Putin’s War Accelerating Ukraine’s Demographic Collapse, Experts Say
Publication: Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 19 Issue: 88
By: Paul Goble
June 14, 2022 05:18 PM
Ukraine experienced sharp demographic decline even before Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale re-invasion earlier this year. The Ukrainian population fell from 52 million in 1993 to just over 41 million by the start of 2022. For that matter, it would have been declining even if the Soviet Union had not disintegrated and Ukraine had not acquired its independence (see
Prism, December 25, 1998). However, the expanded Russian military action this year not only killed thousands of Ukrainian soldiers and civilians and led to the emigration of several million more, it also suppressed the birthrate while increasing the death rate among those remaining.
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Ukrainian, Russian and other experts are, thus, united in predicting Ukraine will soon face a demographic collapse...
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Far more Ukrainians have fled than have died, Libanova says. Many of those who have gone abroad, especially younger women with children who can take advantage of social welfare programs in other countries and IT specialists who have no difficulties in finding work, are not going to come back. Instead, they will remain abroad, and once the fighting is over, they are likely to be joined by husbands, making their return even less likely. Either way, the longer the war goes on, the more will remain abroad, even if the rate of outmigration slows.
Between deaths, emigration and
Russia’s policy of forcibly deporting Ukrainians from the occupied territories to address its own demographic problems...
