Soviet media of the 1960s on the demographic situation in Western countries

The paper deals with the problem of coverage by periodicals of the Soviet Union of current problems in the social sphere of Western countries, in particular demography. Based on the analysis of the Central Press publications on social issues, the conclusion is made that this topic is used to form a certain idea of life abroad among Soviet citizens. The materials of the central periodical press of the Soviet Union, which contained the most complete information about relations with foreign countries, were used as the basis for the study. Other types of periodicals were focused on covering problems in the region they were published, and all available materials regarding the international agenda were reprints of articles from larger publications. During writing the paper, the most significant of them were used, namely: “Pravda” and ‘Izvestia’. The research methodology is based on the principle of historicism, which allowed us to study the image of Western countries through the prism of coverage of the demographic situation in Western countries. Reliance on the principle of objectivity made it possible to avoid inaccuracies and subjective assessments when studying the Soviet press and forming the image of Western countries through it. The principle of reliance on historical sources allowed us to extract information from a historical source, namely the periodical press, in order to form correct conclusions.