Almost every third Ukrainian (29%) lives below the poverty line, according to the World Bank’s 2023 report. The situation would be even worse if it were not for the financial assistance provided to the country by international partners.
According to World Bank estimates, about 32 million people currently live in Ukraine. 9 million of them are considered to live below the poverty line. The reduction of incomes and material losses led to the fact that the number of poor people in the country increased by 1.8 million in one year.
“If international partners, especially the United States, had not provided Ukraine with financial aid for social expenses, the number of people living below the poverty line would have been three million more,” he notes. Arup Banerjee, regional director of the World Bank in Eastern Europe.
It is worth noting that all tax revenues from the Ukrainian budget are currently directed to support the army. All social expenses are provided with the help of international donors. Since February 2022, partner countries have provided Ukraine with more than $85.4 billion in financial support. The largest sums came from the EU ($34 billion) and the USA (almost $23 billion). More than 8 billion dollars was raised thanks to tranches from the International Monetary Fund.
In addition, among the leaders in the amount of financial support of Ukraine – Japan, which transferred 6.34 billion dollars in two years; Canada ($5.12 billion in support) and Great Britain ($2.55 billion). The World Bank provided Ukraine with tranches totaling $2.07 billion. The total amount of support from other partners amounted to $4.35 billion.
One of the indicators showing the level of poverty is that about 25% of Ukrainians experienced difficulties even with purchasing food products last year.
Such a difficult situation with the well-being of citizens is connected, in particular, with the fact that almost every fifth Ukrainian lost his job due to the war.
A survey conducted by representatives of the World Bank also showed that 97% of pensions and 85% of some types of social benefits were paid on time. It also contributed to the fact that poverty indicators were not as critical as they could have been in the worst case scenario. Pensions and other social assistance helped compensate for the loss of work in socially vulnerable families.
