The population of Ukraine has decreased by 10 million people, or by about a quarter, since the beginning of the Russian invasion of the country. The decline is due to the wave of refugees, the reduced birth rate and deaths during the war, the regional director for Eastern Europe of the United Nations Population Fund, Florence Bauer, said today at a press conference in Geneva, quoted by Reuters and BTA.
Bauer pointed out that the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 worsened the already difficult demographic situation in the country.
Ukraine, home to over 50 million people since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, has, like many other Eastern European and Central Asian countries, experienced a significant demographic decline. In 2021, a year before Russia's full-scale invasion, the country's population was around 40 million.
Bauer added that to gauge the exact impact of the war on Ukraine's population, it will be necessary to wait until the end of the conflict, when a full census can be carried out.