Map of Ukraine | Geography | People | Government | Economy | Energy | Communication
Military | Transportation | Transnational Issues | Year: Guide19891990199119921993199419951996199719981999200020012002200320042005200620072008200920102011201220132014201520162017201820192020202120222023 | More stats

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Background: Richly endowed in natural resources Ukraine has been fought over and subjugated for centuries; its 20th-century struggle for liberty is not yet complete. A short-lived independence from Russia (1917-1920) was followed by brutal Soviet rule that engineered two artificial famines (1921-22 and 1932-33) in which over 8 million died and World War II in which German and Soviet armies were responsible for some 7 million more deaths. Although independence was attained in 1991 with the dissolution of the USSR true freedom remains elusive as many of the former Soviet elite remain entrenched stalling efforts at economic reform privatization and civic liberties.


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Location: Eastern Europe, bordering the Black Sea, between Poland and Russia

Geographic coordinates: 49 00 N, 32 00 E

Map reference: Commonwealth of Independent States

Area
Total: 603,700 km²
Land: 603,700 km²
Water: 0 km²
Comparative: slightly smaller than Texas

Land boundaries
Total: 4,558 km
Border countries: (7) Belarus 891 km; , Hungary 103 km; , Moldova 939 km; , Poland 428 km; , Romania (south) 169 km; , Romania (west) 362 km; , Russia 1,576 km; , Slovakia 90 km

Coastline: 2,782 km

Maritime claims
Continental shelf: 200-m or to the depth of exploitation
Exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
Territorial sea: 12 nm

Climate: temperate continental; Mediterranean only on the southern Crimean coast; precipitation disproportionately distributed, highest in west and north, lesser in east and southeast; winters vary from cool along the Black Sea to cold farther inland; summers are warm across the greater part of the country, hot in the south

Terrain: most of Ukraine consists of fertile plains (steppes) and plateaus, mountains being found only in the west (the Carpathians), and in the Crimean Peninsula in the extreme south

Elevation
Extremes lowest point: Black Sea 0 m
Extremes highest point: Hora Hoverla 2,061 m

Natural resources: iron ore, coal, manganese, natural gas, oil, salt, sulfur, graphite, titanium, magnesium, kaolin, nickel, mercury, timber

Land use
Arable land: 58%
Permanent crops: 2%
Permanent pastures: 13%
Forests and woodland: 18%
Other: 9% (1993 est.)

Irrigated land: 26,050 km² (1993 est.)

Major rivers

Major watersheds area km²

Total water withdrawal

Total renewable water resources

Natural hazards: NA

Geography
Note: strategic position at the crossroads between Europe and Asia; second-largest country in Europe


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Population: 50,125,108 (July 1998 est.)
Growth rate: -0.64% (1998 est.)

Nationality
Noun: Ukrainian(s)
Adjective: Ukrainian

Ethnic groups: Ukrainian 73%, Russian 22%, Jewish 1%, other 4%

Languages: Ukrainian, Russian, Romanian, Polish, Hungarian

Religions: Ukrainian Orthodox_Moscow Patriarchate, Ukrainian Orthodox_Kiev Patriarchate, Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox, Ukrainian Catholic (Uniate), Protestant, Jewish

Demographic profile

Age structure
0-14 years: 19% (male 4,852,461; female 4,656,688)
15-64 years: 67% (male 16,096,737; female 17,481,600)
65 years and over: 14% (male 2,284,960; female 4,752,662) (July 1998 est.)

Dependency ratios

Median age

Population growth rate: -0.64% (1998 est.)

Birth rate: 9.53 births/1000 population (1998 est.)

Death rate: 16.31 deaths/1000 population (1998 est.)

Net migration rate: 0.43 migrant(s)/1000 population (1998 est.)

Population distribution

Urbanization

Major urban areas

Environment
Current issues: inadequate supplies of potable water; air and water pollution; deforestation; radiation contamination in the northeast from 1986 accident at Chornobyl' Nuclear Power Plant
International agreements party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Environmental Modification, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution
International agreements signed but not ratified: Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Law of the Sea

Air pollutants

Sex ratio
At birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
Under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.92 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.48 male(s)/female (1998 est.)

Mothers mean age at first birth

Maternal mortality ratio

Infant mortality rate: 21.8 deaths/1000 live births (1998 est.)

