WWII: urban Russian mortality rates by age 1941-1944

The spike in infant and child mortality rates due to Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union, meant that almost half of all deaths in Soviet Russia in 1941 were among those below the age of five, and the majority of those were among infants below the age of one year. The consequences of this and the decrease in Soviet fertility can be observed in the unusually-low mortality rates among infants in 1942. Because of this spike, the share of deaths across other age groups was lower than what would have been typical of Russia in terms of its demographic development. The share of deaths among children then decreased as the war progressed and the conflict moved west, although it remained disproportionately high until the late 1940s.

Distribution of deaths per age group in unoccupied, urban areas of Soviet Russia during the Second World War from 1941 to 1944 (per 1,000 deaths)

Characteristic	1941	1942	1943	1944
Unknown age	5	6	8	7
Over 70 years	93	108	121	134
65-69	42	51	61	65
60-64	44	52	64	69
55-59	43	52	70	72
50-54	42	49	74	74
45-49	38	50	73	68
40-44	38	49	67	65
35-39	38	48	60	54
30-34	36	45	55	53
25-29	33	37	40	34
20-24	24	32	36	34
15-19	23	34	36	35
10-14	13	14	13	16
5-9	19	21	22	33
0-4	470	351	200	187
Below 1 year*	272	205	87	94

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Release date

2020

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Region

Asia, Europe, CEE

Survey time period

1941 to 1944

Supplementary notes

*Data also included in the 0-4 age bracket.
**The source gives a value of 20 for the deaths among those aged below 1 year. However, this figure is unusually low compared to other years, and individual entries for male and female deaths are 187 and 216 respectively. Therefore, it is safe to assume that this is a typo and the real figure is somewhere between 200 and 210. A number of 205 has been chosen for display purposes.

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