Photo by Foreign Policy
According to UN projections, 10 countries with the fastest shrinking populations are all in Eastern Europe.
Bulgaria, Latvia, Moldova, Ukraine, Croatia, Lithuania, Romania, Serbia, Poland, Hungary, are estimated to see their population shrink by 15% or more by 2050.
In Bulgaria, the population is expected to drop from 7 million in 2017 to 5.4 million in 2050. In Latvia, the population is estimated to drop from 1.9 million in 2017 to 1.5 million, whilst in Moldova, the population is estimated to shrink from 4 million to 3.2 million.
«Many post-communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe are heading for a major demographic decline. And, what’s more, many have already experienced massive population declines in the last 25 years», — says Tomas Sobotka, a lead researcher at Wittgenstein Centre, which analysis population dynamics.
According to the expert, at least 11 countries have shrunk by more than 10% in terms of their population size since 1989, including, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine. Latvia has lost more than a quarter of its population (27%), Lithuania – 23%, Bulgaria and Bosnia and Herzegovina – 21%. «That’s a massive population loss, unprecedented in peacetimes», — he explains.
Sobotka explains this population loss down to three factors—falling fertility rates, massive out-migration and relatively high mortality rate.
«Thus, while Western and Southern European countries have attracted many immigrants, which largely compensate the effects of low birth rates, the East is in a double problem, experiencing both out-migration and low fertility», — Sobotka says.
As «The Journalist» reported earlier, the population of Ukraine decreased by 166,000 people
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