Life expectancy at birth
Total population: 65.84 years
Male: 60.08 years
Female: 71.89 years (1998 est.)

Total fertility rate: 1.35 children born/woman (1998 est.)

Contraceptive prevalence rate

Drinking water source

Current health expenditure

Physicians density

Hospital bed density

Sanitation facility access

Hiv/Aids

Major infectious diseases

Obesity adult prevalence rate

Alcohol consumption

Tobacco use

Children under the age of 5 years underweight

Education expenditures

Literacy
Definition: age 15 and over can read and write
Total population: 98%
Male: 100%
Female: 97% (1989 est.)

School life expectancy primary to tertiary education

Youth unemployment


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Country name
Conventional long form: none
Conventional short form: Ukraine
Local long form: none
Local short form: Ukrayina
Former: Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic

Government type: republic

Capital: Kiev (Kyyiv)

Administrative divisions: 24 oblasti (singular_oblast'), 1 autonomous republic* (avtomnaya respublika), and 2 municipalities (mista, singular_misto) with oblast status**; Cherkas'ka (Cherkasy), Chernihivs'ka (Chernihiv), Chernivets'ka (Chernivtsi), Dnipropetrovs'ka (Dnipropetrovs'k), Donets'ka (Donets'k), Ivano-Frankivs'ka (Ivano-Frankivs'k), Kharkivs'ka (Kharkiv), Khersons'ka (Kherson), Khmel'nyts'ka (Khmel'nyts'kyy), Kirovohrads'ka (Kirovohrad), Kyyiv**, Kyyivs'ka (Kiev), Luhans'ka (Luhans'k), L'vivs'ka (L'viv), Mykolayivs'ka (Mykolayiv), Odes'ka (Odesa), Poltavs'ka (Poltava), Avtonomna Respublika Krym* (Simferopol'), Rivnens'ka (Rivne), Sevastopol'**, Sums'ka (Sumy), Ternopil's'ka (Ternopil'), Vinnyts'ka (Vinnytsya), Volyns'ka (Luts'k), Zakarpats'ka (Uzhhorod), Zaporiz'ka (Zaporizhzhya), Zhytomyrs'ka (Zhytomyr)
Note: oblasts have the administrative center name following in parentheses

Dependent areas

Independence: 1 December 1991 (from Soviet Union)

National holiday: Independence Day, 24 August (1991)

Constitution: adopted 28 June 1996

Legal system: based on civil law system; judicial review of legislative acts

International law organization participation

Citizenship

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

Executive branch
Chief of state: President Leonid D. KUCHMA (since 19 July 1994): ead of
Government: Prime Minister Valeriy PUSTOVOYTENKO (since 16 July 1997), First Deputy Prime Minister Anatoliy HOLUBCHENKO (since 8 August 1997), and three deputy prime ministers
Cabinet: Cabinet of Ministers appointed by the president and approved by the Supreme Council
Note: there is also a National Security and Defense Council or NSDC originally created in 1992 as the National Security Council, but significantly revamped and strengthened under President KUCHMA; the NSDC staff is tasked with developing national security policy on domestic and international matters and advising the president; a Presidential Administration that helps draft presidential edicts and provides policy support to the president; and a Council of Regions that serves as an advisory body created by President KUCHMA in September 1994 that includes chairmen of the Kiev and Sevastopol city councils and the chairmen of Oblast
Elections: president elected by popular vote for a five-year term; election last held 26 June and 10 July 1994 (next to be held NA October 1999); prime minister and deputy prime ministers appointed by the president and approved by the People's Council
Election results: Leonid D. KUCHMA elected president; percent of vote_Leonid KUCHMA 52.15%, Leonid KRAVCHUK 45.06%

