- 1 January – Anatoli Ivanovich Bogdanov, Olympic shooter (died 2001)
- 17 January – Yury Rudov, Olympic fencer (died 2013)
- 21 January – Tatjana Michaylovna Zacharova, production worker, author and politician
- 22 January – Galina Zybina, Olympic athlete
- 1 February – Boris Yeltsin, first President of Russia (died 2007)
- 2 March – Mikhail Gorbachev, last leader of the Soviet Union (died 2022)
- 13 March – Alisa Aksyonova, museum director
- 23 March – Yevdokiya Mekshilo, Olympic skier
- 29 March – Aleksei Gubarev, cosmonaut
- 7 April – Lyubov Vorona, Ukrainian farm worker and politician (died 2021)
- 27 April – Igor Oistrakh, Ukrainian violinist
- 25 May – Georgy Grechko, cosmonaut
- 25 June – Anatoli Georgievich Vitushkin, mathematician
- 27 June – Anatoli Ilyin, footballer
- 24 September – Mark Midler, Olympic fencer
- 28 September – Emma Yefimova, Olympic fencer
- 1 November – Dmitri Bashkirov, pianist (died 2021)
- 21 November – Revaz Dogonadze, Georgian physicist (died 1985)