Last year, mortality in Ukraine exceeded birth rates by 2.8 times – Ministry of Justice of Ukraine

In 2024, the death rate in Ukraine surpassed the birth rate by 2.8 times.

This is stated in the report of the Ministry of Justice on the state registration of civil status acts.

Over the past year, 495.09 thousand deaths and 176.78 thousand births were registered.

Compared to 2023, the number of births decreased by 10.71 thousand, or 5.7%, while the number of deaths remained almost unchanged, decreasing by only 0.2%, or 1.15 thousand.

In the second half of 2024, the figures slightly improved: the number of registered births increased by 1.6% compared to the first half of the year, reaching 89.02 thousand, while the number of deaths decreased by 2.7%, reaching 244.12 thousand.

The worst death-to-birth ratios were observed in the Kherson and Donetsk regions, with ratios of 11 and 8.5, respectively.

Worse than the average ratios were observed in the Zaporizhzhia and Sumy regions at 4.7, in Kharkiv at 4.5, and in Chernihiv at 4.4.

The best indicators were seen in Rivne, where the ratio was 1.6, in Zakarpattia and Volyn regions at 1.7, in Kyiv at 1.8, in Chernivtsi at 1.9, and in Lviv at 2.

It is noted that, according to CIA data, Ukraine has the highest mortality rate in the world and the lowest birth rate.

The forecast from the Institute of Demography and Social Quality of Life of the NAS predicts that by 2051, Ukraine’s population could shrink to 25.2 million people.