Number of houses and apartments built in the U.S. and USSR 1975-1989
When compared with the U.S. in the 1980s, a stark contrast is observable between living space types in the two countries. For example, in 1987 alone there were seven times more apartments built than houses in the Soviet Union, whereas the number of houses built in the U.S. more than doubled the number of new apartments. On average, housing in the U.S. was also of better quality with superior utilities, and therefore lasted longer; this is reflected in the fact that post-Soviet governments have spent considerable resources on the demolition and replacement of communist-era housing, whereas this transition is happening at a much slower rate in the U.S..