1982 Edition
CIA World Factbook 1982 (Wikisource)
Geography
Area
22,402,200 km2; 10.2% cultivated, 35.5% forest, 16.8% pasture and hay land, 37.5% other
Coastline
46,670 km (incl. Sakhalin)
Land boundaries
20,619 km WATER
Limits of territorial waters (claimed)
12 nm (fishing 200 nm)
People and Society
Ethnic divisions
72% Slavic, 28% among some 170 ethnic groups
Labor force
civilian 144 million (midyear 1981), 22% agriculture, 78% industry and other nonagricultural fields, unemployed not reported, shortage of skilled labor reported
Language
more than 200 languages and dialects (at least 18 with more than 1 million speakers); 76% Slavic group, 8% other Indo-European, 11% Altaic, 3% Uralian, 2% Caucasian
Literacy
98.5% of population (ages 9-49)
Nationality
noun—Soviet(s); adjective—Soviet
Population
269,876,000 (July 1982), average annual growth rate 0.8%
Religion
Russian Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox, Protestant, Roman Catholic, Moslem, and Jews
Government
Branches
Council of Ministers (executive), Supreme Soviet (legislative), Supreme Court of USSR (judicial)
Capital
Moscow
Communists
over 17 million party members
Elections
to Supreme Soviet every five years; 1,500 deputies elected in 1979; 71.7% party members
Government leaders
Leonid I. BREZHNEV, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and Chairman of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet; Nikolay A. TIKHONOV, Chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers
Member of
CEMA, Geneva Disarmament Conference, IAEA, IBEC, ICAC, ICAO, ICCAT, ICCO, ICES, ILB, 1LO, IMCO, International Lead and Zinc Study Group, INRO, IPU, ISO, ITC, ITU, IWC—International Whaling Commission, IWC—International Wheat Council, UN, UNESCO, UPU, Warsaw Pact, WFTU, WHO, W1PO, WMO, WTO
National holiday
October Revolution Day, 7 November
Official name
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
Other political or pressure groups
Komsomol, trade unions, and other organizations which facilitate Communist control
Political party
Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) only party permitted Voting strength (1979 election): 174,944,173 persons over 18; allegedly 99.99% voted
Political subdivisions
15 union republics, consisting of 20 autonomous republics, 6 krays, 122 oblasts, 8 autonomous oblasts, and 10 autonomous okrugs Legal system: civil law system as modified by Communist legal theory; revised constitution adopted 1977; no judicial review of legislative acts; legal education at 18 universities and 4 law institutes; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
Suffrage
universal over age 18; direct, equal
Type
Communist state
Economy
Agriculture
principal food crops—grain (especially wheat), potatoes; main industrial crops—sugar, cotton, sun-flowers, and flax; degree of self-sufficiency depends on fluctuations in crop yields; calorie intake, 3,300 calories per day per capita in recent years
Aid
economic—total extended to non-Communist LDCs (1954-80), $21.5 billion
Crude steel
163 million metric ton capacity as of 1 January 1979; 149 million metric tons produced in 1981, 555 kg per capita
Electric power
279,500,000 kW capacity (1981); 1,325.0 billion kWh produced (1981), 4,927 kWh per capita
Exports
$76,437 million (f.o.b., 1980); petroleum and petroleum products, natural gas, metals, wood, agricultural products, and a wide variety of manufactured goods (primarily capital goods)
Fiscal year
calendar year
Fishing
catch 9.5 million metric tons (1980); exports 483,504 metric tons (1980), imports 181,938 metric tons (1980)
GNP
$1,392.5 billion (1980, in 1980 US prices), $5,245 per capita; in 1980 percentage shares were—54% consumption, 33% investment, 13% government and other, including defense (based on 1970 GNP in rubles at adjusted factor cost); average annual growth rate of real GNP (1971-80), 3.2%, average annual growth rate (1976-80), 2.7%
Imports
$68,473 million (f.o.b., 1980); grain and other agricultural products, machinery and equipment, steel products (particularly large diameter pipe), consumer manufactures
Major industries
diversified, highly developed capital goods industries; consumer goods industries comparatively less developed
Major trade partners
$144.9 billion (1979 total turnover); trade 54% with Communist countries, 33% with industrialized West, and 13% with less developed countries
Official monetary conversion rate
0.649 rubles=US$1 (average 1980)
Shortages
natural rubber, bauxite and alumina, tantalum, tin, tungsten, fluorspar, and molybdenum
Communications
Freight carried
rail—3,728.0 million metric tons, 3,439.9 billion metric ton/km (1980); highways—24.1 billion metric tons, 432.3 billion metric ton/km (1980); waterway—568. 1 million metric tons, 244.9 billion metric ton/km, excluding Caspian Sea (1980)
Highways
1,346,500 km total; 373,000 km asphalt, concrete, stone block; 554,000 km asphalt treated, gravel, crushed stone; 419,500 km earth (1980)
Inland waterways
142,000 km navigable, exclusive of Caspian Sea (1980)
Pipelines
70,000 km crude oil; 20,000 km refined products; 135,000 km natural gas
Ports
53 major (most important: Leningrad, Riga, Tallinn, Kaliningrad, Liepaja, Ventspils, Murmansk, Arkhangel'sk, Odessa, Novorossiysk, Uichevsk, Nikolayev, Sevastopol, Vladivostok, Nakhodka); over 180 selected minor; 58 major inland ports (some of the more important: Astrakhan, Baku, Gorkiy, Kazan, Khabarovsk, Krasnoyarsk, Kubyshev, Moscow, Rostov, Volgograd, and Kiev (1982)
Railroads
141,800 km total; 139,917 km broad gauge (1.524 m); 1,833 km narrow gauge (mostly 0.750 m); 110,815 km broad gauge single track; 43,700 km electrified; does not include industrial lines (1980)
Military and Security
Military manpower
males 15-49, 68,359,000; 54,009,000 fit for military service; 2,101,000 reach military age (17) annually ↑ The US Government does not recognize the incorporation of the Baltic States—Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania—into the Soviet Union.