Pre-revolutionary Russia was a country of very high fertility. In the "Statistical annals of the Russian Empire" for 1870 indicated that the average total fertility for the whole of European Russia at the time was 48.8 births per thousand population. While in other European countries, average fertility rates were much lower: France - 25,8 people, Sweden - 27.1 man, England - 35,4 people, Germany - 40,0-42,8 persons [1]. The value of total fertility for the province of Novgorod in 1870 amounted to 38.4 per thousand of the population [2]. In comparison with other provinces of European Russia in Novgorod province was at the 44th place in the birth rate (from 50 provinces). A well-known researcher A.G. Rashin determined the average fertility rate for the province of Novgorod in the period from 1861 to 1913 at 42.0 births per thousand of the population, and according to his calculations Novgorod province was in 41st place out of 50 provinces of European Russia birth rate [3].

Annual statistics allow us to more accurately describe the process of fertility in the province of Novgorod, than the above averages. First refer to the absolute data. If we compare the absolute fertility levels, we will see that during the 19th century in the Novgorod province the number of births from year to year increases. At the end of the 30-40-ies in the province annually were born from 31 to 39 thousand new residents [4]. In the middle of the 50-70-ies the number of births increased to 33-48 thousand a year, and 80-90 years an absolute fertility increase even more up to 46-62 thousand new inhabitants of the province in a year. However, a similar result, showing a constant increase in the number of births, cannot be considered appropriately reflects the processes the fact that a huge influence on the demographic processes having the population in which they occur, and a steady increase in the number of births to the greatest extent due to the constant increase in the number of residents in the province. But statistics show that only in the second half of the 19th century the number of inhabitants in the province of Novgorod has increased almost twice

In such cases, in order to make the comparison, it is customary to use General coefficients. In this case, the total fertility rate, which expresses the number of births per 1 thousand inhabitants. That is, we use not absolute, but relative data that will compare the birth rate of the population for each year in each city and the County.

A comparison of the total fertility rates gives us a somewhat different picture. First, we note that data on births for each single year are very different from the average for the entire second half of the 19th century, calculated by G.A. Rashin and equal of 42.0 people per thousand population. The number of births changed each year and ranged from 48,78 to 40.18 per thousand of the population.

But the main result of comparing total fertility rates is that, unlike absolute indicators, they indicate a modest decline in the number born each year in the province of Novgorod by the end of the XIX century. In 50-60-ies the birth rate in the province remains high, but with the late 70 - early 80-ies of the increasingly visibly begins to show a tendency for a gradual decrease in the number of births. We calculated the average fertility rates confirm the above. So, if in the 50-70-ies of the average birth rate in the whole province was 45,31 persons per thousand population, in the 80-90-ies, this figure was already equal to 43,04 people. Thus, since the mid 50-ies to the end of the 19th century the birth rate in the province of Novgorod became less by 2.27 persons per thousand population. The figure is low, but the decline in fertility at the time and could not be significant, as this process had only just begun. Substantial fertility decline started to happen in Russia, only about 10 years after the revolution, that is, since the late 20-ies of the 20th century [5]. Point out also that the decrease in the number of births took place with varying success. The birth rate in the Novgorod province in some years could decrease and then again increase. But the General trend of lowering the birth rate continued to remain unchanged throughout the second half of the 19th century.

Bringing all the above data should draw attention to the fact that with all the decline in the number of annually born in the Novgorod province, the total fertility rate of the population, even to the end of the nineteenth century was still very high - an average of 43,04 people per thousand population. In the province of Novgorod in the late XIX century, more than 40 people per thousand of the population were born in the 10 counties of the 11. On a scale of total fertility rates number of births over 40 people per thousand population shows very high levels of fertility on the territory [6].

1. Statistical annals of the Russian Empire. Series II. Issue 14. Saint Petersburg, 1879. P. III.

2. Ibid. P. III.

3. Rashin A. G. Population of Russia for 100 years (1811-1913.). Moscow, 1956. P. 166.

4. Zabolotskiy A. P. Movement of the population of Russia from 1838 to 1847 the Collection of statistical information about Russia. Volume 1. Saint Petersburg, 1851.

5. Vishnevskiy A. G. Early stages of formation of a new type of fertility in Marriages, fertility, mortality in Russia and the Soviet Union. Moscow, 1977. P. 105.

6. Population statistics the basics of demography. Moscow, 1990. P.126.