Ukraine's Population Is Declining Rapidly

February 26, 2018

According to State Statistics Service, in 2017, Ukrainian population decreased by 198 thousand people. As of 1 January 2018, there were 42 million 386.4 thousand people. In 2016, there was also a decrease, but less significant — 176 thousand people. Migration also played a role: in 2016 — 10,620 persons moved abroad permanently, while in 2017 — 11,997 persons.

The main reason why Ukrainians do not wish to have children is an unstable economic situation that has been going on for many years. As soon as living conditions are slightly improved, as it was in 2005-2008, there is an immediate rise in birth rate, and vice versa, in recent years it dropped, especially due to events in the east of the country. In cities, another restraining factor is the insufficient number of kindergartens, due to which one must sign up for a place since birth. State policy of financial support for families with multiple children (when more money was paid for each next child) turned out to be insufficient as well. It was mainly used by marginals, who earned money by giving birth. Migration is taking an increasingly larger toll — young people are leaving the country and having children abroad.


Olga Pyshchulina

Leading Expert, Social and Gender Programmes


Born in 1966 in Kharkiv

Education:

School of Economics at the Kharkiv State (National) University (Kharkiv, Ukraine) (1989)

Summer Course on Human Rights, School of Human Rights Research, Faculty of Law, Utrecht University, The Netherlands (2001)

PhD in sociology (Candidate of Social Science) (1997), Honorable Economics of Ukraine (2012). I am an author more than 90 publishing and a Civil Servant of 3rd rank

Research Interests:

Structural deformation of the economic and social policy; Main problems with the national models of social policy implementation; The issue of income polarization; Ineffectiveness of state transfer policy; Failure of pension reform in Ukraine; Social protection programmers in Ukraine; Regulations of labour market; Gender issues

Experience as a civil servant in the Government’s employ:

Civil Servant of 3d rank. Total experience 12 years. The Head of Social Policy Department (since 2010), Principal Consultant of the Civil Society and Social Relationships Department (since 2003) National Institute for Strategic Studies

Experience as a Research Fellow:

Senior Researcher (1995–2001) , Researcher (1989–1995) School of Sociology, Karazin Kharkiv National University, School of Sociology (1997–2003)

Teaching Experience:

Associate Professor, School of Sociology, Karazin Kharkiv National University, School of Sociology (1997–2003)

(044) 201-11-98

 pyshchulina@razumkov.org.ua