The Age Structure of Scientific Personnel as a Factor in the Viability of the Scientific System of Ukraine

The paper analyzes the dynamics of the age structure of scientific personnel of Ukraine from 1995 to 2014. The comparison of age profiles of researchers in Ukraine and Russia was made. New trend for the domestic science was identified: since 2005, at the background of the overall increase in the average age, the share of researchers aged 30—39 years, had also increased and reached in 2014 22 % (taken together with the younger age group of under 29—37 %). This indicates that the concept of “total aging” and the resulting loss of potential productivity of Ukrainian science is not true, and confirms that the current age structure of scientific personnel is still able to provide a rapid improve of scientific capacity given that by the effective state support. Similar trends are taking place for the staff of the Russian science, with the difference that the increase in the proportion of younger age groups of researchers is even more intensive