Kim: 10% of population leave Mykolaiv region during war, replaced by IDPs from Kherson region
The population of Mykolaiv region has almost recovered to pre-war levels thanks to displaced people from Kherson region, Head of Mykolaiv Regional Military Administration Vitaliy Kim has said.
"Before the full-scale invasion, the region had 1.2 million people, and the city of Mykolaiv had 470,000. In March 2022, some 600,000 people remained in the region, and fewer than 180,000 in the city. Now the region has 1.15 million people, and the city has 450,000. That is, in numbers, almost everything has recovered, but the region has 120,000 displaced people, mostly from Kherson region, including 30,000 in the city of Mykolaiv. That is, about 10% of our people left, and they were replaced by displaced people from Kherson," Kim told Interfax-Ukraine.
The head of the regional administration even noted an increase in the population in many communities: "for example, in Voznesensk, the number of residents with registered residence increased by 10% during the war."
"The problem is that active business people have left, that we are losing specialists. For example, people worked in seaports – we have five of them – but they were ‘idle’ and received 70% of their salary rate. They still cannot sit without work, so they went to work in Izmail, because there are bonuses, allowances and professional growth there. And this is the main problem – the loss of skilled human capital. Moreover, Kherson residents are very active: most of the entrepreneurs I now meet in small business are small businesses from Kherson," he said.
Kim said the task for his team is to create conditions for Ukrainians to return from abroad and stay to live and work at home.
"I really want our people to return from abroad. Unfortunately, time is working against us: someone has got married, someone has found a job, someone has got used to it, and so on. But I am absolutely sure that they will come back at least once, to see whether the situation here has changed in terms of the authorities, conditions and so on. And they should come and say: oh, things are already different here, it is possible to work and live here, it is honest and fair here, let me stay here. This is our task: to create such conditions that when people return and look around, they are pleasantly impressed and stay to work," he said.
According to the head of the regional administration, "the issues of jobs, housing, schools, kindergartens and hospitals are not something separate from the economy; they are its foundation."
"People do not return just because of words. They return to where they can live normally, work, raise children and be confident about tomorrow. That is why the return of Ukrainians and demography are not an abstract topic for us, but a specific task. We need to create normal living conditions here. And this is exactly what we are working on," Kim said.
