Ukraine in demographic crisis: three times fewer births than deaths
23 January 13:51
According to the Ministry of Justice, 168,700 children were born in Ukraine in 2025. At the same time, 485,200 deaths were recorded. In total, there were three deaths per newborn last year. Over the year, mortality in Ukraine decreased by 2%, and fertility by 4.5%.
This was reported by "Komersant Ukrainian" with reference to data from ” OpenDataBot.”
The birth rate continues to fall
168,778 newborns were registered in Ukraine last year. After the crisis of 2022, when the birth rate fell by 25%, the decline is gradually slowing down: in 2024, it was 6%, and in 2025, 4.5%.
Analysts note that before the start of the full-scale war, the birth rate was declining by an average of 8% year on year. However, compared to 2021, the difference remains significant — 1.6 times fewer children are being born.
Analysts emphasize that there are also regions that have seen an increase in the number of newborns. For example, in the Lviv region, the birth rate increased by 1.5%, which is 230 more babies than in 2024. In the Volyn region, the increase was 0.6%, or 44 children.
Apart from areas of active combat, the largest decline in the birth rate is observed in frontline regions. In the Kherson region, the rate fell by 16%, and in the Zaporizhzhia region, by 11%. The number of births decreased by 9% in the Dnipropetrovsk, Sumy, Chernihiv, and Kharkiv regions, as well as in the Chernivtsi region, which is far from the combat zone.
Traditionally, the largest number of children were born in Kyiv — 19,410 newborns, or 11.5% of the total. At the same time, the capital lost only 1.5% compared to 2024. Lviv region ranks second with 15,872 babies, and Dnipropetrovsk region ranks third with 12,754 children.
Mortality decreased by 2% over the year
485,296 deaths were recorded in Ukraine in 2025. Overall, mortality in the country decreased by 2%. Currently, there are three deaths per newborn.
The highest number of deaths was recorded in Dnipropetrovsk region (52,559), Kyiv (36,296), and Kharkiv region (34,670).
However, the dynamics are not the same everywhere. There was a decrease in deaths in Poltava and Rivne regions: -4%.
At the same time, mortality increased in six regions, most significantly in Kyiv, where the rate increased by 2%. An increase was also recorded in Chernivtsi (1.6%), Cherkasy (1%), Ivano-Frankivsk (0.9%), Ternopil (0.6%), and Lviv (0.4%) regions.
