflis - 22.1%, Baku - 26.6%, Batumi - 25.6%, Black Sea - 45.5%). In Siberia, two out of ten (Amur - 28.6% and Primorsk - 32.9%). Among the Central Asian regions there were no such things, and only in the Fergana region the percentage of the urban population was close to 20 (19.8%). There is also only one province in Finland, Nyland, where the percentage of the urban population exceeded 20 (46.3%). So, out of 99 provinces and regions of the Russian Empire, there are only 14 where the urban population accounted for over 20% of the total population, while in the remaining 85 this percentage is below 20.

In two provinces and regions the percentage of urban population is below 5%; in forty (including three Finnish ones) - from 5% to 10%; in twenty-nine (including one Finnish) - from 10% to 15%; in twenty (including two Finnish ones) - from 15% to 20%.

The percentage of the urban population increases on the one hand to the west and southwest, on the other hand - to the east and southeast of the Ural Range, with exceptions in the form of industrial and commercial provinces: Vladimir, Yaroslavl, etc. In the Caucasus, the percentage of urban inhabitants is greater in provinces and regions lying behind the main ridge, except Kutaisi province, where it is lower than in all other regions and provinces of the Caucasus. In the Central Asian regions, there is an increase in the percentage of the urban population towards the southeast.

Population in 1800-1913

Other population data

Data on the ancient population of the state in different periods (from different sources) in thousand people
Year Minimum values Average or single values Maximum values Notes
1000 5300 Kievan Rus
1500 3000 5600 6000

The legal status of the urban population as a special class began to be determined at the end of the 17th century. Then the creation of city government bodies under Peter I and the establishment of certain benefits for the top of the urban population strengthened this process. Further development of the trade and finance industry required the publication of new legal acts regulating these areas of activity.

The original name was citizens (“Regulations of the Chief Magistrate”), then, following the example of Poland and Lithuania, they began to be called burghers. The estate was created gradually, as Peter I introduced European models of the middle class (third estate).

The final registration of the bourgeois class took place in 1785 according to the “Charter of Grant for Rights and Benefits to the Cities of the Russian Empire” of Catherine II. By this time, the entrepreneurial layer in the cities had become noticeably stronger, in order to stimulate trade, customs barriers and duties, monopolies and other restrictions were eliminated, freedom to establish industrial enterprises (that is, freedom of entrepreneurship) was announced, and peasant crafts were legalized.

In 1785 The population of the cities was finally divided according to the property principle into 6 categories:

1) “real city dwellers” who have a house and other real estate in the city (i.e., owners of real estate within the city);

2) merchants registered in the guild (I guild - with capital from 10 to 50 thousand rubles, II - from 5 to 10 thousand rubles, III - from 1 to 5 thousand rubles);

3) artisans who were in the workshops;

4) foreign and out-of-town merchants;

5) eminent citizens (capitalists and bankers with capital of at least fifty thousand rubles, wholesale traders, shipowners, members of the city administration, scientists, artists, musicians);

6) other townspeople.

Belonging to the class was confirmed by inclusion in the city philistine book.

Rights of the petty bourgeois class:

1. Exclusive right: engaging in crafts and trade.

2. Corporate law: creation of associations and self-government bodies.

3. Judicial rights were provided for: the right to personal integrity until the end of the trial, to defense in court.

4. The personal rights of the townspeople included: the right to protection of honor and dignity, personality and life, the right to move and travel abroad.

5. Property rights: the right of ownership of owned property (acquisition, use, inheritance), the right of ownership of industrial enterprises, crafts, the right to conduct trade.



6. Duties included taxes and conscription. True, there were many exceptions. Already in 1775, Catherine II freed residents of posads who had a capital of over 500 rubles from the poll tax, replacing it with a one percent tax on the declared capital. In 1766, merchants were exempted from conscription. Instead of each recruit, they paid first 360 and then 500 rubles. They were also exempt from corporal punishment. Merchants, especially those of the first guild, were granted certain honorary rights (riding in carriages and carriages).

