The average age of the residents was 26 and the city had 16,000 children under the age of 16. Life in Pripyat was paradise compared to many places in the Soviet Union and people competed to live there. Soviet education was organized in a highly centralized government-run system. Its advantages were total access for all citizens and post-education employment. The Soviet Union recognized that the foundation of their system depended upon complete dedication of the people to the state through education in the broad fields of engineering, the natural sciences, the life sciences and social sciences, along with basic education.