Heads turn as a couple enter a café with a baby, its mother cradling it close to her chest against the winter cold. The sight is so rare in this wartime capital it draws stares, although they melt into smiles when it lets out a tiny whimper.
Ukraine now has the lowest total fertility rate in the world, with an average of 0.7 children per woman of child-bearing age, a government-funded think tank has disclosed to The Times. This lack of children, compounded by mass violent death and the exodus of millions of refugees, has thrown its survival as a nation into question. The demographic picture looks bleak, scientists say.
“Male life expectancy has decreased from 66-67 before the war to 57-58, according to our
