Ukraine’s population aging, only 18% children - minister

There are currently 7 million underage persons living in Ukraine, which is just 18% of the total population.

That’s according to Maryna Lazebna, Minister for Social Policy, who spoke on Tuesday at the All-Ukrainian Forum "Ukraine 30 Summit. Children" event, dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"I often say that we are an aging nation. And it's not just about life expectancy. It’s also about such an indicator that today, for example, there are fewer children among us. And here are the numbers. Today we have 7 million children, or 18% of our country’s total population. At the dawn of our independence, the share was almost 26%,” Lazebna said.

According to the minister, we need a policy that "will build our country up, the one where people aren’t afraid to conceive a child, where families with children receive the required support and services, and children are happy, of course."

She also noted that there are currently 19 types of government-offered social support in Ukraine – social benefits and bonuses covering nearly 2 million families with children.

As reported earlier, throughout 2020, Ukrainian authorities registered more than 295,293 births across country.

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