The population of the Korosten district as of 2020 (including the annexed districts – Malinskyi, Olevskyi, Ovrutskyi, Naroditskyi, Luginskyi) is 258,935 people.
The demographic situation in the Korosten district is complex. The reasons for this lie both in the history of the region’s development and in the tragic modern post-Chernobyl situation. The current demographic situation was influenced by the First and Second World Wars, the Civil War, the Holodomor of 1932-33, the repressive measures of 1918-1939, campaigns to remove young people to the “communist building” and the virgin land. As a result, tens of thousands of our compatriots died or were taken out of the Korosten district, and thousands of children were not born. Evaluating the movement of the population of the Korosten region during the last century, it is possible to conclude that if it were not for artificial reasons, the population of the region would be about 200,000 people today.
If we take into account that in 1895 the birth rate in the region was 39.5 per thousand inhabitants, and the death rate was 25.5, then the natural population increase was 14 people. Calculations show that even with such an increase of 14% in the period between 1894 and 1922, the population would have grown to 87,600 people, and as a result of the First World War and the Civil Wars, the increase was only up to 75,900 people.
Korostensky district belongs to the regions of Ukraine with the worst demographic indicators. There has been no natural population growth in the region for 26 years. Thus, during the period from 1970 to 2001, the population of Korosten Oblast decreased by 15.5%. And from 2001 to 2008 – by 6.8% (11.3% in the district and 4.6% in the city). As a result, the population density also decreased sharply and amounted to 54.8 people/sq.m. km in 2007, and in rural areas it is only 17.5 people/sq. km For comparison, the average population density in Ukraine is 77 people/sq.m. km, and in Zhytomyr Oblast – 42.3 people/sq.m. km
In the last three decades, there have been big changes in the Korosten district and in the ratio between the rural and urban population in favor of the latter. For example, in 1970 there were almost 12,000 more inhabitants in the countryside than in Korosten, and at the end of 2007 there were 35,800 fewer inhabitants in the countryside than in the city. This happened due to the higher birth rate and lower mortality in the city, resettlement from the countryside, and the addition of four settlements to Korosten – Cholovka, Chigyri, Zhytomyrske, Myrnyi. The specific weight of the urban population of the Korosten district, that is, the level of urbanization reached 68.7%, which is approximately equal to this indicator in Ukraine as a whole (about 72%).
A significant difference is observed in the gender structure of the region’s population. The main reason for this remains the significant loss of the male population during the Second World War, as well as the low life expectancy of men. At the end of 2007, more than 50,000 women and about 45,000 men lived in the city and district, respectively 53.34% and 46.66%. The difference is 6.4 thousand. But in recent years, the gap in numbers between women and men has narrowed somewhat.
Korostensky district is characterized by a relatively high average age of the population. In the age structure, there is an aging trend of the population both in Korosten and in the district, both among women and among men. This causes poor indicators of the demographic burden on the population of working age, especially among rural residents of the district. In rural areas, there are almost 400 pensioners for every thousand of the population, the total number of which is more than 12 thousand, i.e. 40% of the total number of residents of the district. For every 1,000 people of working age in the district, there are almost 1,120 people of disabled age. The situation is somewhat better in Korosten. There are about 240 pensioners for every 1,000 of the population, the total number of which is about 15,500. For every 1,000 people of working age, there are 685 people of disabled age.
The demographic situation is negatively affected by the marital status of the population. According to the latest population census, for every 1,000 men over the age of 18, there are less than 700 family members, and less than 600 women, both in the district and in the city. The situation is further complicated by the fact that families are becoming smaller and smaller. On average, a family consists of 3.5 people in the city, and 3.4 people in the district. Family size is largely influenced by stability, that is, the length of existence and the number of divorces relative to registered marriages. In recent years, the number of divorces has increased significantly, and their level is especially high among families that have been married for 1 to 10 years, which leads to an increase in single-parent families, of which there are currently 860 in Korosten alone. This is one of the reasons for the low birth rate, and therefore the lack of of natural population growth in the Korosten district.
The natural movement of the population in the region is characterized by a sharp decrease in the population due to migration (the total outflow of residents from Korosten and the district for the years 1986-2007 was 63.5 thousand people) and the absence of natural growth. Natural population growth is shaped by birth and death rates.
