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Ukraine's population in steep decline, deaths outnumber births three to one

Ukrainian media have on numerous occasions reported on the historically low birth rate in the country

MOSCOW, August 5. /TASS/. Ukraine is facing a demographic crisis, as for every person born today in the country, three people die, Opendatabot, which specializes in monitoring state registers of Ukraine, reported.

According to the Ukrainian Justice Ministry, a total of 250,972 people died in the first half of this year, which is 1.4 times less than in the same period in 2021, during the coronavirus pandemic. Concurrently, 87,655 babies have been born so far in 2024, which is 9% less than the same period in 2023 and one and a half times less than in 2021. In 2018-2020, there were two deaths for every one newborn.

Ukrainian media have on numerous occasions reported on the historically low birth rate in the country. According to demographers' estimates, the current birth rate is between 0.8-0.9, while the natural reproduction rate is 2.1-2.2.

Ukraine's population has seen a steady decline since the 1990s. According to various estimates, the country currently has between 25 and 28 million people. A respected demographer said earlier that the population of Ukraine would never return to Soviet levels, when about 52 million people lived in the country. In 2012, when the birth rate in the country reached its peak, it was still only 1.53. Given the current situation, demographers believe that there is an urgent need for "robust immigration," including the return of Ukrainians who left abroad, whose number, together with labor migrants, is about 9 million.

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