The Historical Evolution оf the Population оf Ukraine in the Light of the Theory of Demographic Transition

Abstract

The main results of scientific investigations of long-time trends in population dynamics and population replacement in deep retrospect for Ukraine are presented. Perceptions of the transformational changes in the structure of population of Ukraine are expanding — both for the statistical era and for the population nonstatistical era of national history. Th e investigation is based on the author’s reconstructions of historical series of demographic dynamics in Ukraine, which for the fi rst time made it possible to reconstruct the real trajectory of population trends in regions of Ukraine for the long time period (since beginning of Common Era). Th e transformation of population replacement in our country in the con- text of the theories of demographic modernization and comparison with similar changes in other European countries is investigated.Novelty: For the fi rst time, it is clear that the overall trend in the numerical effi ciency of our country has been ambiguous for thousands of years, especially in the past. Th e periods of perturbation (wars, famines, epidemics, natural disas- ters) made the trend undulatory; over the second millennium, annual growth rates have fallen 150 times below zero. Th e results of the study allowed for the fi rst time to carry out correct periodization of the demographic and epidemiological transitions: it is scientifi cally estab- lished that the demographic transition has been going on since the mid-1890s, and epide- miological — since the mid-1920s. In the course it was established that demographic deve- lopment of Ukraine continues in both the well-known tendencies of demographic transition and under the infl uence of national diff erences. Th e Ukrainian way of modernization in the twentieth century was very dramatic — our country has been described as one of the coun- tries with the largest loss of population. The peculiarity of the dynamics of demographic modernization in Ukraine in the twentieth century lies primarily in the fact that it has a de- formed intermittent nature due to the multimillion-dollar hecatomb of human victims, and in recent times there has been demodernization of the processes of reproduction of the popu- lation of our country. Key words: population, vital event, reconstruction, population growth, historical series, demographic modernization, Ukraine.