Libanova: Two-thirds of Ukrainian refugees are women

This was reported by Ella Libanova, Director of the Institute for Demography and Social Studies, at the expert forum “Mental Health of the Nation and Rehabilitation of Military and Civilians during the War: A Common Cause of the State, Business and Civil Society” held at Ukrinform.

“I am often asked whether the gender imbalance in our country has increased because of the war. I really don’t think so. Because most of the 4.5 million people who left, about 65-66%, are women. Why are there so many men? Because until the age of 18, boys left in the same way as girls. If we take the working age, then there [among Ukrainians who left because of the war] men make up only 22%,” Libanova said.

She noted that among those men of mobilization age who are currently abroad, not all are necessarily hiding from mobilization.

“When people tell me that they see a lot of men of working age abroad, I always ask: “Are you sure they left the territory controlled by the Ukrainian government?” Perhaps these were people who were in Crimea or Donbas at the beginning of the war. They also had Ukrainian passports. No one took them away. This is to say that not many of our men are hiding abroad from mobilization,” Libanova said.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, demographers estimate that the population on the government-controlled territory of Ukraine has dropped to about 31.5 million.

Photo: Voice of America