Share of Soviet dwellings with select characteristics 1980-1989

In the Soviet Union in the 1980s, there was some improvement in housing utilities and infrastructure, although a significant share of the population lived without utilities that would be considered basic or essential requirements today. For example, in 1980, one fifth of the population lived in homes without access to running water, and over half had no access to running hot water. By comparison, in the U.S. in 1980, over 97 percent of homes had access to all plumbing facilities, 99 percent had heating equipment, and 60 percent even had air conditioning. There were, of course, logistical factors that impacted the development of infrastructure in the USSR, such as harsh weather conditions and longer distances between settlements.