Ukraine is heading into another demographic spiral, with its fertility rate projected to sink to the lowest in the world amid its conflict with Russia, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.
According to the paper, Ukraine’s population is shrinking not only due to hostilities that have left tens of thousands dead but also because of a “baby bust,” a trend that started long before February 2022 when the conflict between Moscow and Kiev erupted.
The WSJ noted that the number of births in the first half of 2023 was 28% lower than during the same period before the conflict. “Ukrainian demographers are now forecasting [that the fertility rate] will become the lowest in the world,” the report says.
Ukraine’s fertility rate was already the lowest in Europe before 2022, with just 1.2 children born per woman. It needs to be around 2.1 for the country to maintain its population size.