How many Ukrainians currently live in the country?
Approximately 29 million people currently reside in the territory controlled by the Ukrainian government, with a margin of error of one million.
Oleksandr Gladun, deputy director of the Institute of Demography and Quality of Life Problems at the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, shared this estimate, highlighting the challenges of data collection amid the war.
According to the researcher, the lack of a census over many years does not result in complete uncertainty, as demographers update statistical data annually.
However, the only census of independent Ukraine, conducted on December 5, 2001, remains the latest “starting point” for calculations.
Annual estimates are based on data from the Ministry of Justice regarding birth and death rates, as well as data from the Migration Service and local community registries.
This system allows us to see the population structure by age and gender in each region, but over time, significant errors inevitably accumulate in the calculations.
“In other words, the information is there. But over time, accounting errors accumulate. Births are recorded almost 100 percent of the time. Mortality is a bit worse—there are cases where a person has died, but no one reported it,” explained Oleksandr Hladun.
The situation became significantly more complicated after 2014, when Ukraine lost control of Crimea and parts of Donbas, and the full-scale invasion triggered even larger waves of emigration.
Because of this, demographers are forced to rely on expert estimates, with Gladun himself leaning toward the lower end of the range—closer to 28 million residents.
Currently, a special working group under the State Statistics Service, with the participation of researchers from the institute, is working to refine the data.
Official government estimates of the population as of early 2026, which will take current migration challenges into account, are expected to be released in the near future.
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