Population in Ukraine much smaller than thought - British reporter reveals strange data

During the full-scale invasion, the population of Ukraine has halved. And this is much less than previously thought. By 2025, Ukraine's population will have dropped to about 20 million people.

Will Lloyd, editor of the British magazine New Statesman, has stated this in his column.

Referring to the information received from an unnamed British official, he noted that at the beginning of the war with russia, in 2014, the number of Ukrainians was estimated at more than 40 million people. And by 2025, the population has already halved, which is significantly less than previously published estimates.

Forbes Ukraine journalists, using four alternative methods of calculation, determined in November 2025 that 30.5 million people lived on the territory of Ukraine under state control.

According to demographers, the population in the government-controlled territory of Ukraine as of the beginning of last year could have reached 31.5 million people. If the country's borders were preserved as of 1991, without the consequences of russia's armed aggression, by mid-2024, approximately 41.5 million people would live in Ukraine, said Ella Libanova, director of the Institute of Demography and Social Studies.

It should be noted that the first and only population census of independent Ukraine was conducted in 2001. Back then, the country had 48.46 million people.