Anniversary of the Chernobyl accident: how many pensioners have the status of victims of the disaster

As of January 1, 2026, there are 637,013 pensioners in Ukraine who have the status of victims of the Chernobyl disaster. Of these, 97,143 people are classified as category I victims.

This was reported by the Pension Fund of Ukraine.

According to published data, the largest number of pensioners with the status of victims live in the central and northern regions of the country. In particular, there are 203,041 people in Kyiv region, 88,289 in Zhytomyr region, and 93,620 in Rivne region.

Separately, 30,840 such pensioners were recorded in the city of Kyiv, and 37,625 in Cherkasy region. In Volyn region, the number is 35,990 people, in Vinnytsia region — 28,274, and in Chernihiv region — 26,097.

In the western regions, the indicators are lower. In particular:

• Lviv region — 3,812;
• Ivano-Frankivsk region — 4,057;
• Transcarpathian region — 1,674;
• Chernivtsi region — 5,864;
• Khmelnytskyi region — 4,094;
• Ternopil region — 12,795.

A smaller number of victims were also recorded in the southern and eastern regions. In particular, in Dnipropetrovsk region – 9,842, in Poltava – 10,541, in Kharkiv – 9,207.

The lowest figures were recorded in the southern regions: in Mykolaiv region — 2,556 people, in Kherson region — 1,857, in Odessa region — 3,635.

In Donetsk region, the number is 5,666 people, in Luhansk region – 3,086, in Zaporizhia region – 3,432, in Kirovohrad region – 4,663, and in Sumy region – 6,456.

Separately, the Pension Fund of Ukraine provided the structure of Category I victims, of whom there are 97,143. Among them, 45,674 people are participants in the liquidation of the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster, and 51,469 people are victims of the disaster.

Among the participants in the liquidation:

• 38,802 people receive pensions in accordance with Article 54 of the Law of Ukraine “On the Status and Social Protection of Persons Affected by the Chernobyl Disaster”, of which 27,435 people participated in the liquidation in 1986, and 11,367 in 1987–1990;
• 6,872 people receive pensions under other laws, including 1,411 participants from 1986, 778 from 1987–1990, and 4,683 military personnel.

Among the victims of the Chernobyl disaster:

• 44,059 people receive pensions in accordance with Article 54 of the said law;
• 7,410 people receive pensions under other laws, of which 1,643 are military personnel.

The data cover pensioners of categories I, II, III and IV who have the corresponding status of victims of the Chernobyl disaster.

As you know, April 26 marks the 40th anniversary of the largest man-made disaster in human history – the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident . Then, during an experiment at the 4th reactor, two explosions occurred. During the current Russian-Ukrainian war, Chernobyl experienced another drama, which is compared in tension to the Chernobyl accident 40 years ago.

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