What about the demography in Ukraine?
Since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, there have been several waves of migration to the EU countries. What is the demographic situation now? What would happen next?
In September 2023, an article appeared on the website of the charity organization Action on Armed Violence, causing quite a stir abroad but almost unnoticed by domestic media. The article described the current demographic situation in Ukraine at that time. It was reported that our country is facing a catastrophic demographic problem. Representatives of Action on Armed Violence are convinced that this problem "has long-term consequences", the scale of which is very difficult to predict.
Thus, since the early 1990s, the population of Ukraine has been rapidly decreasing. An analysis conducted by the Jamestown Foundation (JF) showed that since 1991, the country's population has decreased by 2.5 times and currently stands at around 20 million people. The same conclusion was reached by Douglas Macgregor, one of the most influential military officials in the Trump administration.
According to the "electronic census" of the population of Ukraine conducted in 2019, a figure of 37.289 million people was recorded, to which residents of Donbas and Crimea should be added (together – about 5.7 million people). At the same time, the Ukrainian Institute of the Future (UIF), in a report published in early June 2022, indicated a figure of 29 million people.
You will agree that the numbers are very different, and it is very difficult to say exactly how many inhabitants there are in our country today. But it can be said for sure that the demographic problem exists, and it is very acute.
For example, on October 5, 2023, MP of "European Solidarity" Oleksiy Honcharenko said that in 1991 the total fertility rate (the number of children per woman of reproductive age) was 2.3. And today it is catastrophic – 0.7 (for the preservation of the nation, no less than 2.1 is needed).
"In 10 years, we will have no one to represent in this hall," said Honcharenko at that time.
And indeed, according to the most optimistic estimates, by 2035, Ukraine's population will decrease by an additional 18%, dropping from the official 37.6 million to 31 million people. The group of people aged 20 to 64 will decrease by 15%, from 23.7 million to 20.2 million. Researchers also say that there will be a significant decrease in the number of men and working-age citizens. At the same time, the number of pensioners and people who cannot work due to disabilities will disproportionately increase.
In any case, we are facing (or has it already happened?) a demographic catastrophe. What caused this?
It is clear that the problems began long before the war with Russia. The factors influencing population decline are known: economic and social problems, Ukrainians' reluctance to have more than one or two children, large-scale migrations, including emigration abroad and forced internal displacement. But currently, one of the main factors contributing to the incredible reduction in our country's population is the war with Russia.
For example, from February 24, 2022, to May 24, 2023, and only according to official data from Ukraine, almost two million more people left than entered the country. However, according to Eurostat data (as of April 30, 2023), this figure is three times (and according to some data, four times) higher. Nearly 6.5 million Ukrainians who left Ukraine after February 24, 2022, were registered under the temporary protection law in EU countries. Most of them are registered in Germany (1.1 million), Poland (1.0 million), and the Czech Republic (0.3 million).
Interestingly, almost half of the war refugees from Ukraine are women aged 20-64, and a third are children and teenagers. That is, people who either have not lost their reproductive abilities or have not lost their ability to work.
Moreover, according to a number of surveys, 70% of Ukrainian women who migrated to Europe have higher (or incomplete higher) education, and a significant portion of refugees have already found employment, although only a third work in their field or use their qualifications.
At the same time, the vast majority of children receive general or vocational education. What does all this mean?
Experts claim that each new month of Ukrainian refugees staying abroad reduces the likelihood of their return to Ukraine. In other words, our compatriots are settling abroad and, for the most part, are not tying their lives back to their homeland.
This means that Ukrainians will contribute to the population growth of European countries, but not their own homeland.
For example, in Poland in 2023, there were 272,700 registered births. Out of this number, more than 15,000 children were born to foreign mothers. That is, foreigners gave Poland almost 5.5% of the total number of children born in a year.
But the most interesting fact is that out of these "foreign births", 12,800 were born to Ukrainian mothers. That is, Ukrainian women of reproductive age, of which there are about 200,000 in Poland, gave birth to almost 80% of the total number of children born to non-citizens of this country! If these same women were giving birth to the same number of children in Ukraine, we would have no demographic problems. What should be done?
The foundation of the state is not patriotism and beautiful slogans, but the family. The family is the foundation of society. Without it, there will be neither a country nor a people. In this sense, the task of state power is to maximally contribute to the development and strengthening of the family and family values. Targeted actions, special programs to support families, assistance to young parents, and large families are needed here. This should become our "national idea" and the main vector of development of state policy.
Essentially, the only clear sign that a politician can call himself a patriot is his attitude towards the family. If he supports the family and family values, then he is for the future of our country and our people. Everything else is only derived from these principles. What do we see in practice?
In practice, we see that elected officials and functionaries at all levels are doing everything to "kill" the family by passing laws on "gender", promoting the LGBT agenda, legalizing drugs, and so on.
That is, they not only do not provide assistance to families but, on the contrary, do everything to turn the family into some kind of fiction, an unnecessary relic. And in this case, only the people themselves can influence the situation. Primarily, it's the people of God, viz. the Church.
Christians are directly called to support families, help young parents, and raise children. This is our responsibility before God. "A wife is saved through childbearing," says the apostle. In other words, Christians should set an example. And it's not just about having children. After all, there are situations when God does not give children. What then?
Taking on the responsibility of raising other children, which involves not only some pedagogical but also informational activities.
So, if Christians, who for some reason cannot have children themselves, explain to others that bearing children is God's commandment, if they resist by all available means the creeping LGBT propaganda, they will also fulfill their calling.
In general, it seems that it is up to us, Christians, to understand that we can only protect our families ourselves. Otherwise, there will be neither us nor those who today rant so much about "freedoms" and "values" contradicting the Gospel.
