The issue of the standard of living of the Soviet population is one of the urgent in modern historical science. Nutrition and its quality are indicators of the standard of living. The purpose of this article is to analyze the nutrition of the population of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) in 1919–1990 from a qualitative and quantitative point of view. The methodological basis of the study was statistical research methods, focusing on the collection and analysis of quantitative data. Statistical methods are used to identify causeand-effect relationships and statistical patterns. The study is based on data from budget surveys of workers and collective farmers in the RSFSR in 1919–1990. Absolute data on food consumption by the population of the RSFSR is calculated and presented in dynamics. The composition of the diet was analyzed, and conclusions were drawn about its balance. The annual calorie content of the diet was calculated. The actual consumption was compared with the developed physiological standards. The use of data from an earlier period allowed us to present the dynamics of consumption in Russia over the past 90 years. In the 1950s and 1970s significant progress was made largely due to the country’s leadership’s reevaluation of its policies towards the countryside. After a very long period, calorie consumption became adequate to the body’s energy requirements. The disparity between the nutritional balance of collective farmers and workers persisted until the 1970s (with an imbalance in favor of workers), and by the end of the period, workers and employees had a less balanced diet than rural residents. The most significant change in the population’s diet was that chronic malnutrition became a thing of the past in the 1950s, and the population was able to meet its basic nutritional needs in a more or less satisfactory manner. © 2025, Saint Petersburg State University. All rights reserved.