Ukraine ranked last, 183rd among 183 countries in the world in terms of population decline rate between 2000 and 2025. During this period, the state lost 32.5% of its inhabitants. This was reported by the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine.
At the same time, a large increase was recorded in the Persian Gulf and African countries. Qatar became the leader, where the population grew by 423.4% due to the massive recruitment of foreign workers. Also at the top are the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Niger, Angola, and Chad.
In contrast, the deepest decline among all the states in the world was recorded specifically in Ukraine. Following in the ranking were the Marshall Islands (-29.4%) and Bulgaria (-23.2%). Overall, the countries of Eastern Europe and the Baltics suffer most from depopulation, where population decline has been exacerbated by labor migration, an aging nation, and low birth rates.
"The demographic collapse, which had been accumulating for decades due to structural economic problems, has taken on devastating forms because of the full-scale war. As of 2025–2026, the mortality rate in Ukraine is nearly three times higher than the birth rate. The loss of territories, combat losses, and the outflow of over 6 million refugees (the vast majority of whom are working-age youth and women with children) have led to a critical imbalance, where the ratio of working taxpayers to pensioners is already approaching the one-to-one mark," - the report states
According to IMF estimates, in 2026, the population of Ukraine is about 33.3 million people, whereas in 2021 this figure exceeded 41 million.
