The extinction of Ukrainians has acquired the character of a social catastrophe
In 2020, many demographic indicators in Ukraine changed dramatically - the birth rate fell, the number of marriages and divorces decreased, and domestic violence increased.
Ex-adviser to the Minister of Social Policy (2019-2020) Leonid Lebedev stated this at a press conference in Kyiv, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“In 2020, 40% fewer children were born – 296 thousand children. At the same time, mortality increased, 617 thousand elderly people died. Thus, for every one birth there were two deaths,” the expert said.
“Our birth rate is decreasing. Our population is rapidly declining.
In 2019, an average of 26 thousand children were born per month, and in the first 2-3 months of this year - 22 thousand, which is 15% less. That is, people are focused on having few children and saving money. A year ago, an increase in the birth rate was expected (since people spend a lot of time together), but in fact this did not happen,” Lebedev said.
According to him, the reasons for the decline in the birth rate are the economic crisis, high unemployment, poverty and the crisis of the healthcare system.
“People trust (the health care system) less and are not taking risks to give birth. It has been recorded that the number of weddings is also decreasing, this figure is 30% less than in the previous year. People are less likely to get married officially. In 2020, 70 thousand fewer weddings were recorded - 168 thousand families,” the expert said.
He points out that there are also fewer divorces, which is due to the imperfect functioning of the judicial system.
“If we draw a parallel with other processes that are carried out through the courts, for example, deprivation of parental rights, there is also a big decline there. The number of adoptions fell by 32% in a year, which has never happened before. People have either paused their decision to adopt a child into a family, or cannot go through the adoption process itself,” said the former adviser to the minister.
In addition, there was a sharp increase - by 40% - in recorded cases of domestic violence. The expert attributes this to the fact that families are forced to spend a lot of time together.
“The pandemic forces people to stay at home, in closed conditions,” Lebedev summed up.
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