According to Reuters, the United Nations reported that Ukraine has suffered a devastating population decline since Russia’s full scale invasion. It lost approximately 10 million people – about a quarter – of its total population.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, when its population was over 50 millions, Ukraine has seen a steady decline. By 2021, just before Russia’s full invasion, the population of Ukraine had dropped to about 40 million.
Florence Bauer, Eastern Europe Director at the UN Population Fund speaking at a Geneva press conference, said that the Russian invasion, which began in February 2022, has exacerbated Ukraine’s demographic challenges.
Bauer, speaking at the conference, said that the birth rate has plummeted to around one child per female, which is among the lowest in the entire world. He also noted that a fertility rate between 2.1 and 2.2 children per woman is required to maintain a stable population.
According to the UN Population Fund, the largest factor in the current decline in population is the refugee crises. 6.7 million Ukrainians are now living abroad in Europe. The decline has also been attributed to war casualties, although Bauer noted that exact numbers are difficult.
She said that it was difficult to get exact numbers but that estimates ranged around tens or thousands of casualties.
Bauer stressed that a complete assessment on the war’s effect on Ukraine’s populace would require a full count, which can only take place after the war is over. The immediate impact of the war is most visible in villages and regions that are almost depopulated. Only elderly residents remain. Many couples are unable start families.
The UN Population Fund noted that Russia has also experienced its own demographic challenges, despite having a much larger population pre-war of over 140,000,000. It recorded its lowest birthrate since 1999 in the six months leading up to 2024, a level even the Kremlin described as “catastrophic.”
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