Since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion, Ukraine's population has fallen by 10 million people, or about a quarter, due to the exodus of refugees, falling birth rates, and war deaths. This was stated by Florence Bauer, head of the Eastern European office of the United Nations Population Fund , Reutersreports , UNN reports.
Florence Bauer said that the invasion in February 2022 turned an already difficult demographic situation into something more serious.
"The fertility rate has fallen sharply and is now about one child per woman, which is one of the lowest in the world," she said, adding that a fertility rate of 2.1 children per woman is needed to maintain a stable population.
Refugees and war victims are the main factors behind the population decline. It is reported that 6.7 million Ukrainians currently live abroad, mostly in Europe.
"It is difficult to give exact figures, but according to various estimates, the number of victims is in the tens of thousands," she said.
According to Reuters, in 2021, the last year before Russia's full-scale invasion, Ukraine's population was about 40 million.
According to Bauer, an accurate count of Ukraine's population will be possible only after the war is over, when it will be possible to conduct a census.
The immediate impact, she said, has been in regions that are virtually depopulated, villages where only the elderly are left, and couples who cannot have children.
It is noted that in the much larger Russia, whose population before the war was more than 140 million, the already difficult demographic situation has worsened after the invasion of Ukraine: in the first six months of this year, the country recorded the lowest birth rate since 1999, and even the Kremlin called this figure "catastrophic.