7. The townspeople were freed from public works; they were forbidden to be transferred to a state of serfdom. They had the right to free resettlement, movement and travel to other states, the right to their own intra-class court, to acquire houses, and the right to appoint a replacement in their place for recruitment. The bourgeoisie had the right to own city and country houses, had an unlimited right of ownership of their property, and an unlimited right of inheritance. They received the right to own industrial establishments (with restrictions on their size and the number of people working for them), to organize banks, offices, etc.

According to the “Charter of Grant”, city residents who had reached the age of 25 and had a certain income (capital, the interest charge on which was not less than 50 rubles) were united into a city society. The meeting of its members elected the mayor and the vowels (deputies) of the city duma. All six categories of the city population sent their elected representatives to the general duma; in the six-voice duma, 6 representatives of each category, elected by the general duma, worked to carry out current affairs. Elections took place every 3 years. The main field of activity was urban management and everything that “serves to the benefit and need of the city.” The competence of the city duma included: ensuring silence, harmony and order in the city, resolving intra-class disputes, and monitoring city construction. Unlike town halls and magistrates, court cases were not the responsibility of the city council - they were decided by the judiciary.

Deprivation of petty-bourgeois rights and class privileges could be carried out on the same grounds as the deprivation of class rights of a nobleman (a full list of acts was also given).

Sitkovsky Arseniy Mikhailovich student of the Faculty of Public Administration of the Chelyabinsk branch of RANEPA

Galiev Sergey Sergeevich Researcher of the Demography, Migration and Ethno-Religious Problems Sector of the Central State Institute of Social Sciences of the Russian Institute of Social Sciences, Candidate of Philological Sciences

Population censuses have been carried out in different countries since ancient times in order to establish the number of taxpayers and soldiers. Around the 6th century BC. e. In ancient Rome, they began to collect taxes in different coins from citizens depending on gender and class. After counting the coins, an approximate population structure was obtained. The birth of modern demography is considered to be 1662, when John Graunt, in his essay, reflected an approximate census of the population of London. Since then, demographic science began its development.

For our country, the history of demography began in the Russian Empire. Replacement of household taxation in the 1st quarter of the 18th century. The per capita tax required personal accounting of tax-paying classes (peasants, burghers, merchants). Then the first 10 population censuses were carried out.

However, these censuses did not give a complete picture, since they did not take into account the non-taxable sections of the population. However, only 5% of the population was not taken into account. From the above data it is clear that the population of the Russian Empire increased almost exponentially, but this may be due to an increase in the quality of the census.

The first general census of our country took place on January 28, 1897 by directly surveying the entire population on the same date, in accordance with the “Regulations on the First General Census of the Russian Empire” approved in 1895. The initiator of the census was the Russian geographer, statistician and statesman Pyotr Petrovich Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky.

Comparison of the population census of the Russian Empire and the Russian Federation.

Almost 120 years have passed since then and it is interesting to see what our country has achieved over the years. The first general population census registered 125,640,021 inhabitants in the Russian Empire. It is worth noting that in 1914 an additional census was carried out and, according to various sources, 166,650,000 lived in the Russian Empire (according to the Office of the Chief Medical Inspector of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, based on statistics of births and deaths) and 175,137,800 (according to the Central Statistical Committee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs without counting residents of Finland). As of January 1, 2016, according to Rosstat, there were 146,544,710 permanent residents in Russia. This is a fairly low indicator, both for the scale of the country and for assessing the quality of development of the nation’s demographic potential. If you look at the dynamics of population growth in the Russian Empire and in modern Russia, now the population is practically not increasing at all. For comparison, in 1850 China's population was 432 million, and in 2016 it is 1,373 million.

The birth rate trends in modern Russia are depressing. That is why you should pay attention to the experience of past generations. The experience of different ethnic groups and civilizations varies greatly, so it is reasonable to focus on the historical experience of our country. During the Russian Empire, demographic indicators set a positive example for Europe.

