An Exploration of the Living Standards of the Soviet People in the 1970s and 1980s:A Discussion of the Economic Factors for the Disintegration of the Soviet Union
One perception regarding the reasons for the disintegration of the Soviet Union holds that before the disintegration,the living standards of the Soviet people had been significantly lower than that in Western developed countries and had not shown substantial improvement over time,which led to the loss of people's support for the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and ultimately led to the disintegration of the Soviet Union.However,statistics show that in the 1970s and 1980s,the quality of life of the Soviet people was improved in all respects and by the mid-1980s,that is,before Gorbachev's reform,the per capita food consumption level and the penetration rate of nearly half the categories of durable goods had reached or approached the average level of developed countries,and the benefits the Soviet people enjoyed in healthcare,education,housing and other social welfare were far superior to those in Western capitalist countries.Although maintaining and improving the people's living standards imposed a heavy financial burden on the state,there was no direct correlation between living standards and the disintegration of the Soviet Union.The actual decline in living standards of the Soviet people occurred only after the disintegration had begun.
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