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Soviet Union [USSR] Geographic Location Factors
Historically, Soviet industry has been concentrated in the
European sector, where intensive development has depleted critical
resources. Examples of severely reduced resources in the older
industrial regions are the Krivoy Rog and Magnitogorsk iron
deposits and the Donbass coal area, upon which major industrial
complexes were built. Long before the German invasion of 1941,
Soviet industrial policy looked eastward into Siberia and Soviet
Central Asia to expand the country's material base. According to a
1977 Soviet study, 90 percent of remaining energy resources (fuels
and water power) are east of the Urals; however, 80 percent of
industry and nearly 80 percent of all energy requirements are in
the European part of the Soviet Union. Since 1917 an official
policy goal has been to bring all Soviet regions to a similar level
of economic development. Periodically, leaders have proclaimed the
full achievement of this goal. But in a country of extremely
diverse climates, nationalities, and natural resources, such
equality remains only a theoretical concept. Industrial expansion
has meant finding ways to join raw materials, power, labor, and
transportation at the same place and in suitable proportions. For
example, many eastern regions have abundant resources, but the
labor supply either is too small or is culturally disinclined to
work in modern industry
(see Soviet Union USSR - Distribution and Density
, ch. 3).
Data as of May 1989
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