What does 0.2 tenths of the population mean?

Question

In Clarence Brown's¹ English translation of Yevgeny Zamyatin's (Russian: Евге́ний Замя́тин) dystopian novel We (1921) (Russian: Мы), there is a passage of text, referring to population, which confused me, in Record² 5 (Square, Rulers of the World, Pleasant and Useful Function).

The excerpt is as follows:

But in the year 35 before the founding of OneState our present petroleum food was invented. True, only 0.2 of the world's population survived. On the other hand, when it was cleansed of a thousand years of filth, how bright the face of the earth became! And what is more, the zero point two tenths who survived . . . tasted earthly bliss in the granaries of OneState.
_{—We, Record 5 (bold formatting for emphasis done by yours truly)}

Typically, in the decimal system, decimals are used to express portions with relation to 1 being the whole (like 100%), and 0 being the nothing (like 0%), such that 0.2 represents 20%, of 1/5, or a fifth, or 2/10, or two tenths.

In the sentence,

True, only 0.2 of the world's population survived.

I read this to mean "only 20% (or two tenths) of the world's population survived". However, this seems to clash with one of the following sentences which reads:

And what is more, the zero point two tenths who survived . . . tasted earthly bliss in the granaries of OneState.

"zero point two tenths" is two hundredths, or 2/100, or 0.02, or 2%, as a result of evaluating 0.2 of a tenth, or 0.1 * 0.2 = 0.02 – or at least that's my reading of it.

Why do these two references to the population mentioned in the same paragraph differ? Which one is correct? Is this a case of poor translation? Or, am I incorrect in my reading, and are they actually not different values – if so, what does each value mean?

---

1: Clarence Brown is the author of several works on the Russian poet Osip Mandelstam. He is editor of The Portable Twentieth-Century Russian Reader, which contains his translation of Zamyatin's short story "The Cave", and of Yury Olesha's novel Envy.

2: The novel uses "record" as a diegetic stand-in for the more typical "chapter".

Answer 1

The Gregory Zilboorg translation renders that line as "0.2" or "two tenths" of the population that did not die out, which suggests that the original text may have said as much.

(bolding mine)

.... In the thirty-fifth year before the foundation of the United State our contemporary petroleum food was invented. True, only about two tenths of the population of the globe did not die out.

Accordingly the 0.2 which survived have enjoyed the greatest happiness in the bosom of the United State....

The Mira Ginsberg translation also uses "two tenths" and "0.2" to indicate the fraction of the population that survived.

Lastly, this online copy in Russian that I found:

Но в 35-м году — до основания Единого Государства — была изобретена наша теперешняя, нефтяная пища. Правда, выжило только 0,2 населения земного шара. Но зато — очищенное от тысячелетней грязи — каким сияющим стало лицо земли. И зато эти ноль целых и две десятых — вкусили блаженство в чертогах Единого Государства.

Running it through Google translate, we again get the values of "0.2" and "two tenths".

But in the 35th year - until the foundation of the One State - our present, oil food was invented. True, only 0.2 of the world's population survived. But it is cleared of millennial mud - how radiant the face of the earth became. And yet these zero whole and two-tenths - they tasted bliss in the palaces of the One State.

The odd phrasing of "zero whole and two-tenths" is an artifact of how Russian decimal values are stated:

When speaking you are usually pronounce integer part, word 'whole' and then tenths or hundredths, etc. Like: сорок четыре целых пятьдесят шесть сотых.

So, it looks like Clarence Brown simply erred in his translation by translating too literally.