MOSCOW, January 31. /TASS/. About half a million people left Ukraine in 2024, and the population exodus from the country is expected to continue this year, the country's National Bank said in an annual inflation report.
"During 2024, the outflow of migrants from Ukraine persisted and amounted to about half a million people over the year," the document said.
The regulator's analysts predict that this trend will continue in 2025, with about 200,000 more citizens leaving the country. At the same time, as Ukrainians adapt abroad, the share of those who want to return declines. "Mass and rapid return of migrants under the current conditions seems unlikely," the report said. The regulator expects that the return of migrants may begin in 2026, when about 200,000 people may re-enter the country.
The National Bank noted that the migration processes of Ukrainians may be affected by active actions of the Ukrainian government to attract them back, as well as changes in the policies of the receiving countries. However, analysts believe that at this stage there is still a risk of a larger outflow of population and a smaller return. This leads to labor shortages and reduced domestic consumer demand in Ukraine.
Many Ukrainians of working age are trying to leave the country by any means possible, fearing mobilization. According to social surveys, many of those who have left find jobs abroad and do not plan to return to the country. At the same time, almost all sectors of the Ukrainian economy report a shortage of workers. According to experts of the Ukrainian Center for Economic and Political Research, by the summer of 2024, the number of able-bodied population in the country had decreased by 40% compared to 2021. According to the press service of the Geneva-based UN headquarters for the fall of 2024, the population of Ukraine has decreased by eight million people since February 2022.