Changes in the Structure and Forms of Accounting for the Child and Infant Mortality Facts in the Annual Demographic Reporting of the Krasnoyarsk Region in 1959–1985

The paper examines the change in the forms and structure of recording infant and child mortality in the Krasnoyarsk Region in the period 1959–1985 based on annual reports on vital statistics in the context of changes in the demographic policy of the USSR. The hypothesis is that the problem of child and infant mortality was quite acute for the Soviet state, and in certain periods unsatisfactory indicators were perceived painfully, as a result of which the question of the accuracy and depth of accounting for demographic processes developing in the age group of children under one year old will be reflected in the forms and the structure of annual demographic reporting. A retrospective analysis of accounting forms clearly shows that over time, the development of medicine, methods and systems for recording demographic facts, statistical accounting of various aspects relating to the facts of child and infant mortality becomes more and more detailed and deep. Separate forms appear, devoted only to the issue of the circumstances of death of children under the age of one year or under the age of one month, and their share in the total volume of annual demographic reporting only grows over the years, which indicates the correctness of the initial hypothesis. It was also discovered that statistical authorities focused their attention on the demographic processes that took place among the indigenous peoples of the Far North, Siberia and the Far East, especially in the short period of 1963–1964. The author of the article presents his own conclusions based on what is presented in the main part of the material in relation to the theory of epidemiological transition.