Ukraine’s birth rate continues its downward trend in 2024, as official data shows one newborn per three deaths in the first six months of the year, the Opendatabot service said on Aug. 5. Some 87,655 children were born in the first half of 2024, while 250,972 citizens died of various causes during the same period, data shows. The numbers are likely incomplete because of Russia’s ongoing occupation of Ukrainian territories. While the low birth rates and high mortality have been a long-standing issue in Ukraine, the demographic crisis has deepened during the Covid-19 pandemic and Russia’s full-s…