During the last century, the indicators of natural population growth experienced sharp fluctuations, but for the last 25 years in rural areas, it has been consistently evaluated with a “minus” sign. Starting from 1994, this negative phenomenon is also characteristic of Korosten. In recent years, about 800 children are born in the city annually, and about 1,080 people die. Thus, in 2007, 773 children were born in the city (11.7 children per 1,000 people), and 1,093 died (16.8 people per 1,000 population), which resulted in a negative rate of natural increase of 5.1.
An important indicator of natural movement is population mortality. In the Korosten district, the total mortality is very high. So, if the number of deaths per 1,000 people in Ukraine is 18.5, then in the Korosten district – 31.3.
In the structure of the causes of death of the population of the district and the city, diseases of the cardiovascular system are in the first place (on average, about 70% of all deaths), followed by mortality from cancer (about 10%), accidents, injuries and poisoning (about 7%) , respiratory diseases (about 5%); diseases of the endocrine system. The structure of mortality among the working-age population, where mortality from diseases of the circulatory system is at the forefront (about 40% of all deaths at working age) is a cause for concern; accidents, injuries and poisonings (25%); neoplasms (20%); respiratory organs (10%). As can be seen from the above data, the mortality rate among working people from accidents, injuries, poisonings, as well as neoplasms, especially malignant ones, is sharply increasing. The reasons for this are insufficient attention to labor discipline and unsatisfactory sanitary and hygienic provision of workers in the conditions of the consequences of the accident at the Chornobyl NPP. The analysis of mortality within age groups shows another negative trend – a high specific weight of mortality of persons of working age, it is about 30% of the total number of dead. In the structure of employment of the able-bodied rural population, about 1,000 work in collective agricultural enterprises located on the territory of the district, 1,700 in the industry of the district, 4,700 in the sector of small business and entrepreneurship, more than 1,000 rural residents work in the city of Korosten, about 1,000 – in education and medicine, almost 1,700 people are unemployed. There is a positive trend towards the growth of the total number of workers in the city.
The ethnic composition of the population of Korosten district is not very diverse. The vast majority of the population is Ukrainians – 83.7%, Russians live – 9.1%, Jews – 2.8%, Poles – 2.3%, Belarusians – 0.8%, Czechs – 0.3%, others – 1 %. In recent years, the share of the Jewish and Czech population has decreased sharply. 94.8% of Ukrainians, 95.3% of Russians, 2.2% of Poles, 38.8% of Belarusians, 38.4% of Jews, 30% of Czechs speak their native language.
Settlements of the Korosten district differ in the number of their population. The largest are Horshchyk (2,251 people), Grozyno (1,239 people), Gulyanka (1,179 people), Ushomyr (1,111 people), Mykhailivka (1,081 people), Vaskovichi (989 people), and Meleni (927 people). At the same time, there are villages where the number of inhabitants is less than 50 people. As of January 1, 2007, not a single resident remained in Bulakhivka, 3 people lived in Oleksandrivka, 18 in Zarubinka, 20 in Voynarivka, 21 each in Velen and Moshkivka, Art. Zhupanivtsi – 24, Rudna-Baranivska – 28, Pisky – 32, Krasnosilka – 35. If we take into account that over the past 20 years the number of residents in these settlements has decreased from 632 to 202, then in the next 5-10 years they will disappear from maps of the district, as happened with Bulakhivka. The demographic situation is somewhat better in 21 villages of the district, where the number of residents ranges from 35 to 95 people. Data analysis shows that the number of the most populated villages is decreasing, and the number of sparsely populated villages is increasing sharply. In the coming years, about 14 more villages will be classified as settlements with less than 100 inhabitants.
Settlements of the Korosten district differ in the functions they perform. Korosten is one of the medium-sized cities of Ukraine, the city performs an administrative, industrial and transport function. All rural settlements of the district perform an agricultural function. 37 villages of the district are centers of village councils and therefore also perform administrative functions. And such villages as Pervomaiske, Ushytsia, Horshchyk, Shchorsivka, Mykhailivka also perform an industrial function. The village of Grozyne is scientific (Polyssia Research Institute of Agriculture is located here). Ushytsia, Bekhy, Shatryshche, Ushomyr – transport (there are railway stations here).