Ukraine's birth rate drops by 28%
The Ukrainian data analytics website Opendatabot has reported that in the first six months of 2023, the country's birth rate was 28% lower than the same period in 2021.
This decline is the biggest since Ukraine's independence in 1991. Birth rates in Ukraine have been falling since 2013 by about 7% per year.
In total, 96,755 children were born in Ukraine between January and July 2023, whereas 135,079 were born during this period in 2021.
An average of 16,100 children are born per month in Ukraine in 2023, whereas prior to the full-scale invasion, an average of 21,000-23,000 newborns per month was recorded.
The last major drop in birth rates was a 12% decline in 2015, a year after Russia began its occupation of Crimea and territories in Ukraine's east.
A "catastrophic" drop in the birth rate was expected by the Ptoukha Institute for Demography and Social Studies earlier in 2023. According Ella Libanova, the institute's director, there are risks that by 2030 the country's population will decrease to less than 35 million.
Alexander Khrebet
