ABSTRACT
In the past, the view on infant mortality in the USSR was that infant mortality rates (IMRs) were continuously declining. It was understood that the level in the USSR was one of the lowest in the world. The issue of under-registration and reliability of infant mortality statistics was avoided. However, observed trends of IMR corrected this view. The IMR in the USSR is the highest among industrialized countries, and the increase in this index in the 1970s raised the question of the reliability of both previous and projected infant mortality data.
