Every third Friday of May in Ukraine, Science Day is celebrated – a holiday when scientists congratulate each other, going beyond the formal boundaries of scientific fields. Both physicists and lyricists understand each other through a common vocation, motivation, lifestyle. And, understanding, they not only rejoice in the successes, but also sympathize with the problems, of which there are enough in the scientific field of our country.
You can talk about science a lot and emotionally, and you can talk concretely and representatively. It is this style that scientists gravitate to, who prefer to confirm subjective feelings with the specifics of numbers and the obviousness of trends.
We turned to the State Statistics Service of Ukraine to see the key trends in the development of domestic science.
For according to Ukrstat, the curve of science, expressed by the number of personnel, is inexorably falling down – from 182,484 people in 2010 to 53,221 people in 2022 (most of the data for 2023-24 are not available in the public domain).
On the one hand, the decrease in the number of scientists can be explained by completely objective reasons – the given data do not take into account the territories temporarily occupied by the Russian Federation and parts of the territories where hostilities are (were) taking place. In addition, many scientists left the country in search of asylum. According to the Deputy Minister of Education Denis Kurbatov, Germany hosted the most scientists (20%).
On the other hand, the tendency to decrease the segment of scientists in the employment structure of Ukrainians took shape long before the full-scale war and shows a surprisingly constant dynamic.
The dynamics of involvement in scientific developments of scientists with scientific degrees is also indicative. As we can see, the percentage of doctors of science in the structure of general scientific activity has been growing somewhat in recent years. Instead, the percentage of candidates of sciences/doctors of philosophy shows a decrease in the period 2015-2018, and now it is increasing again. What does this say? Probably, about the quality of scientific developments, which are implemented by experienced scientists with relevant diplomas. And also about motivation: in the field of science there are employees whose motives are supported by career success and sufficient insensitivity to financial incentives.
The average salary in the category “Education, science” in Ukraine, according to current data of the resource Work.ua is UAH 17,500.
So those who accidentally got into the scientific community are gradually weeded out.
It is no secret that Ukrainian science did not receive adequate funding during all the years of our independence.
In 2024, spending on science was conditionally increased by 20%. This is 2.2 billion hryvnias, which also includes 140 million hryvnias to support young scientists. The dynamics seem to be positive. However, if we turn to relative indicators, in particular the scientific intensity of GDP, we will see that the funding of science is decreasing, because the scientific intensity of GDP in the current year is only at the level of 0.17%. For comparison, let’s take Western countries, whose experience we imitate in every way. The average share of spending on scientific research and development from GDP in EU countries is 2.26%. In some countries, this indicator is much higher: in Sweden (3.35%), Belgium (3.22%), Austria (3.19%), Germany (3.13%), Finland (2.99%).
We remind that according to Article 48 of the Law “On Scientific and Scientific-Technical Activities”, “The state provides budgetary financing of scientific and scientific and technical activities in the amount of at least 1.7 percent of the gross domestic product of Ukraine.”
So, we can see that the funding of science is only a tenth of the legally established indicator.
