Population Losses (Gallery)

These maps visualize data based on estimates of deaths during the Holodomor period derived under the "Estimation of Regional Losses of the 1932-1934 Famine in Ukraine" project conducted by Oleh Wolowyna (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) and Omelian Rudnytskyi, Nataliia Levchuk, Pavlo Shevchuk, and Alla Kovbasiuk (Institute of Demography and Social Studies in Kyiv).

Sources

The estimation of Holodomor losses is based on separate yearly urban and rural population reconstructions by age and sex, using data from three Soviet censuses (1926, 1937, and 1939), as well as annual vital statistics and migration data for the 1927-1939 period. 1926 and 1937 census data were adjusted for undercounts and other problems, while 1939 census data were adjusted to eliminate falsifications implemented to cover up large population losses understood to be due to the famine and other repressive policies. Yearly registered births and deaths were adjusted for undercounts, especially during famine years when the undercount reached extreme levels. Based on these data and detailed data on migration, taking into account urban-rural reclassification, yearly population figures were reconstructed according to age and sex for Soviet Ukraine's eight regions, as well as for urban-rural areas.

Famine losses are operationally defined as the difference between actual estimated deaths (or births) during 1932-1934, and the number of hypothetical deaths (or births) had there been no famine. The difference in deaths is called direct losses or excess deaths; the difference in births is called indirect losses or lost births.