Animated population pyramid since 1989Population density in Ukraine by raion.
The demographics of Ukraine include statistics on population growth, population density, ethnicity, education level, health, economic status, religious affiliations, and other aspects of the population of Ukraine.
On 1 January 2022 the total population of Ukraine was estimated to be 41,167,336,[2] excluding the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol. (If these two territories are included in the demographics of Ukraine, the population rises by approximately 2.25 million, to 43.4 million). During the War in Donbas, the Ukrainian Government also lost control of portions of the Donbas region, including major cities such as Luhansk, Donetsk, and Horlivka. If the populations of these cities are subtracted from Ukraine's current demographics, the total population of Ukraine falls below 40 million. Additionally due to the Russian invasion, more than 6 million Ukrainians have left the country.[7] In January 2020, an electronic census estimated that the population of Ukraine (excluding occupied Crimea and parts of the Donbas), to be 37.3 million.[8]
There were roughly four million Ukrainians at the end of the 17th century.[9] The majority of the historical information is sourced from Demoscope.ru.[10] The territory of modern Ukraine at the times listed above varied greatly. The western regions of Ukraine, west of Zbruch river, until 1939 for most of the time were part of the Kingdom of Galicia and later the Polish Republic. The detailed information for those territories is missing, for more information see Demographics of Poland. The Crimean peninsula changed hands as well, in 1897 it was a part of the Taurida Governorate, but after the October Revolution became part of the Russian SFSR, and later was turned under the administration of the Ukrainian SSR.
The territory of Budjak (southern Bessarabia) became a part of the Ukrainian SSR in June 1940. The censuses of 1926 through 1989 were taken in the Ukrainian SSR. The census of 1897 is taken with the correspondence to nine gubernias that included in the territory of today's Ukraine. The statistics of 1906 records are taken from www.statoids.com which provides a broad degree of historical explanation on the situation in the Imperial Russia. The census statistics of 1931 was estimated by Ukrainian professor Zenon Kuzela (1882–1952)[11] from Berlin. His calculations are as of 1 January 1931. This ethnographer is mentioned in the encyclopedia of Ukraine as one of the sources only available due to lack of the official census.[12][13]
The 2001 census was the first (and so far only[14]) official census of independent Ukraine. Its data is given as on 1 January. The 2003–2009 stats were taken from the official website of Ukrstat and represent the data as of February of each year for the real population.
The famines of the 1930s, followed by the devastation of World War II, created a demographic disaster. Life expectancy at birth fell to a level as low as ten years for females and seven for males in 1933 and plateaued around 25 for females and 15 for males in the period 1941–44.[16] According to The Oxford companion to World War II, "Over 7 million inhabitants of Ukraine, more than one-sixth of the pre-war population, were killed during the Second World War."[17]
Significant migration took place in the first years of Ukrainian independence. More than onemillion people moved into Ukraine in 1991–92, mostly from the other former Soviet republics. In total, between 1991 and 2004, 2.2million immigrated to Ukraine (among them, 2million came from the other former Soviet Union states), and 2.5million emigrated from Ukraine (among them, 1.9million moved to other former Soviet Union republics).[18] As of 2015, immigrants constituted an estimated 11.4% of the total population, or 4.8million people.[19] In 2006, there were an estimated 1.2 million Canadians of Ukrainian ancestry,[20] giving Canada the world's third-largest Ukrainian population behind Ukraine itself and Russia. There are also large Ukrainian immigrant communities in the United States, Poland, Australia, Brazil, and Argentina.
Since about 2015 there has been a growing number of Ukrainians working in the European Union, particularly Poland. Eurostat reported that 662,000 Ukrainians received EU residence permits in 2017, with 585,439 being to Poland. World Bank statistics show that money remittances back to Ukraine have roughly doubled from 2015 to 2018, worth about 4% of GDP.[21][22] However this emigration is not represented in Ukrainian migration data, measuring registrations at the State Migration Service which is usually only done by Ukrainians obtaining foreign citizenship. It is unclear if those moving to work in the EU intend this to be temporary or permanent.[23]
Population decline
Population of Ukraine from 1950
According to estimations of the State Statistics Service of Ukraine, the population of Ukraine (excluding Crimea) on 1 May 2021 was 41,442,615.[1]
The country's population has been declining since the 1990s because of a high emigration rate, coupled with high death rates and low birth rates. The population has been shrinking by an average of over 300,000 annually since 1993.[citation needed]
In 2007, the country's rate of population decline was the fourth highest in the world.[26]
Ukraine suffers a high mortality rate from environmental pollution, poor diets, widespread smoking, extensive alcoholism and deteriorating medical care.[27][28]
During the years 2008 to 2010, more than 1.5 million children were born in Ukraine, compared to fewer than 1.2 million during 1999–2001. In 2008 Ukraine posted record-breaking birth rates since its 1991 independence. Infant mortality rates have also dropped from 10.4 deaths to 8.3 per 1,000 children under one year of age. This is lower than in 153 countries of the world.[29]
In 2019 the government ran an electronic census using multiple sources, including mobile phone and pension data, and estimated that Ukraine's population, excluding Crimea and parts of the Donbas, to be 37.3 million. About 20 million were of active working age.[8][30]
