“It’s a catastrophe”: Social Policy Minister reveals Ukraine’s population figures

Minister of Social Policy Denys Uliutin. Photo: Left Bank

Ukraine’s demographic situation has turned out to be even worse than official estimates suggested. On May 7, 2026, Minister of Social Policy Denys Uliutin stated during the discussion panel “New Country” that only 22–25 million people currently live in territories controlled by the Ukrainian government.

He stressed that the majority of the population receives social payments from the state. According to his estimates, this amounts to 13–15 million people. Meanwhile, Ella Libanova, head of the Institute of Demography, estimated Ukraine’s population at 29 million. Commenting on that figure, the minister said that “there are fewer of us in the territories under government control.”

“This is a catastrophe,” Uliutin said. When directly asked by the moderator, he gave his own estimate – 22–25 million people.

At the same time, Libanova believes Ukraine will face another wave of emigration after the war ends, as men may leave the country to reunite with families who fled abroad during the fighting.

“If the family has not broken apart, if the woman has settled there, then there is a very high probability that it will not be the women returning here, but the men leaving to join them there,” Libanova said.

She also emphasized that 70 percent of the young women who left Ukraine have higher education degrees.

“We are losing not just people – we are losing highly qualified, educated people. If a woman has a university degree, her husband most likely has one as well. If she is, say, 30 years old, then he is probably around 35, no older. All of this is extremely troubling, but it is the reality we face,” Libanova stated.

As previously reported by the UOJ, Ukraine is losing more than one million people annually. Around 4.2 million internally displaced persons remain within the country. Demographers warn that restoring pre-war population levels will require decades of targeted state policy.

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