Despite the ongoing full-scale war, Ukraine has not seen an increase in the number of orphans or children deprived of parental care, and the figure has even slightly decreased, according to Minister of Social Policy Oksana Zholnovych.
In comments to Ukrinform, Zholnovych said the official number of “status children” — those legally recognized as orphans or deprived of parental care — has fallen from over 65,000 to approximately 62,000.
“The statistics remain roughly the same as before. In fact, the number has slightly decreased. So we cannot say that the war has led to more families falling into distress,” she said.
Oksana Zholnovych
At the same time, she noted that the ministry currently operates with data on a smaller number of people, because part of the territory of Ukraine is under Russian occupation, where it is not clear what is happening to the children. In addition, some of the children have left with their families abroad, where they end up in international guardianship systems.
“Therefore, in Ukraine, this figure is balanced at approximately the same level, but it concerns a smaller number of people,” Zholnovych concluded.
According to official data, as of now, 61,500 children in Ukraine have official orphan or deprived-of-care status. Notably, over 90% of them are being raised in family-based care settings.
Source: Despite war, Ukraine sees no rise in number of orphans — social policy minister
