Olena Bilozerska and her husband always knew they wanted children. She was 34 and they were ready to start trying when the war erupted in eastern Ukraine in 2014. The couple joined the fight and decided a baby would have to wait. By the time Bilozerska left the military, she was 41 and told by doctors her chances of conceiving were next to none. It was too late.
As the war in Ukraine enters its fourth year, Ukraine’s birth rate is collapsing, with increasing number of people struggling with fertility or putting off the decision to have children. At the same time, losses are mounting on the frontlines, and millions of people who have fled as refugees have now settled abroad. The result is one of the world’s worst demographic crisis.
“It’s a catastrophe,” Ella Libanova, a leading Ukrainian demographer, told CNN. “No country can exist without people. Even before the war, Ukraine’s population density was low (and) very unevenly spread.”
Libanova said Ukraine has lost around 10 million people since the start of the war – between those who have been killed, left the country or are living in areas under Russian occupation. And while the country’s birthrate has been declining for years – a common trend across Europe – it has now all but collapsed.
Russia’s unprovoked aggression has forced millions of Ukrainians to put their lives on hold. But for many women, this decision can come at a huge cost.
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