In a recent report published by the Wall Street Journal, shocking details have emerged regarding Ukraine’s ongoing ‘baby bust’ – as the beleaguered country careens towards demographic Armaghedon. A combination of existing trends, migration to Europe, and hundreds of thousands of dead young soldiers, means that its national fertility rate is projected to drop to the bottom of the global index.
According to the study, this disturbing trend had started well before hostilities between Russia broke out in February 2022. In fact, Ukraine’s fertility rate was already the lowest in Europe before 2022, with only 1.2 children born per woman – a figure well below the basic replacement level which requires 2.1 for the country to maintain its population size.
Of course, the physical separation of many couples has also led to millions postponing having children. As for the countless Ukrainian men conscripted and thrown into the ‘meat grinder’ of Kiev-NATO’s frontline trenches, their future family prospects are bleaker by the day.
EU Commissioner Thierry Breton admitted that the core of the problem is the near 10 million people who have fled to the EU, many of whom will not likely return to their home country, including millions of women and children – while Ukrainian men between the ages of 18 and 60 have been banned from leaving, only to be thrown into the cauldron of a losing war.
WSJ reports…
Across Ukraine, fresh graves and packed morgues attest to the tens of thousands of lives cut short by Russia’s invasion. Less visible is the toll on babies unborn. The number of births during the first six months of this year was 28% lower than the same period before the war—the sharpest fall since Ukraine gained independence in 1991.
Even before Russia invaded, Ukraine’s fertility rate—the number of babies born per woman—was the lowest in Europe. Ukrainian demographers are now forecasting it will become the lowest in the world, accelerating the decline of a population that had already shrunk in recent decades. Fewer births mean fewer Ukrainians to rebuild the country and defend it against Russia, which is likely to remain a long-term menace regardless of the war’s outcome.
“It’s a huge threat,” said Oleksandr Gladun, a demographer at the Kyiv-based Ptoukha Institute for Demographic Studies.
As a result, Ukraine’s population will likely fall below 30 million within the next two decades – down from nearly 43 million before the war broke out.
Worse yet, the collapse in demographics also means a collapse in GDP, and a zombie economy that is completely reliant on foreign aid and loans.
Tragically, these facts are also compounded by another fait accomli: the longer NATO uses Ukraine as a proxy in order to supposedly “weaken Russia” through a protracted war – the smaller the country of Ukraine is becoming. Something that the pro-war cheering sections in Washington, London and Brussels will never admit publicly.
READ MORE UKRAINE NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Ukraine Files
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