Ukraine faces demographic collapse due to ongoing war with Russia.

This is reported by The Economist magazine.

According to the publication, since the start of the full-scale war, the population in the territory controlled by Ukraine has declined from approximately 37 million to 27-28 million people.

President Volodymyr Zelensky states that the losses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in killed amount to 50 thousand people, but an independent estimate is closer to 150 thousand.

The birth rate, meanwhile, has fallen from 1.2 children per woman in 2020 to 0.8-0.9, which is significantly below the population replacement rate of 2.1 and lower than in any major country except South Korea. In the first half of 2026, three times as many people died as were born, the material says.

However, the largest population decline is due to mass outflow.

According to The Economist’s estimate, this demographic collapse is an “existential threat” for Ukraine.

“We are losing our future,” says Ella Libanova, director of the Kyiv Institute of Demography.

Earlier, Dmytro Shushpanov, head of a department at the Institute of Demography of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, stated that the birth rate in Ukraine had collapsed by almost 17%, and after the war ends the country may face another demographic blow.

In the summer we also wrote that the death rate in Ukraine is four times the birth rate, and the demographic situation continues to worsen.