Migration and demographic changes in Ukraine before and during the Covid-19 pandemic

Abstract

The article presents the results of research into migration and demographic changes taking place in Ukraine before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The methodology of research consisted of primary and secondary sources of information. Primary data was collected for the April – December 2020 period, using semi-structured interviews by phone and the Internet, with Ukrainian labour migrants working in Italy, Spain, Germany, and Poland. The results of the interviews are coded from I_1 to I_15. Secondary data was collected from data from IOM Ukraine and the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC). The article also looks at factors that affected the demographic crisis in the country, as well as categorizing and analyzing labour migrants abroad before and during the Covid-19 pandemic. The results of the article show that Ukrainian labour migrants continue to search for work abroad due to a difficult political and socio-economic situation at home and migration flows did not stop during the Covid-19 pandemic. The main problem is that, due to the demographic crisis in the country, Ukraine continues to lose people of working age making the threat of demographic collapse more likely. To halt this the Government of Ukraine needs to create effective programs for labour migrants returning home, supporting young and large families. At the same time, the government needs to take measures to encourage an increase in the birth rate in the country.