The number of prisoners in the Gulag on 1 January each year (Zemskov, V. N., Arkhipeleg Gulag:glazami pisatelya i statiski, Argumenti e Facty no 45, 1989)
1930 179,000
1931 212,000
1932 268,700
1933 334,300
1934 510,307
1935 965,742
1936 1,296,494
1937 1,196,369
1938 1,881,570
1939 1,672,438
1940 1,659,992
1941 1,929,729
1942 1,777,043
1943 1,484,182
1944 1,179,819
1945 1,460,677
1946 1,703,095
1947 1,721,543
1948 2,199,535
1949 2,356,685
1950 2,561,351
1951 2,525,146
1952 2,504,514
1953 2,468,524