Genesis of the Demographic Registry in Ukraine

Abstract

The state cannot function without accurate and reliable information about the number of its inhabitants, the gender and age structure of the population and its location on the territory of the country. For many decades, such information was obtained from population censuses, and in the intercensal period - from various additional sources. Later, so-called “electronic demographic registers” were created in developed countries, which made it possible to quickly update the necessary information about the population, store it and quickly process it. At the end of the last century, in many developed countries, demographic registers became the main source of information for conducting traditional population censuses, and later even partially or completely replaced them. Currently, due to various circumstances, Ukraine does not have a full-fledged demographic register and is only going through a difficult path to its formation. The purpose of this article is to study the process of creating a demographic register in Ukraine in a historical aspect. And its novelty lies in the fact that for the first time three attempts to develop a national demographic register are highlighted, analyzed and evaluated. The study is based on the application of systemic analysis to evaluate all attempts to create a Ukrainian demographic register; the use of complex systems research methods (analysis and synthesis) made it possible to analyze the components of all registers in detail and, on the basis of a comparative analysis, to determine the strengths and weaknesses of each version of the register. The application of a concrete-historical approach helped to study the processes of designing and creating registers taking into account the specific historical conditions in which they took place, and to find out the influence of these conditions on processes in question. To achieve the goal, the authors researched the projects of demographic registers developed at different times: the Automated Data Bank “Population” and the State Population Register of Ukraine. The reasons why these electronic information resources were never built were analyzed. The purpose of creation and possibilities of the introduced Unified State Demographic Register were also investigated. Its advantages and disadvantages are identified, its connection with other electronic registers operating in government and local self-government bodies is demonstrated. A comparison of the composition of the demographic characteristics of the two projects mentioned above and the register that is functioning today is presented. From the point of view of demographic focus and technological combination with other information systems, the project of the Automated Data Bank “Population” was the most perfect. The project structure of the next register was oversaturated with all possible information about the population, which was not necessary from the point of view of demographic needs. The Unified State Demographic Register was created with the aim of providing the population with documents of a new model, but was not aimed at fulfilling the role of a demographic register to the full extent.