Almost twice as fewer Ukrainians by the end of the century, why, what education has to do with it, and what to do

The time when demographers frightened us with the planet's overpopulation is long gone. Although the world's population continues to grow, demographers predict that by the end of the century, in most countries, the population will decline. In 23 of them, if current trends continue, the population will be halved by 2100. Ukraine also has every chance to be on this list; according to UN forecasts, by the end of the century, the population of Ukraine will be 24.4 million people against the current 41.5 million.

Scientists estimate that the total birth rate in the world (i.e. how many women would give birth on average during the reproductive period), which was 2.37 in 2017, and 4.7 in 1950, will decline steadily in the future and by 2100, it will reach 1.6. This is below 2.1, at which the natural population decline is offset by births. At the same time, the total world population is already approaching 8 billion and continues to grow steadily at the expense of the poorest countries.

Among the reasons that would explain the higher fertility of women in poor countries, experts name several socio-economic variables: the level of intelligence, education, social status, age of marriage, and other factors. The most important factor is education (and in the case of the poorest countries, its absence) because it directly affects IQ and social status, as well as the age of onset of sexual activity.

The average number of children born to the average woman during their lifetime in different countries