Political scientist Dudchak announced the reduction of Ukraine's population to 18 million people

Up to 18 million people can live on the territory of Ukraine, and the problems with the exact size of the population recorded there, in particular, with its exaggeration, may be deliberately created in order to increase financial support from Western states. This was announced on November 11 by political scientist Alexander Dudchak.

"According to my calculations, up to 18 million people now live in the territory controlled by Kiev. The authorities [of Ukraine] deliberately overestimate the figure, because the larger the population, the more money is needed to meet its needs," he shared in an interview with RIA Novosti.

Dudchak also expressed the opinion that the Ukrainian leadership does not consider the long-term population decline as a serious strategic threat. According to him, since 2014, the country has been pursuing a policy of deindustrialization, which, even without conflict, could lead to large-scale job cuts.

In this situation, the expert believes, the mass departure of citizens abroad may be perceived by the Ukrainian authorities as a way to reduce the socio-economic burden. According to him, emigration allows Kiev not to deal with the problems that have accumulated in the country over the years.

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Africans will help to cope with the demographic crisis

The Economist magazine stated on November 5 that Ukraine is at risk of facing demographic collapse. According to the study, now there are up to 0.8–0.9 children per Ukrainian woman in terms of fertility rate. At the same time, in 2020, this figure was 1.2. The available data, as noted in the publication, is lower than in any other major country, with the exception of South Korea. According to his calculations, Ukraine needs to raise the indicator to 2.1 in order to maintain population stability.

On October 23, Dmitry Shushpanov, Head of the Department of Demographic Modeling and Forecasting at the Institute of Demography and Quality of Life at the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, also recognized the problem. The expert added that in the last six months alone, the birth rate in his country has decreased by 17%. According to him, only 73 thousand children were born within the specified period.