The population of the capital has almost returned to the level recorded before the start of the full-scale war. Find out who lives in Kyiv, what is happening to IDPs, and how their relocation and the number of refugees have affected Ukraine's economy

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There are no official statistics on the number of refugees still outside the country, internally displaced persons (IDPs) and those who have returned to Ukraine. However, the latest report by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has provided some clarity on this issue.

How many people live in Kyiv now and who are they?

According to unofficial statistics, about 3.9 million people lived in the capital of Ukraine until 24 February 2022. At the beginning of the full-scale invasion, almost half of the population - 1.9 million people - left Kyiv. According to the data published by the IOM, over the past year and a half, about 1.1 million people have come to the capital, meaning that 500-700,000 Kyiv residents have not yet returned, but less than half of them are abroad. In addition, about 450,000 Kyiv residents are internally displaced persons who came from other regions of Ukraine. So, there are currently more than 3.6 million people in the capital.

We told you more about how Kyiv lives in the second year of the war here.

How many IDPs are there in Ukraine?

There is currently no definitive estimate of the exact number of internally displaced persons, either within the capital or throughout Ukraine. For example, according to IOM, there are 450,000 IDPs in Kyiv, while local authorities put the number at 250,000. 

If we take into account people officially registered as IDPs, 3.6 million Ukrainians have been forced to move, while unofficial data show that the number of IDPs exceeds 5 million.

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Ukraine's economy: how did the number of IDPs and refugees affect the country's GDP?

Today, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts do not have even half of their pre-war population, as people have been forced to leave their homes. And while at the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the main flow of people was directed to the west of Ukraine, today IDPs are located in the frontline regions. In particular, in the Dnipro and Kharkiv regions. 

Read more about what is happening to Ukraine's agricultural sector here.

Thus, the trend of the last year shows that those who did not go abroad most often move within the region or oblast, which creates a critical situation for the country's GDP. After all, hundreds of businesses and enterprises relocated to the west of Ukraine, while the workforce remained in the frontline regions and central regions.

Thus, the imbalance in the Ukrainian labour market has reached critical levels. And while employers in the western regions are experiencing a shortage of staff and are ready to fight for employees, there are almost no jobs in the frontline regions, and candidates are competing for vacancies.

We remind you! The number of Ukrainians travelling around Ukraine has almost returned to pre-war levels. In our previous article, we told you how many people are planning to travel this summer and how the survey results differ in different regions of Ukraine.

Photo: UNIAN

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