According to the United Nations, Ukraine has a population of 36,744,636 as of 2023.^[5] In July 2023, Reuters reported that due to the refugee outpouring into Western Europe, the population of Kyiv-controlled areas may have decreased to as low as 28 million.^[6] This is a steep decline from 2020, when it had a population of almost 42 million people.^[7] This is in large part due to the ongoing Ukrainian refugee crisis and loss of territory caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The most recent (and only) census of a post-Soviet Ukraine occurred over 20 years ago, in 2001. Thus, much of the information presented here could be inaccurate and/or outdated.

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Quick Facts Ukraine, Population ...

Demographics of Ukraine
Ukraine population pyramid on 1 January 2021.
Population	Including Russian occupied territory: 41,130,432 (State Statistics Service of Ukraine)[1] Excluding Russian occupied territory: 36,744,636 (UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs)[2] 33.7 million estimate in 2024 (UBN News[3])
Growth rate	−6.6 people/1,000 population (2023)
Birth rate	8.6 births/1,000 population (2023)
Death rate	15.2 deaths/1,000 population (2023)
Life expectancy	71.76 years (2018)[4]
• male	66.69 years
• female	76.72 years
Fertility rate	0.7 children born/woman (2023)
Infant mortality rate	7.0 deaths/1,000 infants (2019)[4]
Net migration rate	−5.4 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2015)
Age structure
0–14 years	15.4%
15–64 years	68.4%
65 and over	16.2% (2017)
Sex ratio
At birth	1.06 male(s)/female
Under 15	1.06 male(s)/female
15–64 years	0.92 male(s)/female
65 and over	0.51 male(s)/female
Nationality
Nationality	noun: Ukrainian(s) adjective: Ukrainian
Major ethnic	Ukrainians (77.8%) 2001
Minor ethnic	Russians (17.3%) 2001, Other (4.9%) 2001
Language
Official	Ukrainian
Spoken	Ukrainian, Russian, others

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The majority of the historical information is sourced from Demoscope.ru.^[8]

The territory of Ukraine has varied greatly in history. Western Ukraine, west of the Zbruch river, until 1939 was for most of the time part of the Kingdom of Galicia and later the Polish Republic. Detailed information for those territories is missing, for more information see Demographics of Poland. Crimea 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 in 1954 was brought under the administration of the Ukrainian SSR. The territory of Budjak (southern Bessarabia) became a part of the Ukrainian SSR in June 1940.

There were roughly four million Ukrainians at the end of the 17th century.^[9]

The censuses of 1926 through 1989 were taken in the Ukrainian SSR. The census of 1897 is taken from the statistics of nine governorates that were in the territory of today's Ukraine. The statistics of the 1906 records are taken from www.statoids.com which provides a broad degree of historical explanation on the situation in Imperial Russia. The census statistics of 1931 were estimated by Professor Zenon Kuzela.^[10] His calculations are as of 1 January 1931. The Encyclopedia of Ukraine mentions Kuzela as one of the only ethnographic sources available, due to a lack of an official census.^[11][12]

Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org.

^{[nb 1]}

Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org.

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.^[13] 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."^[14]

Significant migration took place in the first years of Ukrainian independence. More than one million people moved into Ukraine in 1991–92, mostly from the other former Soviet republics. In total, between 1991 and 2004, 2.2 million immigrated to Ukraine (of these, 2 million came from the other former Soviet Union states), and 2.5 million emigrated from Ukraine (of these, 1.9 million moved to other former Soviet Union republics).^[15] As of 2015, immigrants constituted an estimated 11.4% of the total population, or 4.8 million people.^[16] In 2006, there were an estimated 1.2 million Canadians of Ukrainian ancestry,^[17] giving Canada the world's third-largest Ukrainian population behind Ukraine itself and Russia. There are also large Ukrainian diaspora communities in Russia, Poland, the United States, Brazil, Kazakhstan, 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. In 2019, World Bank statistics show that money remittances back to Ukraine have roughly doubled from 2015 to 2018, and are worth about 4% of GDP.^[18][19] The Ukrainian authorities only records its citizens who apply for foreign citizenship, not those who apply for foreign residency^[20]

After the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, eight million people fled during the ensuing Ukrainian refugee crisis, Europe's biggest refugee crisis since World War II. Most have gone to Central Europe.

