In Ukraine, death rate is four times higher than birth rate, - OpenDataBot. INFOGRAPHICS
According to the Ministry of Justice, 73,292 children were born in Ukraine in the first half of 2026.At the same time, 259,853 deaths were recorded – this marks the first official increase in the number of deaths in the last five years.
This is according to data from OpenDataBot, as reported by Censor.NET.
Mortality rate is four times higher than the birth rate
The birth rate in Ukraine continues to fall: compared with the first half of 2025, the number of newborns has fallen by 16 per cent. When compared with the corresponding period before the full-scale war, the situation is even worse: the figure has halved.
Currently, on average, around 12,000 babies are born in Ukraine every month. By way of comparison, 10 years ago around 32,000 children were born.
The fewest babies are being born in frontline areas – a threefold decline in the Donetsk region and a 23 per cent drop in the Zaporizhzhia region. However, there has also been a noticeable decrease in the number of births in the Vinnytsia, Lviv and Ternopil regions, with the decline reaching 20 per cent.
Kyiv leads in terms of the number of newborns – one in nine babies was born there. Despite the decline, Lviv Oblast ranks second. Dnipropetrovsk and Odesa Oblasts are also among the regions with the highest birth rates.
Mortality, however, rose by 4 per cent this year compared with the same period last year. The largest increase in the number of deaths was recorded in the capital – up 11 per cent, totalling 20,121 cases over the first six months of 2026. However, the highest number of deaths was recorded in the Dnipropetrovsk region – 28,386.
Life and death statistics have deteriorated significantly this year. On average, the death rate is four times higher than the birth rate.
The situation is worst in the frontline regions: Donetsk, Kherson, Sumy, Chernihiv and Kharkiv regions. The most optimistic situation is in Rivne, Volyn and Zakarpattia regions, where there are two deaths for every newborn.
