Ukrainian women should give birth to three children to preserve population — demographer

Oleksandr Hladun. Photo: RBC-Ukraine

To improve demographics in Ukraine, women need to give birth to about three children each.

This opinion was expressed by Oleksandr Hladun, Doctor of Economics, Deputy Director of the Institute of Demography and Quality of Life Problems of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, in an interview with «RBC-Ukraine».

According to him, at the beginning of 2022, there were 42 million people within the borders of Ukraine in 1991. At the beginning of 2025, there were about 34 million. This includes Crimea and the temporarily occupied territories.

«In order for the population not to decline due to natural factors, 100 women should give birth to 210-220 children. We are talking about Ukrainian women of reproductive age, in demography, this is from 15 to 49 years old. But it should be borne in mind that there are women who do not want to have children, some of whom cannot give birth due to illness. Therefore, in fact, the rest of Ukrainian women need to give birth to about three children each, so that the population does not decrease,»says Oleksandr Hladun.

"Portrait" of the population of Ukraine, as of 2023 (infographic: Ukrainian Institute for the Future)

However, he notes that no other European country has such a high birth rate. On average, 100 women in the EU give birth to 150-160 children.

He also noted that Ukrainians, who are now 18-25 years old, are a cohort of people born in 2001, when the country had the lowest birth rate. Therefore, if many of them die, even fewer people will be reproduced in future generations.

In 2024, the death rate in Mykolaiv region exceeded the birth rate by 3.5 times.