The current birth rate in Ukraine, as of 2020[update], is 8.1 live births/1,000 population, and the death rate is 14.7 deaths/1,000 population.[2]
The phenomenon of lowest-low fertility, defined as total fertility below 1.3, is emerging throughout Europe and is attributed by many to postponement of the initiation of childbearing. Ukraine, where total fertility (a very low 1.1 in 2001), was one of the world's lowest, shows that there is more than one pathway to lowest-low fertility. Although Ukraine has undergone immense political and economic transformations during 1991–2004, it has maintained a young age at first birth and nearly universal childbearing. Analysis of official national statistics and the Ukrainian Reproductive Health Survey show that fertility declined to very low levels without a transition to a later pattern of childbearing. Findings from focus group interviews suggest explanations of the early fertility pattern. These findings include the persistence of traditional norms for childbearing and the roles of men and women, concerns about medical complications and infertility at a later age, and the link between early fertility and early marriage.[31] Ukraine subsequently has one of the oldest populations in the world, with the average age of 40.8 years.[32]
To help mitigate the declining population, the government continues to increase child support payments. Thus it provides one-time payments of 12,250 hryvnias for the first child, 25,000 hryvnias for the second and 50,000 hryvnias for the third and fourth, along with monthly payments of 154 hryvnias per child.[33][34] The demographic trend is showing signs of improvement, as the birth rate has been steadily growing since 2001.[35] Net population growth over the first nine months of 2007 was registered in five provinces of the country (out of 24), and population shrinkage was showing signs of stabilising nationwide. In 2007 the highest birth rates were in the western oblasts.[36] In 2008, Ukraine emerged from lowest-low fertility, and the upward trend has continued to 2012, while the population was still decreasing but at a pace that was slowing year to year. If early 2010s trends were continuing, the population of Ukraine could have returned to positive growth later in the same decade. Similar trends were seen in Russia and Belarus as well, which experienced population growth in the 2010s. In 2014 the strong decline in births was re-established, with 2018 having fewer than half the number of births as in 1989. (see demographic tables) In 2020 the number of births decreased to 293,000, reaching levels not seen even in the late 90s and early 2000s when the number of births started to increase.
According to the 2021 interview with Ukrainian professor Iryna Kurylo[37] from M.V. Ptukha Institute for Demography and Social Studies, Ukraine's total fertility rate is 1.20 children per woman making it the lowest in Europe.[38]
(a) Information is given for Ukraine's territory within its old boundaries up to 17 September 1939 (b) Information is given for Ukraine's territory within its present-day boundaries, after the Soviet annexation of Eastern Galicia and Volhynia in September 1939
Note: Starting 2014 territories of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, the city of Sevastopol and part of the anti-terrorist operation zone are not included in Demographics of Ukraine. These territories are included to the Demographics of Russia. All data from State Statistics Service of Ukraine.
The natural population growth of Ukraine in 1950–2010.
Birth rate
Death rate
Natural growth rate
Life expectancy at birth
Life expectancy at birth in Ukraine by oblast in 2012
In 2001 Ukraine recorded the lowest fertility rate ever recorded in Europe for an independent country: 1.08 child/woman. During this year the number of children born was less than half of that born in 1987 and less than a quarter of that born in 1937. Lower rates were recorded only in former East Germany, which registered 0.77 child/woman in 1994, as well as Taiwan (from 2008 to 2010), South Korea in 2018 and both Hong Kong and Macau (from about 2000 to 2010). After neglect by the Kuchma administration, both the Yushchenko and the Yanukovych governments have made increasing the birth rate a priority.
Demographic statistics
Population by oblast
Population of Ukraine by Oblast as of December 2021
Note: Recent data for Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts has been affected by the War in Donbass, and may only include births within the government-held parts of the oblasts.[47]
Compared to 2012, amount of attrition increased by 16,278 persons, or 3.1 to 3.5 persons per 1,000 inhabitants real. Natural decrease was observed in 23 oblasts of the country, while natural increases were recorded only in the capital Kyiv, Zakarpattya, Rivne and Volyn oblast (respectively 5,302, 3,689, 2,889 and 1,034 people).
Some regions registered a low natural decline, such as Chernivtsi, Ivano-Frankivsk, Sevastopol, Lviv, Ternopil, Crimea, Kherson and Odessa (respectively, −55, −642, −863, −2,124, −2,875, −2,974, −3,748 and −4,448 people). The largest declines were recorded in Donetsk, Luhansk, Dnipro, Kharkiv, Poltava and Chernihiv (respectively −28,311, −15,291, −15,007, −12,765, −10,062 and −10,057), regions which have in common a low birth rate and high mortality of a large urban population and a strong rural population aging.
Net migration rate
-5.4 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2015).
Infant mortality rate
9.1 deaths/1,000 infants live births for 4,564 deaths. (2010)
9.0 deaths/1,000 infants live births for 4,511 deaths. (2011)
8.4 deaths/1,000 infants live births for 4,371 deaths. (2012)
8.0 deaths/1,000 infants live births for 4,030 deaths. (2013)
8.9 deaths/1,000 infants live births for 2,193 death for January–June 2011
8.6 deaths/1,000 infants live births for 2,190 death for January–June 2012
7.8 deaths/1,000 infants live births for 1,993 deaths for January–June 2013[48]
(1 February 2022: excluding Crimea and Sevastopol) [1] 
deaths/1,000 population (2019)
(2018) [2] 
