The fertility potential of Ukrainians is completely exhausted.

This was stated in the commentary to the "Observer" by the director of the Institute of Demography and Social Research of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Ella Libanova.

"Without the population census of Ukraine to comment on the Gosstat data on population reduction is incorrect. The last population census under the USSR was conducted in 1989, and already in the years of independence in 2001. Therefore, the State Statistics Committee does what it can do. But already 17 years have passed since the census, without which we can not say unequivocally: how many of us are left. Plus, you need to understand that since 2014 the Donbas has completely turned the situation, "she said..

At the same time, Libanova stressed that the tendency of the Ukrainian nation's extinction has been marked for a long time.

"Of course, it is. The fertility potential has actually been exhausted since 1960, "she recalled..

Therefore, according to the scientist, annual data on population reduction are alarming, but they should not be dramatized. This is a manifestation of a legitimate, but a process, which, naturally, entails negative consequences for Ukraine.