ABSTRACT
In the twentieth century natural deaths have been caused by numerous factors and have diminished as a result of medical advances and population growth. At the present level of medicine and hygiene in the Soviet Union, a death rate of 7-8°/oo has been achieved for the population as a whole (see Table 1.2). In 1964 the death rate in the Soviet Union attained its lowest level-6.9°/oo-even lower than in the United States. But since 1964 it has gradually and imperceptibly been rising, probably as a result of modem life: the use of cars, overeating, stress, etc., and the inclusion of more men in the higher age brackets. 1 The sample years 1913-50 are certainly not of minimum mortality. In those years deaths from natural causes were decreasing.