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.

In 2007, the country's rate of population decline was the fourth highest in the world.^[23] 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, making it lower than 153 countries.^[24]

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.^[25][26]

The Russian invasion considerably deepened the country's demographic crisis. A July 2023 study by the Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies stated that "[r]egardless of how long the war lasts and whether or not there is further military escalation, Ukraine is unlikely to recover demographically from the consequences of the war. Even in 2040 it will have only about 35 million inhabitants, around 20% fewer than before the war (2021: 42.8 million) and the decline in the working-age population is likely to be the most severe and far-reaching." The study took different scenarios, from a "best case" (end of the war in 2023 without much further escalation) to a "worst case" (end of the war in 2025 with further escalation) into account. Flight from war affects especially the southern and eastern regions and especially educated women of child-bearing age and their children. With an estimate of more than 20% of refugees not returning, study author Maryna Tverdostup concludes that this will lead to long-term shrinking and will significantly impair the conditions for reconstruction.^[27]

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.^[4]

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.^[28] Ukraine subsequently has one of the oldest populations in the world, with the average age of 40.8 years.^[29]

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.^[30][31] The demographic trend was showing signs of improvement, as the birth rate was steadily growing from 2001 to 2013.^[32] 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.^[33] In 2008, Ukraine emerged from lowest-low fertility, and the upward trend has continued to 2012, with the population 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, who experienced population growth in the 2010's. 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.

Due to mass emigration and destruction of property caused by Russian Invasion of Ukraine, the country's birth rate has declined significantly, and was 28% lower in the first six months of 2023 compared to the same period in 2021.^[34] However, there could very well be a small, but meaningful increase in births, with the fertility rate possibly increasing to 1.60 children per women, even higher than the peak of 1.53 seen in 2012.^[35]

Notable events in Ukraine demography:

• 1932-33 – South Soviet Famine in Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic
• 1939 – Addition of western regions to Ukraine with the End of the Second Polish Republic due to German–Soviet invasion of Poland at the beginning of Second World War
• 1991 – Independence from the USSR
• 2004-2005 – Orange Revolution
• 2014 – Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation
• 2022 – Russian invasion of Ukraine

Current vital statistics

^[42]

More information Period, Live births ...

Period	Live births	Deaths	Natural increase
January 2021	21,931	57,721	−35,790
January 2022	18,062	57,248	−39,186
Difference	−3,869 (−17.64%)	−473 (−0.82%)	−3,396

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Note: Russia occupied and later annexed the Crimean Peninsula in 2014. The annexation is internationally recognized only by a small number of nations. The Ukrainian statistics Service can no longer provide accurate data on Crimea in the post-2014 period. Therefore, starting from 2014, the territories of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol are not included in the Demographics of Ukraine, but instead are included to the Demographics of Russia. All data from State Statistics Service of Ukraine.

Demographic statistics according to the World Population Review in 2019.^[48]

• One birth every 1 minute
• One death every 48 seconds
• Net loss of one person every 2 minutes
• One net migrant every 30 minutes

Demographic statistics according to the CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated.^[29]

Age structure:

0-14 years: 15.95% (male 3,609,386 /female 3,400,349)

15-24 years: 9.57% (male 2,156,338 /female 2,047,821)

25-54 years: 44.03% (male 9,522,108 /female 9,831,924)

55-64 years: 13.96% (male 2,638,173 /female 3,499,718)

65 years and over: 16.49% (male 2,433,718 /female 4,812,764) (2018 est.)

0-14 years: 15.76% (male 3,571,358/female 3,366,380)

15-24 years: 9.86% (male 2,226,142/female 2,114,853)

25-54 years: 44.29% (male 9,579,149/female 9,921,387)

55-64 years: 13.8% (male 2,605,849/female 3,469,246)

65 years and over: 16.3% (male 2,409,049/female 4,770,461) (2017 est.)

