The1926 Soviet census (Russian:Всесоюзная перепись населения, All-Union census), conducted in December 1926, was the first comprehensive all-Union census in theSoviet Union. It served as a critical instrument in the nation-building efforts of theUSSR, furnishing the government with vitalethnographic data. This census played a significant role in the societal shift from theImperial Russian era to the Soviet period. The methodologies employed by ethnographers in defining individual ethnicity (narodnost), particularly in creating the "List of Ethnicities of the USSR" and delineating borders in ethnically mixed regions, profoundly shaped Soviet policies.^[1] Ethnographers, statisticians, and linguists not only designed questionnaires and ethnicity lists but also aimed to actively reshape identities according toMarxism–Leninism. AsAnastas Mikoyan stated, the Soviet Union was engaged in "creating and organising new nations".^[2]

Prior to the 1926 all-Union census, theBolsheviks had conducted two partial censuses after their rise to power inRussia. The first, thegeneral census of 1920, occurred amidst theCivil War and theSoviet-Polish War. Consequently, it could not cover theCrimea, substantial parts ofTranscaucasia, theUkraine, theByelorussia, as well as Far Eastern,Siberian, Central Asian, and Far Northern territories. Notably, there was a population increase of only 15,000,000 between 1920 and 1926, reaching approximately 131,304,931 people according to TIME magazine, a figure still not widely disclosed in Russian historical accounts.^[3] The1923 Census was limited to urban areas. Before theRussian Revolution, the soleRussian Empire Census was conducted in 1897.

The census classified the population bynarodnosti (nationalities), a departure from categories like tribe or clan. This classification, combined withpolicies that allocated land, resources, and rights to these defined nations, led to interference in data collection by experts and local elites.^[4]

Delegations from theGeorgian SSR andUkrainian SSR raised concerns about the census's formulation ofnarodnosti. The Georgian delegation advocated for classifying the population bynatsionalʹnosti, believing it more appropriate for developed nations like Georgians. Ukrainian representatives favored using native language as the basis for classification instead of nationality. However, these objections did not result in changes to the methodology.^[5]

Responses regarding nationality were sometimes altered by census takers or later by state analysts to ensure "correctness." It was believed that individuals might "confuse" nationality with other categories such as place of residence, native language, orclan.^[4]

The following table provides an overview of the population and territory of the Soviet Republics in 1926:

For theTranscaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic,Georgians were considered the Titular Nationality.

•  Russian SFSR – 100,891,244 (urban 17,442,655)
  • Kazakh ASSR – 6,503,006 (urban 539,249)
  • Kirghiz ASSR – 993,004 (urban 121,080)
•  Ukrainian SSR – 29,018,187 (urban 5,373,553)
  • Moldavian ASSR – 572,114
•  Uzbek SSR – 5,272,801 (urban 1,102,218)
  • Tajik ASSR – 827,200
•  Byelorussian SSR – 4,983,240 (urban 847,830)
•  Transcaucasian SFSR
  •  Georgian SSR – 2,666,494 (urban 594,221)
  •  Azerbaijan SSR – 2,314,571 (urban 649,557)
  •  Armenian SSR – 880,464 (urban 167,098)
•  Turkmen SSR – 1,000,914 (urban 136,982)
• Total in theSoviet Union – 147,027,915 (urban 26,314,114)

This list, officially titledProgrammy i posobiya po razrabotke Vsesoyuznoy perepisi naseleniya 1926 goda, vol. 7,Perechen i slovar narodnostey, Moscow 1927, was compiled by theCentral Statistical Administration of the USSR in preparation for the census.^[6]

The census data forSoviet Ukraine was aggregated for severalokruhas into larger subdivisions known aspidraion orpodraion (Russian:подрайон,romanized: podraion;Ukrainian:підрайон,romanized: pidraion). There were six such subdivisions.

• Administrative division of Ukraine (1918)
• Administrative divisions of Ukraine (1918–1925)
• Administrative divisions of the Ukrainian SSR
• Development of the administrative divisions of Ukraine
• Okruhas of the Ukrainian SSR

• All-Union census 1926 (Demoskop Weekly) (in Russian)
• Full text of "Всесоюзная перепись населения 17 декабря 1926 г", КРАТКИЕ СВОДКИ. ВЫПУСК IV. НАРОДНОСТЬ И РОДНОЙ ЯЗЫК НАСЕЛЕНИЯ СССР
• Raw texts of Summaries ("Краткие Сводки") III-X
• L'Oukraine. National Censuses and Vital Statistics in Europe, 1918-1939 (books.google.com).

• Henry Joachim Dubester (1948)."USSR: Census of 1926".National Censuses and Vital Statistics in Europe, 1918–1939: An Annotated Bibliography, with 1940–1948 Supplement. USA: Gale Research Company.
• Francine Hirsch (2005)Empire of Nations: Ethnographic Knowledge and the Making of the Soviet Union, Cornell University Press
  • Contains detailed information on the preparation of the census, on the definition of ethnicity (narodnost), etc.

• Ethnic groups in Russia
• Censuses in the Soviet Union
• 1926 in the Soviet Union
• 1926 censuses

• Articles containing Russian-language text
• Articles with short description
• Short description with empty Wikidata description
• Use dmy dates from December 2017
• Articles containing Ukrainian-language text