100 Biggest Soviet Cities in 1989 with a Map

With the help of a map, try to name the 100 biggest cities in the Soviet Union during its 1989 census.

Source: citypopulation.de when available, and Wikipedia

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Last updated: February 16, 2023

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First submitted	May 15, 2020
Times taken	12,642
Average score	37.0%
Rating	4.95

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Republic	Population	City
Russia	8,967,232	Moscow
Russia	5,023,506	Leningrad
Ukraine	2,587,945	Kiev
Uzbekistan	2,072,459	Tashkent
Belarus	1,612,472	Minsk
Ukraine	1,609,959	Kharkiv
Russia	1,438,133	Gorky
Russia	1,436,516	Novosibirsk
Russia	1,364,621	Sverdlovsk
Russia	1,254,460	Kuybyshev
Georgia	1,243,150	Tbilisi
Armenia	1,201,539	Yerevan
Ukraine	1,177,897	Dnipropetrovsk
Azerbaijan	1,150,055	Baku
Russia	1,148,418	Omsk
Russia	1,141,777	Chelyabinsk
Kazakhstan	1,127,884	Alma Ata
Ukraine	1,115,371	Odesa
Ukraine	1,109,102	Donetsk
Russia	1,094,378	Kazan
Russia	1,090,944	Perm
Russia	1,082,052	Ufa
Russia	1,019,305	Rostov-on-Don
Russia	998,894	Volgograd
Russia	912,629	Krasnoyarsk
Latvia	910,445	Riga
Russia	904,643	Saratov
Russia	886,844	Voronezh
Ukraine	883,909	Zaporizhzhia
Ukraine	790,908	Lviv
Ukraine	713,059	Kryvyi Rih
Moldova	667,082	Chisinau
Russia	635,109	Izhevsk
Russia	633,838	Vladivostok
Russia	632,991	Yaroslavl
Russia	630,543	Tolyatti
Russia	626,135	Irkutsk
Russia	625,155	Ulyanovsk
Russia	620,516	Krasnodar
Kazakhstan	613,797	Karaganda
Kygyzstan	610,630	Frunze
Russia	601,811	Barnaul
Russia	600,623	Khabarovsk
Russia	599,947	Novokuznetsk
Tajikistan	595,820	Dushanbe
Lithuania	576,747	Vilnius
Russia	546,501	Orenburg
Russia	542,612	Penza
Russia	539,980	Tula
Russia	520,263	Kemerovo

Republic	Population	City
Ukraine	518,933	Mariupol
Russia	514,638	Ryazan
Belarus	511,706	Gomel
Russia	509,210	Astrakhan
Ukraine	502,776	Mykolaiv
Russia	501,963	Tomsk
Russia	500,309	Naberezhnye Chelny
Ukraine	496,813	Luhansk
Russia	481,042	Ivanovo
Russia	480,020	Murmansk
Estonia	478,974	Tallinn
Russia	476,869	Tyumen
Russia	452,160	Bryansk
Russia	450,941	Kalinin
Russia	449,635	Lipetsk
Russia	440,321	Magnitogorsk
Russia	440,240	Kirov
Russia	439,521	Nizhny Tagil
Ukraine	430,201	Makiivka
Russia	424,239	Kursk
Russia	419,592	Cheboksary
Lithuania	418,087	Kaunas
Russia	415,921	Arkhangelsk
Russia	401,280	Kaliningrad
Turkmenistan	401,135	Ashgabat
Russia	399,688	Grozny
Kazakhstan	392,977	Chimkent
Ukraine	374,304	Vinnytsia
Uzbekistan	367,031	Samarkand
Russia	365,754	Chita
Belarus	359,188	Mogilev
Belarus	357,446	Vitebsk
Ukraine	356,123	Sevastopol
Russia	355,517	Kurgan
Ukraine	355,379	Kherson
Russia	352,530	Ulan-Ude
Russia	349,702	Vladimir
Ukraine	343,565	Simferopol
Russia	341,483	Smolensk
Ukraine	338,106	Horlivka
Russia	336,862	Oryol
Russia	336,514	Sochi
Kazakhstan	334,402	Semipalatinsk
Kazakhstan	330,748	Pavlodar
Kazakhstan	324,478	Oskemen
Russia	318,298	Stavropol
Russia	317,475	Makhachkala
Russia	315,325	Komsomolsk-on-Amur
Ukraine	314,740	Poltava
Russia	312,128	Saransk

Level 55

May 16, 2020

This is my dream quiz. Can you accept Salingrad for Volgograd?

+16

Level 73

May 16, 2020

Stalingrad was changed to Volgograd in 1961, quite a while before 1989. I decided to only accept names that were in use during 1989 or currently (as well as a few differences in transliteration).

Level 58

Feb 5, 2023

I mean, there are a lot of people of currently know it only by that name

Level 71

Feb 6, 2023

Like who, exactly?