0–14 years: 15.1% = 6,449,171 (2015 official.)

15–64 years: 69.3% = 29,634,710

65 years and over: 15.6% = 6,675,780

0–14 years: 14.8% = 6,989,802

15–64 years: 69.2% = 32,603,475

65 years and over: 16.0% = 7,507,185 (2005 official.)

0–14 years: 21.6% = 11,101,469

15–64 years: 66.7% = 34,320,742

65 years and over: 11.7% = 6,022,934 (1989 official.)

Median age

total: 40.8 years. Country comparison to the world: 47th

male: 37.7 years

female: 43.9 years (2018 est.)

total: 40.6 years

male: 37.4 years

female: 43.7 years (2017 est.)

total: 39.8 years

male: 39.7 years

female: 40.1 years (2014 official)

total: 39.7 years

male: 39.5 years

female: 40.1 years (2013 official)

total: 34.8 years

male: 31.9 years

female: 37.7 years (1989 official)

Birth rate

10.1 births/1,000 population (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 190th

10.3 births/1,000 population (2017 est.)

Death rate

14.3 deaths/1,000 population (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 6th

14.4 deaths/1,000 population (2017 est.)

Total fertility rate

1.55 children born/woman (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 190th

1.54 children born/woman (2017 est.)

Net migration rate

4.6 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 29th

0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2017 est.)

Mother's mean age at first birth

24.9 years (2014 est.)

Population growth rate

0.04% (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 187th

-0.41% (2017 est.)

Life expectancy at birth

total population: 72.4 years. Country comparison to the world: 148th

male: 67.7 years

female: 77.4 years (2018 est.)

Ethnic groups

Ukrainian 77.8%, Russian 17.3%, Belarusian 0.6%, Moldovan 0.5%, Crimean Tatar 0.5%, Bulgarian 0.4%, Hungarian 0.3%, Romanian 0.3%, Polish 0.3%, Jewish 0.2%, other 1.8% (2001 est.)

Languages

Ukrainian (official) 67.5%, Russian (regional language) 29.6%, other (includes small Crimean Tatar-, Moldovan/Romanian-, and Hungarian-speaking minorities) 2.9% (2001 est.)
Note: in February 2018, the Constitutional Court ruled that 2012 language legislation entitling a language spoken by at least 10% of an oblast's population to be given the status of "regional language" – allowing for its use in courts, schools, and other government institutions – was unconstitutional, thus making the law invalid; Ukrainian remains the country's only official nationwide language.

Religions

Orthodox (includes Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox (UAOC), Ukrainian Orthodox – Kyiv Patriarchate (UOC-KP), Ukrainian Orthodox – Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP)), Ukrainian Greek Catholic, Roman Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, Jewish
Note: Ukraine's population is overwhelmingly Christian; the vast majority – up to two-thirds – identify themselves as Orthodox, but many do not specify a particular branch; the UOC-KP and the UOC-MP each represent less than a quarter of the country's population, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church accounts for 8–10%, and the UAOC accounts for 1–2%; Muslim and Jewish adherents each compose less than 1% of the total population (2013 est.)

Dependency ratios

total dependency ratio: 44.8 (2015 est.)

youth dependency ratio: 21.8 (2015 est.)

elderly dependency ratio: 23 (2015 est.)

potential support ratio: 4.3 (2015 est.)

note: data include Crimea

Urbanization

urban population: 69.4% of total population (2018)

rate of urbanization: -0.33% annual rate of change (2015–20 est.)

Literacy

definition: age 15 and over can read and write (2015 est.)

total population: 99.8%

male: 99.8%

female: 99.7% (2015 est.)

School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education)

total: 15 years

male: 15 years

female: 16 years (2014)

Unemployment, youth ages 15–24

total: 23%. Country comparison to the world: 53rd

male: 24%

female: 21.5% (2016 est.)