The recent Russian invasion, which started on 24 February 2022, has resulted in immense displacement. However, the country also attracted immigrants in recent decades, though immigration never reached levels that could outweigh population decline related to emigration and low birth rates. In global comparison, Ukraine is among the top ten countries with the highest emigration levels.

After independence another four to seven million emigrants (estimates vary depending on definition, source and year) left Ukraine prior to the war in the eastern part of the country which started in 2014. Some sources suggest there could be a Ukrainian diaspora of up to 20 million people who left the territory of contemporary Ukraine before independence in 1991. This is due to a mix of a high emigration rate, coupled with high death and low birth rates. The country’s population shrank from almost 52 million in 1991 to about 42 million in 2020, nearly a 20 percent drop. The territory of contemporary Ukraine is characterised by significant emigration. These different constellations all have shaped migration flows to, through and from the territory of present-day Ukraine. Since its independence in 1991 Ukraine has been torn between Russia and the Western institutions it wants to join such as the EU and the NATO. Throughout its history, Ukraine has been part of several different states, kingdoms and empires such as the Kingdom of Poland-Lithuania, the Russian Empire, the Habsburg Empire and the Soviet Union. While the country has since strived to become a functioning democratic state with a competitive economy integrated into both the post-Soviet and European markets, Ukraine has also experienced a series of economic crises, social upheavals, and wars over the past 30 years. Since the dissolution of the Soviet bloc, it has been the second largest European country in size. Ukraine has gone through more crises than most other republics of the former USSR.

Ukraine demographics 2020