Photo: Ukraine has the lowest birth rate in history (GettyImages) Author: Vladislava Tkachenko
Ukraine has set an anti-record for the birth rate – 0.9 children per woman. This situation, according to government representatives, is the lowest in the history of the country.
This was stated by the First Deputy Minister of Social Policy Daria Marchak during the conference “Demographic Future of Ukraine: Strategy of Sustainability and Recovery”, RBC-Ukraine reports with reference to “Ukrinform”.
Since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the country has undergone significant demographic changes. According to the First Deputy Minister of Social Policy Daria Marchak, today Ukraine has set an anti-record for the birth rate, which is 0.9 children per woman. This is the lowest level in the history of the country.
The international reproduction standard is 2.2 children per woman, and the average in the European Union is 1.5 children.
Marchak noted that low birth rates, together with large-scale external migration, lead to the aging of the nation.
As a result, the average age of Ukrainians has increased from 41 to 45, indicating a rapidly aging population. Today, the ratio of pensioners to workers in Ukraine is 1:1, and this trend is likely to worsen in the future.
One of the main areas is the development of a care system for the elderly, which will become an important part of the reforms aimed at improving the lives of older citizens.
Marczak also stressed the importance of pension reform and the development of the care economy, in particular the market for services for the elderly, which will relieve the burden on families who must care for their older members.
Let us recall that in 2023-2024 the birth rate in Ukraine reached critically low levels, which threatens not only the natural population growth, but also the stability of the economy and social processes in the country.
This was reported by the Minister of Social Policy Oksana Zholnovych. She emphasized that, although the war contributes to the deterioration of conditions for the birth of children, an important problem is also the lack of proper infrastructure to support mothers, in particular, in such areas as: