UN: Ukraine's Population Decreased by 10 Million

The United Nations announced on Tuesday, October 23, that Ukraine's population has decreased by about a quarter (equivalent to 10 million people) since the onset of Russia's large-scale invasion of the country in March 2022, due to the outflow of refugees, declining birth rates, and increased war-related mortality. Florence Bauer, head of the Eastern Europe section of the UN Population Fund, stated at a press conference in Geneva that the Russian invasion has worsened an already difficult demographic situation. She noted, 'The birth rate has sharply declined to about one child per woman, one of the lowest rates in the world.' To maintain a stable population, the fertility rate must be at least 2.1 children per woman. Ukraine had a population of over 50 million at the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union, but like all its Eastern European and Central Asian neighbors, it has experienced a severe population decline, reaching about 40 million in the last year before the Russian invasion. The largest portion of the population decrease is related to the 6.7 million refugees who have fled abroad, mainly to Europe. War-related mortality is also a contributing factor to the population decline, estimated to be in the tens of thousands. Bauer stated that the immediate impact of the population decline is manifested in various ways: areas that are now completely uninhabited, villages where only elderly people live, and young couples who are unable to start families. She emphasized that to accurately assess the war's impact on Ukraine's population, it is necessary to wait until the end of the war and the possibility of conducting a complete census. Russia, despite having a much larger population of 140 million, has also seen a deterioration in its demographic situation, recording the lowest birth rate in the first half of this year since 1999, a situation that even the Kremlin has described as 'disastrous.'