One of the most important indicators is the average number of children born per woman. In the Russian Empire it was equal to approximately 5.93 children per family. At the end of the 19th century. our country ranked first among European countries in the number of children in a family. For example, in France even then this figure was 2.97 children per family. Now it is quite difficult to calculate the number of children per family, so in modern Russia we have to take the number of births per woman. This figure is 1.76 children per woman (in 2014). To be fair, it should be noted that in modern France the total fertility rate is 2.0 (in 2014). Consequently, the once first country in the world is now lagging behind even outsiders.

The number of people living is strongly influenced by the infant mortality rate. Contrary to popular belief, about 267 children per 1000 births died in the Russian Empire, that is, less than a third. For some reason, it is generally accepted in our society that during the Empire, more than half of all children born died. Many people forget that the modern healthcare system, with the division of the territory into medical areas, with systems of prevention, vaccination, improving the level of household hygiene, etc. was created by the government of Alexander II in the mid-19th century. The Soviet Union only inherited the successful experience of organizing a system of universal free healthcare.

Thanks to the achievements of modern medicine in modern Russia, this figure is 7.4 deaths per 1000 live births (in 2014). But you need to understand that previously the calculation was carried out only for children being raised, that is, each family raised about six children, and this does not take into account the dead. In France, for example, this figure is now 3.17 (2014), so here too the Russian Federation is still lagging behind. In the Russian Empire, the infant mortality rate was one of the highest in Europe, but this rather speaks of the colossal demographic potential of our country.

Average age at marriage at the endXIXV. in Europe
A country Average age at marriage
Russian empire 20,7
Hungary 23,3
Germany 26,2
Holland 26,2
Austria 25,8
Italy 24,0
Finland 27,0
England 25,6
Belgium 28,4
Scotland 26,0
Norway 28,4
Denmark 28,0
Sweden 28,2
Switzerland 27,0
France 24,8
Ireland 25,2

From the table above it can be seen that in the Russian Empire the average age of marriage was the lowest in Europe at that time. However, we are not talking about 12-14 years; if you look at more detailed statistics for the provinces, then the minimum for the country belongs to the Chernozem Province (the territory of present-day Voronezh) and is 19.3 years. Such a striking difference from European countries indicates a more serious attitude towards the issue of choosing a spouse. It is the spouse, not the sexual partner. Purely physiologically, at this age a partner is already required, but in the Orthodox tradition, physical intimacy always presupposed a union in heaven, which is why marriages were concluded earlier. In modern Russia, attitudes towards marriage have changed greatly, but the age of marriage still remains one of the lowest in Europe - 23 years according to the Levada Center (2013). It is important to note that during the Russian Empire, marriage almost always meant the birth of the first child. Such an early date left time to create more descendants. The average age of birth of first children in the Russian Federation is 27.6 years. A woman's reproductive age, the period of life when she is able to reproduce, ranges from 15 to 45 years. Of course, the birth of your first child at 27 does not leave the biological possibility of having six children.

In the Russian Empire, 16,828,395 people lived in cities, which is 13.4% of the total. In Russia, the urban population is 74.15%. Having examined the given indicators, the relationship between the number of births and the distribution of the population across the territory becomes obvious. Even now, the birth rate in private households is higher than in the urban environment. This suggests the conclusion about the need for government intervention in the resettlement of citizens outside the city. After all, with proper development of infrastructure, it is unlikely that anyone would not want to live in their own home.

Mortality at the endXIXV. in Europe
A country Died per 1000 population
Russian empire 32,0
Hungary 31,5
Austria 28,2
Germany 26,2
Italy 26,0
Romania 25,7
Spain 25,4
Serbia 25,3
Portugal 23,1
France 22,0
Finland 21,7
Scotland 20,9
Holland 20,3
Switzerland 20,3
Belgium 19,6
England 18,5
Denmark 18,2
Ireland 18,0
Greece 17,0
Norway 16,9
Sweden 16,5
Bulgaria 12,6

