Ukraine's Population Crisis and Health at the State of the Union
February 27, 2026
Editors' Note
On Tuesday, the Russia-Ukraine war completed its fourth year. Since the full-scale invasion in 2022, Russia has suffered nearly 1.2 million casualties and Ukraine more than 500,000. Their combined losses could reach 2 million by the spring. In addition to injuries and lives lost, the war has forced 5.9 million Ukrainians to flee the country as of February 2026, and another 3.7 million Ukrainians remain internally displaced.
Those causalities and mass displacements have spawned a demographic crisis in Ukraine where in 2025 the death rate outpaced by the birth rate by nearly 3 to 1. Leading this week's edition, journalist Nataliia Bushkovska describes how, amid that population loss, Ukrainian officials and policymakers are devising plans to encourage refugees to return and have children.
Over the past year, the Trump administration has slashed budgets and jobs at health agencies, contracting the labor market for public health students. Journalist Rachel Nuwer interviews seven public health schools and three national education organizations to gauge how that tumult is affecting enrollment in public health programs and the students' professional outlooks.
