1985 Edition

Agriculture

main crops — corn, wool, wheat, sugarcane, tobacco, citrus fruits; dairy products; self-sufficient in foodstuffs

principal food crops — grain (especially wheat), potatoes; main industrial crops — sugar beets, cotton, sunflowers, and flax; degree of self-sufficiency depends on fluctuations in crop yields, particularly grain; large grain importer over past decade

Aid

economic — total extended to non-Communist less developed countries (1954-81), $22 billion

Airfields

915 total, 831 usable; 106 with permanent-surface runways; 3 with runways over 3,659 m, 9 with runways 2,440-3,659 m, 199 with runways 1,220-2,439 m

Branches

Army, Navy, Air Force, Medical Services

executive — USSR Council of Ministers, legislative — USSR Supreme Soviet, judicial — Supreme Court of USSR

Capital

Moscow

Civil air

76 major transport aircraft

Coastline

46,670 km (incl. Sakhalin) People

Communists

over 18 million party members

Crude steel

172 million metric ton capacity as of 1 January 1984; 152.5 million metric tons produced in 1983, 562 kg per capita

Elections

to Supreme Soviet every five years; 1,499 deputies elected in 1984; 71.4% party members

Electric power

23,800,000 kW capacity (1984); 1 14.668 billion kWh produced (1984), 3,617 kWh per capita

306,000,000 kW capacity (1984); 1,465 billion kWh produced (1984), 5,305 kWh per capita

Ethnic divisions

52% Russian, 16% Ukrainian, 32% among over 100 other ethnic groups, according to 1979 census

Exports

$18.2 billion (f.o.b., 1983, including gold); wool, diamonds, corn, uranium, sugar, fruit, hides, skins, metals, metallic ores, asbestos, fish products; net gold output $8.9 billion (1983)

$91.652 billion (f.o.b., 1983); petroleum and petroleum products, natural gas, metals, wood, agricultural products, and a wide variety of manufactured goods (primarily capital goods)

Fiscal year

1 April-31 March Communications

Fishing

catch 577,152 metric tons (1982)

catch 9.9 million metric tons (1983); exports 453,384 metric tons (1983), imports 320,132 metric tons (1983); exports exclude canned fish, canned crab, and caviar

Freight carried

rail — 3,851 million metric tons, 3.6 billion metric ton/km (1983); highways— 26.4 billion metric tons, 486 billion metric ton/km (1983); waterway — 606.7 million metric tons, 273.2 billion metric ton/km, excluding Caspian Sea (1983)

GDP

$79 billion (1983), about $2,500 per capita; —3% real growth in 1983

GNP

$1,843 billion (1983, in 1983 geometric mean prices), 6,763 per capita; in 1983 percentage shares were — 53% consumption, 34% investment, 13% government and other, including defense (based on 1970 GNP in rubles at adjusted factor cost); average annual growth rate of real GNP (1971-83), 3.1%, average annual growth rate (1976-83), 2.2%, (1983)3.6%

Government leaders

Mikhail GORBACHEV, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (since 1 1 March 1985) Nikolay Aleksandrovich TIKHONOV, Chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers (since 23 October 1980)

Highways

229,690 km total; 80,796 km paved, 148,894 km crushed stone, gravel, or improved earth Pipelines:93l km crude oil; 1,748 km refined products; 322 km natural gas

1,479,300 km total; 421,000 km asphalt, concrete, stone block; 352,000 km asphalt treated, gravel, crushed stone; 706,300 km earth (1983)

Imports

$14.4 billion (f.o.b., 1983); motor vehicles, machinery, metals, petroleum products, textiles, chemicals

$80,440 billion (f.o.b., 1983); grain and other agricultural products, machinery and equipment, steel products (including large diameter pipe), consumer manufactures

Inland waterways

137,900 km navigable, exclusive of Caspian Sea (1983)

Labor force

civilian 147 million (midyear 1982), 20% agriculture, 80% industry and other nonagricultural fields; unemployed not reported; shortage of skilled labor reported Government

