Demographic Legacy of the War: Features of the Formation of Sverdlovsk Region Population in 1941–1945

This article analyses the impact of the Great Patriotic War on the population, its composition and structure. The focus of this study is Sverdlovsk Oblast, a rear region of the country, where demographic processes are distinguished by their unique characteristics and the interplay of demographic and non-demographic factors in population reproduction. The body of sources on demographic development is quite extensive, primarily consisting of mass sources: population censuses, current records of population movement (registry office records of births, deaths, marriages and divorces, and migration records kept by police authorities). Documents from the Peoples Commissariats of the RSFSR, regional executive committees of the Soviets of Workers’ Deputies, departments of health, public education, social security, etc. are rich in information about the demographic system. The author identifies three sets of historical sources that were utilized in the research: records of the gender and age composition of the rural population from a specific point in time; data from the Department for Evacuee Affairs; and information on the registration of voters for the Supreme Soviet of the USSR from February 1946. The analysed historical sources make it possible to assess changes in the vectors of demographic development in the region and show the impact of the war on population dynamics, the composition and structure of the region’s population, assess the deformation of reproduction, the role of the migration factor in the formation of the population, and changes in the sex-age composition and gender imbalance. The long-term impact on the region’s demographic sphere became the legacy of the war.