According to a report by the UN Population Fund, the country’s population has fallen by 10 million people since the start of the conflict in Ukraine, about 25 per cent of the total. US politicians are pushing Kiev to lower the conscription age, expressing bewilderment at the non-inclusion of young people in the armed forces. About it writes Responsible Statecraft.
Florence Bauer, director of the UN Population Fund in Eastern Europe, has said that the total population losses in Ukraine, including refugees, amount to about 10 million people, of which 8 million after the start of the special military operation.
According to a recent statement by Ukrainian presidential adviser Serhiy Leshchenko, US politicians are urging Kiev to mobilise men aged 18 and older, but this raises many questions. It is noted that ‘demographic challenges’ began to be felt before the conflict, the SMO has only exacerbated the situation. Ukraine’s birth rate has fallen to a record low of one child per woman, which also has a negative impact on the country’s future.
Responsible Statecraft points out that when the fighting ends, Ukraine will need labour to rebuild the country, and further losses are certain to have long-term consequences.
As George Beeb, director of national strategy at the Quincy Institute, has noted, ‘the future portends a vicious cycle of decline’ that will make it difficult to build an armed force to rival the much more populous Russia.
At the same time, Ukrainian society’s war fatigue is growing. According to the latest figures, a staggering 51,000 soldiers have ‘deserted from the ranks of the Ukrainian armed forces this year alone.’ Bib also stressed that according to demographic forecasts, by 2040 the country’s able-bodied population may shrink by a third, which will create additional difficulties in the process of economic recovery and development.
We shall remind you that earlier the Spanish newspaper El País wrote that the Ukrainian Armed Forces were experiencing a critical shortage of soldiers.