By February 24, 2022, about 37 million people lived in Ukraine, including 2.5 million citizens in the occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions and in Crimea. 

The number of Ukrainians who ended up in the occupied territories of Kharkiv, Kherson, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhya, and Donetsk regions has increased. According to our estimates, 3.1 million people currently live in these territories. I want to add that according to Ukrainian human rights defenders, at least 1.2 million Ukrainians were illegally deported to the territory of Russia. The war also led to active resettlement within the country. According to the UN, as of July 2022, the number of registered internally displaced persons reached 6.2 million. 

Provided the hostilities cease by the summer of 2023, we foresee partial positive changes in the number of displaced persons, both internal and those who have left abroad. Part of the evacuated women and children will, of course, settle abroad and not return to Ukraine. In addition, husbands and fathers will go to them as soon as such an opportunity arises. 

However, considering the current results of social surveys, 66% of forced emigrants plan to return to Ukraine. About 77% of IDPs also intend to return home if possible, but 29% of them believe they will have nowhere to return. 

The labor shortage that will arise in 20 years requires thinking about public policy and business strategy now. Ukraine needs to raise labor standards several times to become interesting in the return of Ukrainians from abroad and for engagement of expats from other countries. Or to focus on high technologies, services, and jobs for women to level the crisis of working capital in the future.