Legislative branch: unicameral People's Council (before 1996 the Supreme Council) or Narodna Rada (450 seats; under Ukraine's new election law, half of the Rada's seats are allocated on a proportional basis to those parties that gain 4% of the national electoral vote; the other 225 members are elected by popular vote in single mandate constituencies; all serve four-year terms)
Elections: last held 27 March 1994 with repeat elections continuing through December 1996 to fill empty seats (next to be held 29 March 1998)
Election results: percent of vote by party_NA; seats by party_Communists 91, Rukh 22, Agrarians 18, Socialists 15, Republicans 11, Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists 5, Labor 5, Party of Democratic Revival 4, Democrats 2, Social Democrats 2, Civil Congress 2, Conservative Republicans 1, Party of Economic Revival of Crimea 1, Christian Democrats 1, independents 225; note_most recent repeat election held in April 1996 filling 422 of 450 seats as follows:independents 238, Communist 95, Rukh 22, Agrarians 18, Socialist 15, Republicans 11, Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists 5, Labor 5, Party of Democratic Revival 4, Democratic Party of Ukraine 2, Social Democrats 2, Civil Congress 2, Conservative Republicans 1, Party of Economic Revival of Crimea 1, Christian Democrats 1, vacant 28 (in February 1997 there were 35 vacant seats)

Judicial branch: Supreme Court; Constitutional Court

Political parties and leaders

International organization participation: BSEC, CCC, CE, CEI, CIS, EAPC, EBRD, ECE, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICRM, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Inmarsat, Intelsat (nonsignatory user), Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO, ITU, MINUGUA, NSG, OSCE, PCA, PFP, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNMIBH, UNMOP, UNMOT, UNPREDEP, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTrO (applicant)

Diplomatic representation
In the us chief of mission: Ambassador Yuriy Mykolayovych SHCHERBAK
In the us chancery: 3,350 M Street NW, Washington, DC 20,007
In the us telephone: [1] (202) 333-0606
In the us fax: [1] (202) 333-0817
In the us consulates general: Chicago and New York
From the us chief of mission: Ambassador Steven Karl PIFER
From the us embassy: 10 Yuria Kotsubynskoho, 254,053 Kiev 53
From the us mailing address: use embassy street address
From the us telephone: [380] (44) 244-7,345
From the us fax: [380] (44) 244-7,350

Flag description: two equal horizontal bands of azure (top) and golden yellow represent grainfields under a blue sky

National symbols

National anthem

National heritage


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Economy overview: After Russia, the Ukrainian republic was far and away the most important economic component of the former Soviet Union, producing about four times the output of the next-ranking republic. Its fertile black soil generated more than one-fourth of Soviet agricultural output, and its farms provided substantial quantities of meat, milk, grain, and vegetables to other republics. Likewise, its diversified heavy industry supplied equipment and raw materials to industrial and mining sites in other regions of the former USSR. Ukraine depends on imports of energy, especially natural gas. Shortly after the implosion of the USSR in December 1991, the Ukrainian Government liberalized most prices and erected a legal framework for privatization, but widespread resistance to reform within the government and the legislature soon stalled reform efforts and led to some backtracking. Output in 1992-97 fell to less than half the 1991 level. Loose monetary policies pushed inflation to hyperinflationary levels in late 1993. Since his election in July 1994, President KUCHMA has pushed economic reforms, maintained financial discipline, and tried to remove almost all remaining controls over prices and foreign trade. Implementation of KUCHMA's economic agenda is encountering considerable resistance from parliament, entrenched bureaucrats, and industrial interests; and an environment of corruption continues to discourage foreign investors. One signal achievement has been the reduction of the inflation rate to 10% by yearend 1997. If KUCHMA succeeds in implementing aggressive market reforms during 1998, the economy should reverse its downward trend, with real growth occurring by late 1998 and into 1999.

Real gdp purchasing power parity

Real gdp growth rate: -3.2% (1997 est.)

Real gdp per capita ppp

Gross national saving

Gdp composition by end use

Gdp composition by sector of origin
Agriculture: 14%
Industry: 30%
Services: 56% (1997 est.)

Agriculture products: grain, sugar beets, sunflower seeds, vegetables; meat, milk

Industries: coal, electric power, ferrous and nonferrous metals, machinery and transport equipment, chemicals, food-processing (especially sugar)

Industrial production growth rate: -1.8% (1997 est.)

Labor force
Total: 22.8 million (yearend 1997)
By occupation industry and construction: 32%
By occupation agriculture and forestry: 24%
By occupation health education andculture: 17%
By occupation tradeanddistribution: 8%
By occupation transportandcommunication: 7%
By occupation other: 12% (1996)

Unemployment rate: 2.6% officially registered; large number of unregistered or underemployed workers (December 1997)

Youth unemployment

Population below poverty line

Gini index

Household income or consumption by percentage share

Distribution of family income gini index

Budget
Revenues: $18 billion
Expenditures: $21 billion, including capital expenditures of $N/A (1997 est.)

