Ukraine is facing a crisis of pensioner poverty says Darya Marchak, deputy head of the Ukrainian Ministry of Social Policy.
She expects the country’s head count to fall by a third - from 38 million in 2022 to 25 million by 2050. The demographic imbalance means that in future a Ukrainian will have to work and save until ‘he physically cannot provide for himself.’
The dwindling population is not just because of war casualties - President Zelensky recently said they numbered only 31,000, though others have estimated much higher. Following the Soviet collapse in 1991 economic crises and labour migration had already slashed the population numbers from c. 52 million, and reduced the fertility rate to 1.4 per woman prior to the Russian invasion. Since then some six million have fled Ukraine (a fifth of those to Russia), taking their money and breeding potential with them.
Ignoring Zelensky’s plea for social security assistance, the US’s multibillion dollar military aid package passed in April stipulated that none of the money was to be used to pay pensions.
Is it Russia the Americans want to crush, or resource-rich Ukraine?
No comments:
Post a Comment