The level of extreme poverty has increased significantly in Ukraine: the economist's comment – Ukraine

The incomes of many Ukrainians have fallen to the level of the official subsistence minimum.

In 2023, almost 9% of Ukrainians had incomes at the subsistence level, which is seven times more than in 2021.

Doctor of Economic Sciences Lyudmila Cherenko reported this in an interview with RBC-Ukraine.

She noted that during the first years of the war with Russia, from 2014 to 2015, the poverty rate in Ukraine increased from 16.3% to 51.9%.

“And this phase of the war is even more large-scale, and we could have expected much worse. We could have expected that poverty would increase incredibly, even to 80-90%. But this did not happen,” the economist said.

The expert emphasized that at the beginning of the invasion, three possible development scenarios were considered. Ukraine followed a path that was closer to the optimistic forecast.

At the same time, as Cherenko noted, the level of extreme poverty increased significantly during the war. Income…