Land boundaries

20,619 km Water

Language

Russian (official); more than 200 languages and dialects (at least 18 with more than 1 million speakers); 75% Slavic group, 8% other Indo-European, 12% Altaic, 3% Uralian, 2% Caucasian

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

Limits of territorial waters (claimed)

12 nm (economic, including fishing, 200 nm)

Literacy

99.8%

Major industries

mining, automobile assembly, metalworking, machinery, textile, iron and steel, chemical, fertilizer

diversified, highly developed capital goods industries; consumer goods industries comparatively less developed

Major trade partners

US, FRG, Japan, UK, France; member of Southern African Customs Union Bu<fg<>MFY1983/84est.)revenues,$16.6billion; current expenditures, $18.4 billion

$172.1 billion (1983 total turnover); trade 56% with Communist countries, 30% with industrialized West, and 14% with less developed countries

Member of

CEMA, Geneva Disarmament Conference, IAEA, IBEC, ICAC, ICAO, ICCAT, ICCO, ICES, ILO.'lMO, 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, WIPO, WMO, WTO Economy

Military budget

for year ending 31 March 1985, $3.1 billion; 15.1% of central government budget Arctic Ocean Baltic S Tha Unitad Su»l Govarnmanl hit not rccogn.iad mlo ll>« SOVLVI Union Othar boundary rapraaanlation « not ntcaltanl, author'talna Set regional mip\ 111

Military manpower

males 15-49, 7,732,000; 4,659,000 fit for military service; 279,000 reach military age (18) annually; obligation for service in Citizen Force or Commandos begins at 18; volunteers for service in permanent force must be 17; national service obligation is two years; figures do not include Bophuthatswana, Transkei, and Venda

Monetary conversion rate

2.1 SA rand=US$l (30 December 1983)

National holiday

October Revolution Day, 7 November

Nationality

noun — Soviet(s); adjective — Soviet

NOTE

The US Government does not recognize the incorporation of the Baltic States Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania into the Soviet Union. Land 22,402,200 km2; nearly two and one-half times the size of the US; 35.5% forest, 16.8% pasture and hay, 10.2% cultivated, 37.5% other

Official monetary conversion rate

0.743 rubles=US$l (1983 average) Communications

Official name

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

Other political or pressure groups

Komsomol, trade unions, and other organizations that facilitate Communist control

Political party

Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) only party permitted

Political subdivisions

15 union republics, consisting of 20 autonomous republics, 6 krays, 123 oblasts, 8 autonomous oblasts, and 10 autonomous okrugs

Population

277,930,000 (July 1985), average annual growth rate 1.0%

Ports

1 major (Durban, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, Richards Bay, Saldanha Bay, East London, and Mossel Bay)

Railroads

35,530 km total (includes Namibia); 34,824 km 1.067-meter gauge, of which 6,143 km are multiple track; 16,006 km electrified; 706 km 0.610-meter gauge single track

143,600 km total; 141,467 km 1.524-meter broad gauge; 1,833 km mostly 0.750-meter narrow gauge; 1 12,915 km broad gauge single track; 46,800 km electrified; does not include industrial lines (1983)

Religion

18% Russian Orthodox; 9% Muslim; 3% Jewish, Protestant, Georgian Orthodox, or Roman Catholic; population is 70% atheist

Shortages

fertilizer, feed, natural rubber, bauxite and alumina, tantalum, tin, tungsten, fluorspar, molybdenum, and finished steel products

Suffrage

universal over age 18; direct, equal

Telecommunications

the system is the best developed, most modern, and highest capacity in Africa and consists of carrier-equipped open-wire lines, coaxial cables, radio-relay links, and radiocommunication stations; key centers are Bloemfontein, Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg, Port Elizabeth, and Pretoria; 3.21 million telephones (13.1 per 100 popl.); 14 AM, 286 FM, 67 main TV stations with 450 relay transmitters; 1 submarine cable; 1 satellite station with 1 Indian Ocean and 2 Atlantic Ocean antennas Defense Forces

Type

Communist state

Voting strength

(1984 election) 184,006,350 persons over 18; allegedly 99.95% voted