The first census of the population of the USSR after the end of the Great Patriotic War was held in 1959. By that time, the data obtained in 1939 were no longer relevant: the war had colossal demographic consequences, which are still felt today.

One task of the census was to estimate the scale of wartime losses. New data were also required in order to plan the future development of the country. The "virgin lands" campaign to bring land in the Volga region, Siberia, the Urals, the Far East and (particularly) Kazakhstan into agricultural use began in the 1950s. Such a large-scale project required a full understanding of the types and strengths of the country's human resources. The demographers calculated that the population of Kazakhstan rose by 2 million people, or by about one quarter, from 1954-1959.

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Of course, national censuses were not the only means used by statisticians to keep a count of the population. For example, rural councils provided accounts of the population mix by age and sex to the central government as of 1 January 1947.

And in 1954 all children aged up to and including 17 years were counted in cities and towns. This required the compiling of lists of all administrations and institutions where children and young people were registered. The territories of cities and towns were divided into districts and segments, and a 10-percent survey check was carried out after the work was complete. However, all such surveys were based on documents, without actual polling of people.

Many proposals were made to study the family and birth rate as part of the census program, but such recommendations were not followed and the census questions stuck to the earlier standards of Soviet censuses.

Results from the processing of the census results by sex and age at one-year intervals were classified, and most of the materials were published with a simple breakdown between men and women, and between urban and rural populations. The final census materials were published in 16 volumes from 1962-1963, consisting of a consolidated volume for the USSR and a separate volume for each Union republic.