Russia and Ukraine are the largest and second largest countries in continental Europe.

But unfortunately, regardless of land area, although Ukraine is the seventh most populous country in Europe, compared with Russia, the gap is astonishing.

Ukraine has a population of 42 million, while Russia has a population of 146 million. Ukraine has a population of 100 million less than Russia.

This is a very disparate comparison, but fortunately, the populations of both countries are aging seriously. One-sixth of the population in Ukraine is over 65 years old, and Russia is almost at the same level.

This also means that although the total population of Russia is more than three times that of Ukraine, the number of elderly people is also twice as large.

30 years of negative population growth in Ukraine Over the past 30 years, Ukraine’s total population has been experiencing negative growth.

When it first gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Ukraine had a population of 52 million.

As of this year, there are only more than 42 million people left, and more than 10 million people have disappeared from the books. In the past 10 years, 4 million people have left Ukraine.

This also directly leads to the fact that Ukraine’s retirement age and service period will have to be increased again.

Behind the negative population growth is the continued decline in the number of newborn babies every year. In 1990, the number of newborn babies in Ukraine was 660,000, which dropped to 500,000 in 2010, and further dropped to 460,000 in 2018. What is even more outrageous is that last year, the number of newborn babies in Ukraine

Only 300,000 babies were born.

Considering this year's war, it is bound to fall below the 300,000 mark.

Today, Ukraine’s fertility rate is below 1.

According to demographic standards, when the total fertility rate is lower than 1.5, it is considered an ultra-low fertility level. Once it falls below 1.5, it will be difficult to rebound significantly.

It can be seen that Ukraine’s population decline trend cannot be changed.

It is predicted that Ukraine's total population will drop to 39 million by 2030, and to 35 million by 2050, which is smaller than Afghanistan today.

The situation in Russia is not optimistic either. Similarly, the situation in Russia, its neighbor next door, is not much better.

In 72 of the 85 federal subjects, the death rate exceeds the birth rate.

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia's population has remained at a level of 142-147 million.

Over the past 30 years, Russia has introduced many preferential policies to stimulate population growth. The most famous one is the "Mother's Fund", which provides maternity subsidies and improves living conditions for families with many children.

In addition to the national "Mother's Fund" project, since 2011, local governments have also established "Mother's Fund".

And provide monthly financial support of 5,000 to 11,000 rubles to families with three or more children, depending on the actual situation in each place.

In addition, Russia will also allocate funds from the federal budget to areas with severe population problems.

Last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed that the government could consider providing a one-time social subsidy of 1 million rubles (approximately 90,000 yuan) to families living in the Far East, provided that the family has three or more children.

Russian political veteran Zhirinovsky, deputy chairman of the Duma, is even more radical. He proposed that "Russia should adopt polygamy to alleviate the demographic crisis."

Trying to use this method to increase Russia's birth rate.

Incentives are incentives, and the people of Russia are still very honest. Russia's newborn population has been declining for six consecutive years since 2016, and the birth rate has dropped from a high of 1.78 to today's 1.

In the past two years, due to the impact of the epidemic, Russia's total population has also dropped again and again.

In 2021, the number of deaths in Russia reached a new high of 2.445 million, and the number of births was only 1.4 million, a decrease of 1.045 million people, setting a historical record.

It should be noted that before this, the largest population decline in Russia was in 1995, when the Russian population decreased by 860,000.

Last year, among the regions with the largest population decline in Russia, the Saratov region dropped by 78,900 people, the Omsk region dropped by 64,600 people, and the Altai Krai dropped by 64,600 people. These regions are basically on the borders of Russia.

, the level of economic development is average, and most of the population reduction is caused by economic reasons for outmigration.