The famines of the 1930s, followed by the devastation of World War II, created a demographic disaster. Life expectancy at birth fell to a level as low as ten years for females and seven for males in 1933 and plateaued around 25 for females and 15 for males in the period 1941–44. According to "The Oxford companion to World War II", "Over 7 million inhabitants of Ukraine, more than one-sixth of the pre-war population, were killed during the Second World War."