Yup. Some historians believe that a scale of 1930s Red Terror was inflated at least ten-fold by Khruschev under his de-Stalinization campaign. An idea of 30 million Soviet casualties in WWII appeared about that time too, and believed to be twice the actual number as well.
I am not sure are they right or wrong, but mentioned myself the same thing you did regarding population figures.
It also needs to be taken into account that planned parenthood types were active in Soviet Union since 1920s and up to a Gorby’s presidency until mid 1980s large families were rare.
It is hard to imagine how it was possible to compensate the loss if the alleged death rate was true.
Thanks. A 40M increase in population in c. 35 years at minimum means conditions were not all that bad for most.
The actual numbers will probably never be determined, if only because it appears the commies either didn’t keep books as thoroughly as the nazzies or because they destroyed their records.
What’s really interesting is to look back at the supposedly horrific oppression under the tsars. If I remember correctly only a couple thousand executions took place over the entire century from 1815 to 1914. The commies beat that total daily even during their first few months in power.
AS far as birth control goes, I don’t buy that entirely either. Soviet population rose from 180M in 1951 to 293M in 1991. I believe that’s almost the identical percentage increase as in the US over the same period, 63% to 64%. And it’s not like USSR had many illegal (or legal) immigrants!
To be sure, a LOT of this population growth was probably among Muslim and other minority groups. Not Russians, Balts, Ukrainians, etc.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_Soviet_Union
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_United_States