The population of Ukraine has decreased by more than 10 million people since February 2022, when the Russian invasion began, the United Nations (UN) has reported. This decline is caused by a mass exodus, a drop in the birth rate, as well as other demographic challenges that existed even before the war.
Florence Bauer, the regional director of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), stated at a conference in Geneva that Ukraine already had serious demographic problems before the invasion, including a low birth rate, one of the lowest in Europe, and a growing elderly population.
“Even before the war, many Ukrainians were leaving the country in search of better economic opportunities abroad. The age structure of the population was deteriorating, and the number of inhabitants was continuously declining”, Bauer said.
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Bauer emphasized that such a situation is not unique to Ukraine but is also common in many other Eastern European countries that face similar demographic challenges. However, Russia’s invasion in 2022 further exacerbated the already existing problems.
The fertility rate in the country has now fallen to one child per woman, one of the lowest rates in the world and significantly below the threshold needed to maintain the population, which is 2.1 children per woman. This further complicates the country’s demographic situation.
According to UN data, about 6.7 million people have left Ukraine since the beginning of the conflict, while many have died in the war. Before the outbreak of the war, Ukraine was estimated to have a population of 38 million, and the loss of more than 10 million represents a significant blow to the country’s future.
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Source: Nova.rs
Photo: MidJourney prompt by Serbian Times