According to the UN, the population of Ukraine has decreased by 10 million people, or about a quarter, since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion due to the outflow of refugees, falling birth rates and war-related deaths.
This is reported by Reuters, Ukrinform reports.
Florence Bauer, the head of the UN Population Fund in Eastern Europe, said that the invasion in February 2022 worsened the already difficult demographic situation.
“The birth rate plummeted and is currently at around one child per woman, which is one of the lowest in the world,” she said.
According to her, a fertility rate of 2.1 children per woman is needed to maintain a stable population.
Bauer said that the immediate impact was felt in regions that were almost depopulated due to the war, villages where only old or single people who cannot start a family remained.
Refugees account for the largest share of Ukraine’s population decline – 6.7 million Ukrainians now live abroad, mostly in Europe. Deaths caused by the war are also a factor in the decline.
Bauer noted that to accurately calculate the impact of the war on the population of Ukraine, we will have to wait until the end of the conflict, when a full census can finally be conducted.
As Ukrinform reported earlier, according to the Institute of Demography and Quality of Life Problems of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, as of January 1, 2022, the population of Ukraine was 42 million people, as of July 2024 – 35.8 million people, including 31.1 million people in the government-controlled territories.
At the same time, taking into account the challenges and threats that will continue after the end of hostilities, the population of Ukraine, according to the Institute of Demography and Quality of Life, may decrease to 28.9 million people by 2041, and to 25.2 million people by 2051.
Source: Since beginning of war, population of Ukraine decreased by 10M people - UN
