th rate 0.7% (1991)

_#_Birth rate: 17 births/1,000 population (1991)

_#_Death rate: 10 deaths/1,000 population (1991)

_#_Net migration rate: 0 migrants/1,000 population (1991)

_#_Infant mortality rate: 23 deaths/1,000 live births (1991)

_#_Life expectancy at birth: 65 years male, 74 years female (1991)

_#_Total fertility rate: 2.4 children born/woman (1991)

_#_Nationality: noun--Soviet(s); adjective--Soviet

_#_Ethnic divisions: Russian 50.78%, Ukrainian 15.45%, Uzbek 5.84%,
Belorussian (Byelorussian) 3.51%, Kazakh 2.85%, Azeri 2.38%, Armenian
1.62%, Tajik 1.48%, Georgian 1.39%, Moldovan 1.17%, Lithuanian 1.07%,
Turkmen 0.95%, Kirghiz 0.89%, Latvian 0.51%, Estonian 0.36%, other 9.75%

_#_Religion: Russian Orthodox 20%, Muslim 10%, Protestant, Georgian
Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox, and Roman Catholic 7%, Jewish less than 1%,
atheist 60% (est.)

_#_Language: Russian (official); more than 200 languages and dialects
(at least 18 with more than 1 million speakers); Slavic group 75%,
other Indo-European 8%, Altaic 12%, Uralian 3%, Caucasian 2%

_#_Literacy: 98% (male 99%, female 97%) age 15 and over can
read and write (1989)

_#_Labor force: 152,300,000 civilians; industry and other
nonagricultural fields 80%, agriculture 20%; shortage of skilled labor
(1989)

_#_Organized labor: the vast majority of workers are union members;
official unions are organized within the General Confederation of Trade
Unions (GCTU) and still operate within general guidelines set up by the
CPSU and Soviet Government; a large number of independent trade unions
have been formed since President Gorbachev came to power; most are
locally or regionally based and represent workers from one enterprise
or a group of enterprises; there are a few independent unions that claim
a nationwide following, the most prominent of which is Independent Miners
Trade Union set up by the country's coal miners

_*_Government
_#_Long-form name: Union of Soviet Socialist Republics; abbreviated
USSR

_#_Type: in transition to multiparty federal system

_#_Capital: Moscow

_#_Administrative divisions: 1 soviet federative socialist republic*
(sovetskaya federativnaya sotsialistcheskaya respublika) and 14 soviet
socialist republics (sovetskiye sotsialisticheskiye respubliki,
singular--sovetskaya sotsialisticheskaya respublika);
Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic, Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic,
Belorussian (Byel