How Ukraine is losing scientists

As you know, human resources decide everything. This is not an empty phrase, because in science, where personnel training sometimes lasts for decades, the future of the country is determined by the availability of qualified researchers.

After the collapse of the USSR, where scientists occupied an honourable place in the hierarchy of professions, Ukraine received one of the largest research systems in Europe. The scientific school of the times of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was known for its advanced technologies and breakthrough ideas. Subsequently, in the first years of independence, changes in the structure of the economy began. While in 1991 – 1995 the share of industry in GDP exceeded 40%, in 2024 it dropped to 19.0%, and the service sector acquired a leading role, going from 40% to over 70%.

The country’s economic problems and the transformation of the economy have also led to a reduction in science funding. The dynamics of this reduction are given below:

Table 1. dynamics of expenditures on research and development in 2010 – 2023.

The share of science spending in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has been steadily declining since 2010 and has fallen to 0.33 per cent in recent years. Back in 2017, the World Bank noted that “…the existing innovation policy and related public funding do not meet the critical needs of Ukraine’s national innovation system”. The significant reduction in funding has led to the disappearance of a number of scientific institutions (SIs) and a decline in the prestige of scientific labour. Young people do not go into science because of low salaries and low status of a scientist. It cannot be otherwise with the official salary of a senior researcher in NASU-13 thousand 034 UAH.

All this has led to the strengthening of migration processes, reduction in the number of scientists, loss of opportunities for reproduction of personnel potential. The number of personnel in the field of research and development (Dir) has decreased 7 times: from more than 400 thousand people in 1991 to 63.8 thousand in 2024. below you can see the dynamics of the number of personnel engaged in the implementation of Dir.

Fig. 1. Dynamics of the number of personnel employed in the field of dir in Ukraine

Table 2. dynamics of the number of personnel employed in the sphere of holes in Ukraine