Child mortality rate in Ukraine twice higher on occupied territories – research

3,000 Ukrainian children live in the “grey zone” in Donbas, 22,000 live in the frontline settlements, 450,000 live on the territories not controlled by Ukrainian government.

Such data were presented by the Ukrainian Institute of Extremism Research, BBC Ukraine reports.

According to the Institute’s Deputy Director Bohdan Petrenko, the researchers tried to combine the available official statistics with the data, published by the “authorities” of the illegal armed formations in Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

Comparing the data, the researchers came to the conclusion that 166 children have been killed during the conflict in eastern Ukraine. In addition, Bohdan Petrenko reminded that there had been 80 children on the board of shot down MH17.

According to him, the research showed that the mortality rate per thousand children is twice higher on the temporarily occupied territories than in Ukraine, and the death rate is thrice higher than the birth rate.

The demographic analysts also noted that the birth rate declined in Ukraine during 2014-2015. They associate this not only with the armed conflict in Donbas, but also with general volatile situation in the country.

At the same time, the number of orphans has decreased during the armed conflict in Ukraine – the number of orphans in 2014 -2015 was a third less than their number in the “pre-war” 2013.

In addition, the number of divorces has decreased, and in general, the importance of the family increased. As various opinion polls show, the family is traditionally viewed as one of the highest values for the Ukrainians.