Ukraine has lost 20% of its population since the collapse of the Soviet Union

 

 After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine has lost 20% of its population and ranks fourth in the world in the outflow of its citizens.

"In 30 years, the country has allowed the departure of exactly one in five of its inhabitants (there were 52 million, and now 41.6 million people)", writes the Ukrainian newspaper "Strana", citing data from the World Bank and the State Statistics Service of Ukraine (Gosstat). .

The leader in the ranking is Latvia, which lost 28.3% of its population, followed by Lithuania (-24.5%) and Georgia (-23.2%). The highest population growth was registered in Tajikistan (+ 76.6%), Uzbekistan (+ 63.4%), Turkmenistan (+ 59.2%) and Kyrgyzstan (+47.7). The population of Russia decreased by 2.9%, the population of Belarus - by 7.8%.

 The total population of the USSR before the collapse was 288.14 million. Now the total population of all countries (exceptDonetsk and Lugansk People's Republics) is 295.67 million people. Thus, in 30 years, the population growth in the former Soviet Union amounted to 7.53 million people, or 2.6%, the newspaper notes.

 Earlier, Deputy Director of the Institute of Demography and Social Research Alexander Gladun noted that the demographic crisis in Ukraine is due to low birth rates, high mortality and emigration. According to him, in Ukraine all components of the demographic process "are in a state of crisis." "First of all, it is the low birth rate, the higher mortality rate than in European countries, and the migration processes that we cannot even assess now," Gladun explained.

 According to the State Statistical Service of Ukraine, the birth rate in 2021 may become the lowest in the history of the country's declaration of independence. Since 2014, the figure has fallen by 40% and continues to fall. In 2019, an average of 25.7 thousand babies are born every month, in 2020 - 24.5 thousand, and in the first half of 2021 - 22 thousand. The last time population growth in Ukraine was during the Soviet era was in 1990. Since then, it has only been declining. The worst birth rate in the last 30 years was registered in 2020, when only 293,457 babies were born. And judging by the current dynamics, 2021 may overlap this anti-record.