According to the Ministry of Justice, more than 180,000 children were born in Ukraine last year. This is almost a third less than before the start of the full-scale invasion. The largest number of young Ukrainians were born in Kyiv, and the smallest number were born in the Kherson region.
This is reported by the digital service for the analysis of state data "Opendatabot".
In general, a decrease in the birth rate has been observed in Ukraine since 2013. From then until the start of the full-scale war, 6-7% fewer children were born each year.
In the first year of the invasion, the number of newborns dropped sharply — by as much as 25%, to 206,000. For comparison, in the period from 2010 to 2013, almost half a million children were born in Ukraine per year.
The largest decline in the birth rate in 2023, excluding temporarily occupied territories and territories of hostilities, was recorded in Kyiv — 19,979 babies. This is 33% less than in 2021. Despite this, most children are still born in the capital.
Lviv Oblast is in second place with 16,638 newborns last year. Dnipropetrovsk Region closes the top three with 14,433 newborns.
"Opendatabot" notes that compared to the first year of the full-scale operation, last year there was an increase in the number of children also in the front-line regions of Mykolaiv Region (+5%) and Kharkiv Region (+3%). And the biggest drop in birth rate — by 18% — was recorded in Poltava Oblast.