Ukraine's population falls to 28.5 million

Ukraine's population has fallen to 28.5 million, 500,000 fewer than the previously reported estimate of 29 million.

According to Ella Libanova, director of the Institute of Demography and Social Research of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, cited by Report, who presented the institution's new estimates publicly for the first time, the main reason for the population decline is the departure of Ukrainians abroad.

Estimates put Ukraine's population at 42–43 million at the beginning of 2022, including territories under Russian occupation, such as the Donetsk and Luhansk regions and Crimea. Excluding these territories, the population was estimated at around 41 million.

The main wave of Ukrainians leaving the country occurred in the first months of 2022, following the outbreak of the Russia–Ukraine war.