In brief
Svitlana Aksonova said deaths now outnumber births by about 3.5 to one, while cautioning that final annual conclusions should wait until year-end.
Around 28–29 million people live in Ukrainian government-controlled territory, demographer Svitlana Aksonova told Hromadske Radio, according to an October 22 report by Novynarnia. The estimate covers those territories rather than Ukraine as a whole.
Aksonova, a leading researcher at the Institute for Demography and Quality of Life Studies of Ukraine's National Academy of Sciences, said deaths currently outnumber births by about 3.5 to one, compared with three to one in 2022–2025. She called the trend worrying but cautioned that final conclusions should wait until the end of the year.
She suggested that difficult conditions last winter, including power and heating cuts, had contributed to falling births. Pregnant women travelling abroad to give birth safely could also explain part of the decline, she said. Novynarnia's report did not quantify either factor's contribution.
The institute is developing a new migration strategy intended to propose ways to encourage Ukrainians to return after the war, Novynarnia reported.