Currently the population of Ukraine stands at 42 million, statistics body Ukrstat reports. The data shows how Ukrainian demographics changed since 1990. See the tables and brief summaries below.

Urban vs. rural population

In the recent 28 years, the urban population of Ukraine declined from 34 million in 1990 to 29 million in 2018. From 1990 to 1996 the number of people remained relatively stable. But from 1997, a sharp descend began.

The same happened with the rural population that was stable until 2001 and then started to decline by nearly 200 thousand per year. In 2018 the rural population was only 13 million, a big drop from 16 million in 1990.

Experts predict that the population of Ukraine will plummet to 36 million by 2050.

Population by age group and life expectancy

Ukrainian population is aging, even though the life expectancy is much lower than in Europe or the USA.

However, the number of people over 65 is on the increase, although the other age groups are shrinking: From 6,174 mln in 1990 to 6,967 mln in 2018.

65+ is the only age group that is growing in size, unfortunately.

Where the problem lies, it’s the birth rates. In 1990 there were 11 million kids 0-14 years old, but in 2018 this figure stands at only 6.5 mln, which is 40% decline within the 28-year frame.

Male to female ratio

Since the times of the USSR, there has been more males than females in Ukraine.

In 1990 there were nearly 4 million more females than males, demographics stats show. This situation hasn’t changed much in 2017, although there are now 3 million more females than males in Ukraine.

Ukrainian women live longer than their male counterparts. The difference in life expectancy is nearly 10 years and remained the same from 1990 to 2017, although today Ukrainians, both males and females, live 2 years longer than 28 years ago.

But the gender gap in how long males and females are expected to live remains large. Ukrainian males die on average much younger than females.

In 2017 life expectancy of males was 67 years and females 76 years.

Marriage and divorce rate

From 1990 to 2017 the number of registered marriages declined from 9.3 to 6.5 per 1000 population. That’s a sizable drop.

By contrast, there was no big difference between registered divorces in 1990 and 2017. For 27 years the situation with divorces remained relatively stable: 3.7 in 1990 and 3.3 in 2017, per 100 population.

But in fact, Ukrainians are not only marrying less often, but also divorcing more: Fewer marriages with the same number of divorces mean the divorce rates are up, if we consider the proportion of dissolved unions to the number of weddings.

The highest number of divorces was in 1992, when the divorce rate jumped to 4.3 and the marriage rates dropped to 7.6.

• The lowest rate of marriages per 1000 people was in the year 2000: 5.6.
• The lowest divorce rate was in 2010, when it declined to 2.7 per 1000 population.

Deaths and births

In 1990 the number of newborns was higher than the number of deaths: 657 thousands of births and 629 thousands of deaths.

In 2017 the situation changed dramatically and the number of deaths exceeded the number of live births by nearly 200 thousand: 574 thousands vs. 364 thousand.

The demographic situation with women not wanting to have more than one child is mostly due to an uncertain future and low average wages (currently at around USD 320 per month), which paints rather bleak perspectives for Ukraine, unless the economy picks up.

Birth rates by mother’s age

In 1990 the majority of women in Ukraine became mothers at 20-24 years. The total fertility rate stood at 1.85 at the time. It has never been that high again. In 1991 the fertility rate dropped to 1.78 and in 2017 it stands at 1.37.

But it’s not the lowest in recent times. The lowest fertility rate was in 2001-2002 when it dropped to 1.07-1.09.

By 2011 the same number of women were giving bight at 20-24 as in 25-29, which shows that Ukrainian women started to delay motherhood.

This trend is also seen in very young mothers aged 15-19: In 1990 there were 59 births per 1000 females of this age and by 2017 the figure dropped to 22. That’s quite a substantial decline.

In general, if we look at the mothers age, in 1990 women of childbearing age 15-49 had 53 births per 1000. In 2017 this figure dropped to 39.

The number of women giving birth in their late forties (45-49) grew tenfold, although the actual number of such births is insignificant. In 1990 there was one such birth per 1000 women of this age and in 2017 it raised to 7.

Data: Ukrstat

See also:

• Personal wealth of a Ukrainian is only USD 1,563
• Ukraine is still the poorest country in Europe
• Most common jobs in Ukraine, statistics on wages by occupation (2018)
• Why there are more brides than grooms in Ukraine