Ukraine suffered significant population losses due to the war, and as of today, approximately 31.5 million people live in government-controlled territory. About this stated Ella Libanova, director of the Institute of Demography and Social Research.
Currently, it is difficult to determine the exact demographic losses caused solely by the war, since Ukraine has also experienced a decline in the birth rate and a natural decline in the population.
«According to the estimates that we have already made, the population of Ukraine in the territories under the control of the legitimate Ukrainian government reaches somewhere around 31.5 million. That is, the direct demographic losses due to the war as of mid-2024 will reach 10 million people. This is almost a quarter of the entire population of Ukraine before the aggression of 2014.»Libanova noted.
According to her, if the pre-war demographic trends were maintained, the current population of Ukraine could be 41.5 million people. Separately, the expert emphasized that a significant part of military migrants is young people. Of the 4.5 million Ukrainians who are currently abroad, a third are children and adolescents under 18 years of age, while people over 65 make up only 6%.
«That is, the aging process was already quite intense in our country. Now it has significantly intensified. We have lost 10 million people directly today, and a large part of these people are young people.», Libanova concluded.