The table shows that the mortality rate in the Russian Empire is the highest in Europe. However, it is far from the tallest in the world. For example, Honduras has the lowest indicator among all countries in the world – 44.7. In this study, the number of deaths was taken not per year, but over a certain period, different for different countries. For the Russian Empire, the figures are taken for the period from 1884 to 1888. The author of the table himself claims that the data is inaccurate. Mortality in modern Russia is 13.1 deaths per 1000 population (according to the World Bank for 2014). This is a high figure, our country is still the leader among European countries, but we are surpassed in terms of mortality by Serbia - 14.2 (considered as a country from the list above), Ukraine - 14.7 and Latvia - 14.3 (considered as once part of Russian Empire).

Of particular importance for demography is the relationship between the mortality of married and unmarried people.

The data shows that the mortality rate of non-family people in the Russian Empire was significantly higher than that of family people. To assess this fact, it is necessary to understand the realities of society at that time. Almost all citizens of the empire (of reproductive age) were married. The small part of citizens who were not married represented the lowest level of spiritual and moral development of a person; as a rule, these were people from marginal strata of the population, thrown out of normal social interaction. That is why the mortality rate among such people is higher. In modern Russia, such studies are not carried out, but according to data from 2007, even now the mortality rate among family people is lower.

This is due to different types of thinking. A family person is in a complex system of intra-family relationships that form protective behavioral norms that preserve the health of the spouses. For example, the concept of fidelity in marriage protects spouses from dangerous sexually transmitted diseases. Family always reduces a person's involvement in situations and enterprises associated with high risk. But the most important limiting factor is the value one - family people make long-term plans for life, they always have a goal towards which they focus their efforts. Such a life disciplines a person, preventing him from wasting his energy on trifles, unsystematically. Therefore, both in the times of the Russian Empire and in the times of modern Russia, family people are the backbone of the country.

Life expectancy in the Russian Empire was equal for men and women and amounted to 62.5 years. In Russia in 2015, this figure was 70.1 years (according to the World Bank). Of course, over almost 120 years this figure has increased slightly, especially compared to our European colleagues.

Someone points to the high proportion of the rural population in the Russian Empire, which provided the main increase. However, if we compare the distribution of population between cities and villages in Russia and in some European countries, we will see that our country did not stand out much in this regard. In the period from 1908 to 1914 in Russia, 85% of the population lived in the countryside, for Hungary this figure is 81.2%, for Sweden 77.9%, for Italy 73.6%, for Holland 63.1%. However, despite this, none of these countries could even come close to Russia in terms of birth rates.

Many believe that high population growth was due to the development of medicine and life-saving technologies in the 20th century. However, this is not so; immediately after 1927, the birth rate in Russia began to fall, even despite the subsequent improvement in housing conditions, the increase in the level of medical care and education of the population. After the civil war, the demographic power of the Russian people began to decline, as if there was something in them then it broke, as if the people had lost something important, some kind of spiritual core.

The demographic indicators of the Russian Empire were very impressive, especially in comparison with the current demographic problems of our country. These indicators served not only as an example to descendants, but also to contemporaries. The experience of the Russian Empire in the field of demography should not only be remembered and proud of it, but also used in practice in modern Russia. Of course, much has changed since then, especially in the area of ​​value orientations, but the reasons for high birth rates and low deaths remain unchanged. The predominance of private households and family people, the strengthening of the institution of marriage, the priority role of Orthodoxy, political and economic stability in the country - all this contributes to an increase in the birth rate and a decrease in mortality. Experience in solving demographic problems should be sought not so much in the practices of foreign countries, which today cannot solve their own demographic problems, but in the best examples from history. You and I are lucky, because such an example exists in Russian genetic memory, in the now forgotten history of a great country - the Russian Empire, which, of course, can and should be used.

Statistical Yearbook of Russia. 1914 Published by the Central Committee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Pg., 1915. Section I. Statistical and documentary reference book. St. Petersburg, 1995.

E. M. Andreeva, L. E. Darsky, T. L. Kharkova. Demographic history of Russia: 1927-1959. URL:

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