Ukraine’s Last Census Was in 2001: The Plan Moved Five Times, Then Was Cancelled

The last time a census was held in Ukraine was December 5, 2001—the first, and so far the only, all-Ukrainian census since independence. The next one was planned for 2011, but under Cabinet decisions the planned year moved five times, to 2012, 2013, 2016, 2020, and 2023, and in October 2023 that plan itself was cancelled. As of September 2026, no date has been set for the next census.

This article traces, in chronological order from the Russian Empire’s 1897 census, the censuses that have been carried out on the territory of today’s Ukraine, and confirms, through Cabinet decisions and the text of the Census Law, how the schedule moved after 2001. Population estimates for the years without a census, and the discrepancies among those figures, are covered in our article on why Ukraine’s official population estimate stops at January 1, 2022.

Which Country Counted the Same Land

A census counts, one by one, everyone within a country’s territory at a set point in time. Because the territory of today’s Ukraine was divided among several states until the middle of the 20th century, which country counted it, and how many times, differs by region. Drawing on the history posted on the site for the 2001 census by the State Statistics Committee of Ukraine (as it was then called; now the State Statistics Service) and on the entry “Censuses” (written by V. Steshenko) in volume 8 (2011) of the Encyclopedia of the History of Ukraine published by the Institute of History of Ukraine at the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, here are the main ones.

To learn about the population of the western regions in the first half of the 20th century, one has to turn to censuses conducted outside Ukraine. According to the Statistics Committee’s history, the land now corresponding to Lviv, Ternopil, and Ivano-Frankivsk oblasts was counted in Austrian and Polish censuses. The land now corresponding to Volyn and Rivne oblasts was counted by the Russian Empire in 1897 and by Poland in the interwar period. Which historical region corresponds to which of today’s oblasts is summarized in our article on historical region names distinct from oblasts.

Censuses That Did Not All Use the Same Method

Not every census in the table counted the whole country with the same precision. The Encyclopedia of the History of Ukraine points out the following.

• The 1920 census was carried out in the midst of the civil war and the Polish-Soviet War, and by the estimate of V. Mykhailovskyi, who led it, only 72% of the population was counted. The encyclopedia says this cannot be called a national census.
• In the 1939 census, the population of the USSR as a whole was artificially inflated by at least 2.9 million.
• The next census was supposed to be held in 1949, but was not, under a policy of concealing wartime population losses; the first postwar census did not come until 1959.

When comparing population change from one census to the next, it is necessary first to confirm what, and how much of the territory, each one counted.

The 1937 Census and the Arrest of Those Who Led It

The January 1937 census was, under a September 25 decision of the same year by the USSR Council of People’s Commissars, judged to have “serious violations of scientific and government instructions,” and almost all of its materials were destroyed. According to the Encyclopedia of the History of Ukraine, O. Kvitkin, head of the all-union census bureau, was executed, and A. Khomenko, who had organized Soviet Ukraine’s demographic statistics, was also subjected to repression (population figures for the famine of this era are covered in our article on the Holodomor).

December 5, 2001: The First Census Since Independence

The foundation for the census in independent Ukraine was the “Law on the All-Ukrainian Population Census” (No. 2058-III), adopted by the Verkhovna Rada on October 19, 2000. The Statistics Committee explains that it held the census on December 5, 2001, in line with a July 19, 1995, resolution of the UN Economic and Social Council calling on countries to conduct a census between 1995 and 2004. Twelve years had passed since the USSR’s 1989 census.

According to the Statistics Committee’s announcement, the number of people present in Ukraine at that time (present population) was 48,457,000, and the number of people usually resident there (permanent population) was 48,241,000. People from more than 130 ethnic groups were counted. According to the Encyclopedia of the History of Ukraine, the full results were published in 2002–04 as 14 subject-specific compilations, running to 17 volumes. Many articles today dealing with the population of ethnic minorities or regions use the 2001 figures simply because there has been no newer full census since.

The Planned Year Was Rewritten Five Times

The next census was first scheduled by Cabinet of Ministers Order No. 581-r of April 9, 2008. Acting on a proposal from the State Statistics Committee, it set an all-Ukrainian census for 2011, with a trial census in 2009 as preparation. This order was then rewritten, changing the planned year, by a series of later orders.

The 2019 Trial Census and the 2020 Figure of “37.289 Million”

Preparatory work continued even as the planned date kept shifting. Cabinet of Ministers Order No. 504-r of July 18, 2018, instructed the State Statistics Service to conduct, in December 2019, a trial census using new data-collection methods in Kyiv’s Obolon district and in the Borodianka district of Kyiv Oblast. According to the State Statistics Service’s instructions, the reference point was midnight from November 30 to December 1, 2019, and the service has published results for parts of the Obolon and Borodianka districts.

Separately, on January 23, 2020, Minister for the Cabinet of Ministers Dmytro Dubilet announced an “estimate of the present population” of Ukraine as of December 1, 2019, of 37.289 million. According to the Cabinet’s announcement, this figure was calculated by combining data such as the number of phone numbers obtained from mobile operators, sample household surveys, and pension and child-registration figures, and it did not include the population of Russian-occupied territory. The Cabinet described this method’s advantages as lower cost and the ability to be repeated at shorter intervals than a census.

This figure is not the result of a census. The Census Law defines a census as a “regular, complete national statistical survey,” but the 2020 figure is an estimate calculated from other data rather than a count of each person individually. It is also a different figure from the State Statistics Service’s own population estimates.

The Law Provides That None Will Be Held Under Martial Law

Law No. 2438-IX of July 19, 2022, rewrote the Census Law, and the following provisions have been in effect since September 1 of that year.

• A census must be conducted at least once every ten years (Article 3; the law as originally published in 2000 had no such requirement on frequency)
• A census is conducted by Cabinet decision, and that decision must be issued at least three years before the census begins (Article 3)
• No census is to be conducted for the duration of martial law and for six months after it ends; the planned deadline is extended accordingly (Chapter VI, clause 1-1)
• No census is to be conducted in temporarily occupied territory for as long as that legal status continues (same clause)

Martial law, declared on the day of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, February 24, 2022, has continued to be extended since. The most recent extension is Presidential Decree No. 596/2026 of July 13, 2026, for 90 days from August 2. What the October 2023 Cabinet order asks of the State Statistics Service is likewise to propose conducting the census after martial law ends. On October 1, 2025, the “Interdepartmental Commission for Supporting the Conduct of the All-Ukrainian Population Census,” set up in 2018, was also abolished by Cabinet Resolution No. 1225.

The longer the years without a census continue, the more figures for the population of ethnic minorities or of individual regions must rely on the 2001 census or estimates calculated from it. In our article on the Roma and the government’s strategy, for instance, the government’s own strategy lists participation in the next census as one of its goals.