Ukraine Has Lost Equivalent of Lviv Oblast

Ukraine's Health Ministry predicts that the mortality rate will exceed the birth rate in the next few years, and by 2002 Ukraine's population will drop to only 48 million, Health Minister Andriy Serdiuk reported at a seminar for regional mass media on December 14. The Minister attracted special attention to the rise in male mortality. According to him, three to five times as many men die between the age of 18 and 60 as women.

According to the Ministry's statistics, over six million people in Ukraine suffer from cardiovascular diseases, over 1.2 million are mentally ill, the same number of disabled of various categories, 800,000 alcoholic, over 700,000 sufferers from tuberculosis, 300,000 diabetics, and 120,000 with birth defects. According to UNIAN, Serdiuk emphasized that all these indices "considerably influence" the average life expectancy of Ukraine's citizens and the further deterioration of its demographic situation.