Ukrainian villages disappear due to a reduced amount of investments (infographics)

A hundred years ago, about 80% of Ukraine’s population lived in villages. Nowadays, the number of people living in rural areas is decreasing with each year. One of the reasons for this is the lack of investment in the social structure of villages, writes “Agro-Center”.

The youth are leaving Ukrainian villages most rapidly. They leave in search of work and better earnings. According to statistics of recent years, 6,000 Ukrainian villages do not have young people aged 16-28. If the situation does not improve, these villages may completely disappear from the map of Ukraine.

Investments in the social sphere of villages ceased to increase in 2012. Thus, over the last six years, the amount of investment in agricultural production decreased by more than three times: from UAH 0.97 in 2011 to 30 kopeks in 2017.

Scientists have estimated that the most funds for rural areas’ social sphere were allocated in 2011 – 25.4 billion UAH. However, in 2012, due to a reduction of budget financing and worsening of the conditions of economic activity in the village, investments decreased to 19 billion UAH. And in 2014-2017, annual investments amounted to 17-19 billion UAH.
 
Volumes of investments in the social sphere of villages in Ukraine

Experts believe that in order to prevent the degradation of the social infrastructure of villages, it is necessary to take radical measures to improve the conditions for its restoration and development. First of all, villages need more investments from all sources.