Skip to content
Newborn infants are pictured in a maternity hospital in Lviv on October 21, 2022. (Photo by YURIY DYACHYSHYN/AFP via Getty Images)
This audio is created with AI assistance

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.

Investigative Stories from Ukraine: Russia systematically abducts children, elderly, vulnerable
Welcome to Investigative Stories from Ukraine, the Kyiv Independent’s newsletter that walks you through the most prominent investigations of the past week. Join our communitySupport independent journalism in Ukraine. Join us in this fight.Support us The Kyiv Independent’s exclusive Russia s…

News Feed

10:26 AM

Air Force: Ukraine downs 31 drones overnight.

Russia also attacked Ukraine with two Iskander-M ballistic missiles and two Kh-59 cruise missiles, the Air Force said. The missiles targeted Chernihiv, Sumy, Poltava, and Odesa oblasts.
MORE NEWS

Editors' Picks

Enter your email to subscribe
Please, enter correct email address
Subscribe
* indicates required
* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required
* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required

Subscribe

* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required
Explaining Ukraine with Kate Tsurkan
* indicates required
Successfuly subscribed
Thank you for signing up for this newsletter. We’ve sent you a confirmation email.