Ukrstat released statistics of deaths and births in Ukraine in 2019, which is nothing short of shocking. There are nearly twice as many deaths in the country as compared to new babies born.

Statistics of galloping depopulation in Ukraine

In the first 9 months of 2019, there were 233 thousand live births in Ukraine, as compared to 436 thousand deaths, Ukrstat reported.

The number of newborns is only 53% of the number of deaths: 233,222 vs. 436,533.

The total decline in population in just 9 months of 2019 was over 200 thousand people.

For a country of 42 million, it’s nearly 0.5% in less than a year. With the same speed of natural decline it will pass 0.5% in annual terms and possibly will be close to 0.6% for the whole year.

This sudden drop in population due to natural causes adds to the constant outbound migration, which some sources estimate at 2 people per minute or 1 million annually. The majority of the people leaving to work in other countries come back home, but a lot of them never return.

Infant mortality in Ukraine is on the level of 0.7% (1.656 infant deaths), which is also very high for a country that is geographically located in Europe. For comparison, in Germany it’s 0.3% and in Norway 0.2%.

In fact, Ukraine is the largest country with a territory that is entirely in Europe. (Russia covers the largest chunk of Europe of all other countries, but it is intercontinental with the majority of territory in Asia).

Absolutely all Ukrainian regions, including the city of Kyiv, recorded natural losses of population in the first 9 months of 2019.

The least significant loss was in the city of Kyiv, where the absolute number came to only minus 360 people, with over 24 thousand births as well as deaths (24,339 vs. 24,699). It is also the city with the highest average wages, nearly twice the national averages.

So, is the reason why Ukrainian women are hesitant to start families in the lack of stability and low income?

Tell us what you think!

Read also:

• Official statistics on the income of women from Kyiv, Ukraine
  
• How much fathers pay in child support in Ukraine?
• Population of Ukraine 1990-2018: Official statistics by Ukrstat. Divorce rate, male to female ratio
• How much is express marriage in Ukraine?