The first census in Soviet Russia took place in the summer of 1920. The Soviet Union had not yet been established at that time, so it would be wrong to call it a "national census". The Civil War was still raging, so the census-takers were unable to reach certain regions.

«The exact date of the census was determined a month in advance.»

The Civil War was not the only obstacle to a proper census: the economy was almost ruined and the major European powers were attempting an economic blockade of Soviet Russia, so that even paper was in short supply.

The precise census date was set only one month and two days before the census takers started visiting homes, which gives an idea of the haste and turmoil that accompanied the 1920 census.

«For all its difficulties, the census was a success.»

Nevertheless, the census went ahead and was successfully completed. It was the first comprehensive demographic survey in Russia after World War I and the Civil War, which together had caused such demographic and economic shifts that previous censuses (the general census of 1897 and local censuses held right up to 1917) lost any relevance.

The population census of 1920 was held almost simultaneously with a census of agriculture and a brief listing of industrial enterprises, which together gave the new government an idea of the situation in the country. The Soviet government's program of national electrification was partly based on the census results.

An urban census was taken in 1923 on the initiative of the People's Commissariat for Finance, in order to move away from the principles of so-called "war communism" and to assist the revival of industrial production and trade (exact counts of the population were important for these purposes).