Population change Ukraine gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Since then, its population has been continuously declining. In 1991, there were almost 52 million people in Ukraine but by 2021, the total population has decreased to 41.6 million (Figure 1).
As of January 1, 2023, 37.6 million people lived in the territory within the 1991 borders, 32.6 million within the 2022 borders, and 31.1 million in the territories currently controlled by the Ukrainian government. This means that the population losses within the 1991 borders exceed 14 million people (27.6 percent).
The current population of Ukraine in 2023 is 36,744,634, a 7.45% decline from 2022. The population of Ukraine in 2022 was 39,701,739, a 8.8% decline from 2021. The population of Ukraine in 2021 was 43,531,422, a 0.86% decline from 2020.
The Ukrainian population was already shrinking rapidly before the war due to low birth rates, high levels of mortality and high emigration rates. In a new report, scientists from the Joint Research Centre (JRC) estimate that the country could be losing over a third of its population by 2052.
"At the end of the war, Ukraine lay in ruins: the population had declined by 25 per cent -- that is by approximately 10.5 million people; 6.8 million had been killed or died of hunger or disease, and the remainder had been evacuated or deported to Soviet Asia as political prisoners or had ended up as slave laborers or ...
The Soviet Union lost around 27 million people during the war, including 8.7 million military and 19 million civilians. This represents the most military deaths of any nation by a large margin. Germany sustained 5.3 million military losses, mostly on the Eastern Front and during the final battles in Germany.
Estimates for the total death count of the Second World War generally range somewhere between 70 and 85 million people. The Soviet Union suffered the highest number of fatalities of any single nation, with estimates mostly falling between 22 and 27 million deaths.
Russia may be different. Its population is falling unusually fast and may drop to 130m by mid-century. The decline is associated with increased misery: the life expectancy at birth of Russian males plummeted from 68.8 in 2019 to 64.2 in 2021, partly because of covid, partly from alcohol-related disease.
Approximately one-quarter of the country's total population had left their homes in Ukraine by 20 March. 90% of Ukrainian refugees are women and children, while most Ukrainian men age 18 to 60 are banned from leaving the country.
In April 2017, the World Bank stated that Ukraine's economic growth rate was 2.3% in 2016, ending the recession. Despite these improvements, Ukraine remains the poorest country in Europe, which some have attributed to high corruption levels and the slow pace of economic liberalization and institutional reform.
Overall, 77.8% of Ukraine's population self-identified as ethnically Ukrainian and 17.3% as ethnically Russian.
There are between 11 and 12 million ethnic Russians in Ukraine, including approximately 1.5 million who live in the Crimean peninsula (Uncaptive Minds Spring 1992, 76-77; RFE/RL 8 May 1992, 14).
Then war broke out The Russian invasion has cemented the decision for many couples to opt out of having babies, in a country that struggled with incredibly low fertility rates long before the war.
According to the Ukrainian Institute for the Future, as of the beginning of May 2023, the resident population amounted to 29 million people. Only a third of them are employed. "Only 9.1-9.5 million Ukrainians are employed, and if you deduct state employees, there are about 6-7 million people left.
One year in Australia: How Ukrainian refugees Valeriia and Olga are rebuilding their lives. Over the past year of war, millions of refugees have fled Ukraine — 4,500 of whom have found themselves in Australia.
Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine that started in late February 2022, more than 300,000 Russian citizens and residents are estimated to have left Russia by mid-March 2022, at least 500,000 by the end of August 2022, and an additional 400,000 by early October, for a total of approximately 900,000.
The international company "Gremi Personal" conducted a study among refugees in Poland: - 55% of respondents plan to return to Ukraine (most of them after the election); - 8% will return home this spring; - 4% will come to Ukraine in the summer.
Current United Nations estimates show China's total population falling by up to 100 or 200 million by 2050. China's demographic trajectory is far from unusual. It is following in the path set by the rest of East Asia.
Birth rate highs and lows
On the other side of the scale, the CIA estimates Monaco has the lowest birth rate in the world at 6.63 average annual births per 1,000 people per year.
Its casualties from enemy action during the war were 27,073 killed and 23,477 wounded. Many more suffered from tropical disease, hunger, and harsh conditions in captivity; of the 21,467 Australian prisoners taken by the Japanese, only 14,000 survived.
That count includes hundreds of thousands of deaths due to drowning, disease and starvation after the Chinese nationalist army breached massive holes in dikes holding back the Yellow River to stymie the Japanese advance in 1938.