Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/19264791 (292302ZJUL23) Notable: Ukraine wants its women back – deputy minister
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>>52592 Thegrayzone: Ukraine’s baby factories rake in record profits amid chaos of war PN
25 Jul, 2023 11:34
Ukraine wants its women back – deputy minister
Kiev is calling for refugees to return home as GDP slid almost 30% last year
Kiev encourages Ukrainian women who have fled the conflict-torn country to come back home, Deputy Economy Minister Tatyana Berezhnaya has said. Her comments came amid warnings that a disproportionate population exodus could have a devastating effect on the nation's economy.
Speaking in an interview with Bloomberg published on Monday, Berezhnaya said that “for me personally, victory is when Ukrainian families unite in Ukraine, not abroad.” The minister added that Kiev’s priority is “to make everything possible so that women with children come back to their husbands.”
Shortly after Russia sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022, Kiev announced a general mobilization, banning most men aged 18 to 60 from leaving the country. This led to a large gender gap among Ukrainian adult refugees, with at least 70% of them being women, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
Ukraine was already struggling with demographics even before the onset of the conflict, with a fertility rate of just 1.16 as of 2021, and the large-scale hostilities have only exacerbated the situation.
According to Alexander Isakov of Bloomberg Economics, if Kiev fails to persuade 2.8 million Ukrainian working-age women to return, it could cost the country 10% of its annual pre-conflict GDP. In the worst-case scenario, Ukraine will lose $20 billion a year, Bloomberg’s analysis claims.
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