In case of a trend towards a continued decline in the population, which demographers already record, Ukraine may lose its influence in Europe and face changes in the ethnic composition of the nation.
Oleksandr Gladun, Deputy Director for Research at the Institute of Demography and Social Research of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, announced this on the telethon air, commenting on the data from 28 to 34 million people now living in Ukraine.
"Ukraine has been losing its people since the 90s. If this continues, we will lose our weight in Europe as a state," the expert explained.
In addition, Ukraine, as the largest country in Europe, must fill its territories with Ukrainians, because otherwise, it will be filled with other nationalities.
"If we shrink, then these territories will be filled with other people, and we will not be able to do anything about it … there will be a change in the ethnic, social composition," Gladun explained.
He noted that such a large discrepancy regarding the population in Ukraine - from 28 to 34 million - is due to the lack of accurate data.
"No one knows how many of us are now … and such a big discrepancy is because we do not have real numbers of births, deaths, and there are no data on migration," Gladun said.
He noted that the data of Ukrainian border guards is half that of the UN data on Ukrainians who have temporary protection in Europe. There is also a big question about the number of Ukrainians on Russia's territory.
"We are talking about 2.9 million people. As for me, this is a lot … We do not know who the Russians include in this number, so there are big discrepancies in the estimates," he said.
The Deputy Director for Research of the Institute noted that about five million internally displaced persons in Ukraine moved from the east to the central and western parts.
