The Wall Street Journal, citing its sources, believes that the total losses of Russia and Ukraine in the war have reached 1 million people. The publication cites Ukrainian sources and data from Western intelligence services.
According to these estimates, after 2.5 years of armed conflict, the number of dead in the Russian troops reaches 200 thousand people, and about 400 thousand wounded. Ukrainian losses amount to 400 thousand people wounded and 80 thousand killed (recall that Zelensky said in February that 30 thousand soldiers were killed). Compared to data from The New York Times for August 2023, the total military losses of the two countries have doubled in a year.
How they write Ukrainian media, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine published today an approximate calculation of the total combat losses of the Russians from 24.02.22 to 17.09.24. According to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the number of losses of the personnel of the Russian army amounted to approximately 635,880 people (killed and wounded).
In Russia, the casualty count is being conducted by Mediazona and the BBC Russian Service, which collect information about the dead from open sources. According to the latest data, the number of Russian servicemen killed has almost reached 70 thousand people.
WSJ notes that both Russia and Ukraine do not disclose real data on losses. Information on the number of killed and wounded in the Russian-Ukrainian war varies among Western intelligence services. Therefore, it is difficult to objectively assess the real number of losses; the figures given in the publication are an estimate of only some of them.
However, the article stresses that the likely huge losses will have a long-term negative effect on the demography of both countries, especially for Ukraine, whose population several times smaller than Russia. According to available data, after the start of the full-scale war, about 10 million people left Ukraine or remained in the territories captured by Russia.
Currently, Kyiv controls regions with a population of 25-27 million people (before the war), whereas in 2001, when the last census was conducted, 48 million people lived in the country. Already 18 years later, as of December 1, 2019, the number of Ukrainian citizens, according to a positive forecast, was 37 million 289 thousand people. This figure did not include people permanently residing abroad and in territories not controlled by Kyiv. However, according to the so-called grain census of 2017, this figure was also overstated by at least 25%.
Hundreds of thousands of people have left Russia since the start of the full-scale war (WSJ cites a figure of 600 thousand people), and the country has also faced a reduction in the flow of labor migrants from Central Asia. At the same time, the birth rate has noticeably fallen in Ukraine and Russia. However, more than 2.5 million refugees from Ukraine have arrived in the Russian Federation, and about 6 million people (including Crimea) live in the territories captured by Russia since 2022, which gives a significant increase in the population of the Russian Federation.
It is noted that it is more difficult for Ukraine to cope with such losses due to its four times smaller population. In addition, Ukraine is first place in the world ranking for mortalityhaving the highest rate – 18.6 per 1000 people. And in the birth rate rating, Ukraine has the lowest rate. This is evidenced by data from the US Central Intelligence Agency on mortality rate And birth rate in the worldpresented on Friday, September 13, 2024.
Catastrophic a decline in the birth rate is observed in RussiaIn 2023, only 1.264 million children were born in the country, which became minimum indicator since 1999. In the first half of 2024, the birth rate decreased by another 3% compared to the same period last year, according to Rosstat data.
In Ukraine, as noted earlier, there is a demographic crisis against the backdrop of the war – In the first half of 2024, the death rate was three times higher than the birth rate: 87,655 children were born, which is 9% less than in the same period last year, and 250,972 deaths were recorded (not counting military losses, which, as noted above, are classified).
Catastrophic a decline in the birth rate is observed in RussiaIn 2023, only 1.264 million children were born in the country, which became minimum indicator since 1999. In the first half of 2024, the birth rate decreased by another 3% compared to the same period last year, according to Rosstat data.
In Ukraine, as noted earlier, there is a demographic crisis against the backdrop of the war – In the first half of 2024, the death rate was three times higher than the birth rate: 87,655 children were born, which is 9% less than in the same period last year, and 250,972 deaths were recorded (not counting military losses, which, as noted above, are classified).
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