A critical branching process {Z k , k = 0, 1, 2, ...} in a random environment generated by a sequence of independent and identically distributed random reproduction laws is considered. Let Zp,n be the number of particles at time p ≤ n having a positive offspring number at time n. A theorem is proved describing the limiting behavior, as n → ∞ of the distribution of a properly scaled process log Zp,n under the assumptions Zn > 0 and p ≪ n.