Transformation of the territorial organization of Karelian Isthmus population in XX century: period before 1944

Abstract

The spatial aspects of the pre-war demographic history of the Karelian Isthmus on the base of a wide range of demographic statistical sources of the USSR and Finland (including unpublished sources) were analyzed in this paper. In this research we evaluated data on the population dynamics of the region as a whole and of its districts. We showed that the Karelian Isthmus in 1920-1939 was characterized by a moderate rate of population growth which was slightly less than the average index for Finland. The demographic development of the isthmus was evidently uneven; the highest growth rates were demonstrated by the areas adjacent to the towns and rural industrial centers. By 1939 the population within the territory of the isthmus belonged to Finland (which is now the part of the Leningrad region or oblast) was about 295 thousand people. At that time the population density here was medium with the increasing to higher density near the towns and industrial centers. During the short period of 1940-1941 the pre-war demographic potential of the territories annexed by the Soviet Union was half restored, primarily due to urban population. In general, the economic development of the isthmus dramatically decreased during this period. During the Finnish occupation of the isthmus in 1941-1944 the pre-war demographic potential and the peculiarities of its territorial organization have been restored, but only for a short period of time.