War-battered Ukraine risks a demographic collapse. Births in Ukraine are falling, in part because there are fewer adults. Since Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion in 2022 the population inside government-controlled territory has fallen from about 37m to 27m-28m…. Around 3m-5m Ukrainians now live under Russian occupation, and millions more have emigrated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ukraine\u2019s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, puts combat deaths at over 50,000; an independent estimate is closer to 150,000. Thousands of civilians have been killed, and Russia has deported over 20,000 children to Russify them. Wartime, moreover, is not good for starting families. The fertility rate has dropped from 1.2 children per woman in 2020 to 0.8-0.9, lower than any big country but South Korea. The replacement rate, needed to keep the population stable, is 2.1. In the first half of 2026 deaths outnumbered births by more than three to one. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ukraine\u2019s birth rate has lagged behind the mortality rate every year since independence in 1991, when the country (including Crimea and Donbas) had about 52m inhabitants. The war has turned that gap into a chasm. Russia\u2019s population is getting smaller too, but Ukraine\u2019s predicament is far worse. For a country under attack by its imperial neighbour, a demographic collapse is an existential worry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Read it all<\/a>.<\/p> Ukraine\u2019s birth rate has lagged behind the mortality rate every year since independence in 1991. We explain why the war has turned that gap into a chasm https:\/\/t.co\/59IIitfQ2O<\/p>— The Economist (@TheEconomist) November 6, 2026<\/a><\/blockquote>\n