People who don't remember the collapse of the soviet union?

Level 28

Mar 7, 2023

Those are called "Americans", yes. Not me, though, y'all stay safe.

+18

Level 24

Oct 10, 2020

OUR dream quiz

Level 74

May 8, 2021

Karagandy should probably be accepted

Level 64

Nov 25, 2021

Krasnodar was missed

Level 61

Nov 25, 2021

Samara also had a different name in 1989.

Level 61

Nov 27, 2021

Nice one!

Level 66

Mar 30, 2022

Zaporizhzhia is the correct one

Level 66

Mar 30, 2022

anyways, great quiz!

Level 83

Mar 30, 2022

I wouldn't have gotten Kherson or Mariupol without the war in Ukraine. Couldn't remember Mykolaiv, but at least I'm aware of it now.

Level 68

Mar 30, 2022

makiivka is the incorrect spelling of makayevka

Level 83

Apr 26, 2022

Missing the R in Kyrgyzstan.

Level 58

Feb 5, 2023

Must be changed.

Level 83

Dec 25, 2022

You should pick whether you want to use 1989 names or modern names and go with it. Some (Gorky, Sverdlovosk, etc) use 1989, and others, (Kyvyi Rih, Samara, etc.) Same thing with inconsistencies with transliterations, pick between Kharkiv and Kyiv or Kiev and Kharkov.

Level 71

Feb 6, 2023

I agree that it's better to be consistent, but to be fair, there is no consistent transliteration system in the first place. Ий is sometimes written as i, y, iy, yy, yi, regardless of using Russian or Ukrainian transliterations, and that's just one example..

Level 81

Feb 6, 2023

Yes but before even considering that you need to decide if you use Ukrainian or Russian names

Level 55

Feb 6, 2023

congrats on the feature. well deserved.

Level 71

Feb 6, 2023

Will someone explain why my brain just straight-up refuses to learn how to spell Zaporizhia? It's not even the double zh thing - I can't get that far into the name. I'm like it's zapo... zapro... zarpo... zapzhzhizhzhzhia... I give up.

Yet somehow no problem learning off Yekaterinburg, Dnipropetrovsk, Arkhangelsk, Karsnoyarsk, Yaroslavl, etc. ...

Level 70

Feb 6, 2023

In many maps Zaporizhia is spelled with a double "zh". Can it be accepted as well?

Level 81

Feb 6, 2023

Mykolaiv, Makiivka and maybe others don't have the Russian name accepted. Even Ukrainian spelling could be generous about y/i.

Level 76

Feb 6, 2023

Only on JetPunk would the average score be 47 and a score of 78 only beat 86% of takers.

Level 70

Feb 7, 2023

Shouldn't Kishinev/Kishinyov be accepted for Chisinau?

Level 81

Feb 8, 2023

Krasnodar?

Level 73

Feb 11, 2023

Didn't show up in citypopulation's source, same with Voronezh. I did some personal research and it's now here.

Level 51

Feb 10, 2023

Damn these spellings really mess me up sometimes😭

Level 79

Feb 10, 2023

Surely Krasnodar should be here.

Krasnodar - Historical Population Data

Year Population Growth Rate

1990 623,000 0.32%

1989 621,000 0.65%

1988 617,000 0.98%

Level 69

Feb 15, 2023

The dot for Bishkek/Fruzne is missing

Level 65

Feb 19, 2023

Some advices:

Makiivka is between Gornivka and Donetsk, not at the place of Kramatorsk. And accept Nikolayev for Mykolaiv, accept Zaporozhe to Zaporizhia, thanks.

Level 86

Mar 7, 2023

Great quiz!

FYI, some of the dots don't display the city name when you hover over them after the quiz ends. Specifically, I noticed the issue with Vilnius, Samarkand, Bishkek, the northernmost dot in Kazakhstan, several dots in eastern Ukraine including Kharkiv & Donetsk, and all the dots in Belarus except Minsk.

Level 75

Mar 9, 2023

Yep, looks like some of them only count the outline as being part of the SVG object (or there's something else on top of them) and some don't work at all.

Level 70

Mar 7, 2023

Voroshilovgrad for Luhansk? It was the official name in 1989.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luhansk#History

Level 61

Mar 8, 2023

Makiivka is completely off of the map. Should be bordering Donetsk.

Level 58

Mar 11, 2023

Could you add Russian names for Ukrainian cities, such as Vinnitsa, Gorlovka, Makeevka, Nikolayev or Zaporozhye, as valid?

Level 71

Mar 12, 2023

KyRgyzstan

610,630

Level 76

May 7, 2023

Some of the cities do not display their names when hovering over them, Makiivka is places in the wrong spot.

The cities affected are:

Bishkek

Pavlodar

Samarkand

Kharkiv

Donetsk

Makiivka

Gomel

Mogilev

Vitebsk

Vilnius

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