Public debt

Taxes and other revenues

Revenue

Fiscal year: calendar year

Current account balance

Inflation rate consumer prices

Central bank discount rate

Commercial bank prime lending rate

Stock of narrow money

Stock of broad money

Stock of domestic credit

Market value of publicly traded shares

Current account balance

Exports: total value:$15.2 billion (1997 est.)
Commodoties: ferrous and nonferrous metals, chemicals, machinery and transport equipment, food products
Partners: Russia, China, Belarus, Turkey, Germany (1997)

Imports: total value:$20.2 billion (1997 est.)
Commodoties: energy, machinery and parts, transportation equipment, chemicals, plastics and rubber
Partners: Russia, Turkmenistan, Belarus, Germany, China

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold

Debt external: $9.6 billion (including $2.1 billion to Russia) (yearend 1997 est.)

Stock of direct foreign investment at home

Stock of direct foreign investment abroad

Exchange rates: hryvnia per US$1: 1.9359 (February 1998), 1.8617 (1997), 1.8295 (1996), 1.4731 (1995), 0.3275 (1994), 0.0453 (1993)


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Electricity access

Electricity production: 177 billion kWh (1997)

Electricity consumption
Per capita: 3,431 kWh (1997)

Electricity exports

Electricity imports

Electricity installed generating capacity

Electricity transmission distribution losses

Electricity generation sources

Petroleum

Refined petroleum

Natural gas

Carbon dioxide emissions

Energy consumption per capita


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Telephones fixed lines

Telephones mobile cellular

Telephone system: system is unsatisfactory both for business and for personal use; 3.56 million applications for telephones had not been satisfied as of January 1991; electronic mail services have been established in Kiev, Odessa, and Luhans'k by Sprint
Domestic: an NMT-450 analog cellular telephone network operates in Kiev (Kyyiv) and allows direct dialing of international calls through Kiev's digital exchange
International: calls to other CIS countries are carried by landline or microwave radio relay; calls to 167 other countries are carried by satellite or by the 150 leased lines through the Moscow international gateway switch; satellite earth stations_NA Intelsat, 1 Inmarsat (Atlantic and Indian Ocean Regions), and NA Intersputnik

Broadcast media

Internet country code

Internet users

Broadband fixed subscriptions


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Military expenditures
Dollar figure: 1.71 billion hryvni (Ukrainian Government's forecast for 1998; note - conversion of defense expenditures into US dollars using the current exchange rate could produce misleading results
Percent of gdp: NA%

Military and security forces

Military service age and obligation

Space program

Terrorist groups


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National air transport system

Civil aircraft registration country code prefix

Airports: 706 (1994 est.)
With paved runways total: 163
With paved runways over 3047 m: 14
With paved runways 2438 to 3047 m: 55
With paved runways 15-24 to 2437 m: 34
With paved runways 914 to 1523 m: 3
With paved runways under 914 m: 57 (1994 est.)
With unpaved runways total: 543
With unpaved runways over 3047 m: 7
With unpaved runways 2438 to 3047 m: 7
With unpaved runways 15-24 to 2437 m: 16
With unpaved runways 914 to 1523 m: 37
With unpaved runways under 914 m: 476 (1994 est.)

Airports with paved runways
Total: 163
Over 3047 m: 14
2438 to 3047 m: 55
15-24 to 2437 m: 34
914 to 1523 m: 3
Under 914 m: 57 (1994 est.)

Airports with unpaved runways
Total: 543
Over 3047 m: 7
2438 to 3047 m: 7
15-24 to 2437 m: 16
914 to 1523 m: 37
Under 914 m: 476 (1994 est.)

Heliports

Pipelines: crude oil 2,010 km; petroleum products 1,920 km; natural gas 7,800 km (1992)

Railways
Total: 23,350 km
Broad gauge: 23,350 km 1.524-m gauge (8,600 km electrified)

Roadways

Waterways: 4,400 km navigable waterways, of which 1,672 km were on the Pryp''yat' and Dnistr (1990)

Merchant marine
Total: 202 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 1,498,653 GRT/1,709,393 DWT
Ships by type: barge carrier 3, bulk 13, cargo 122, chemical tanker 2, combination bulk 1, container 3, multifunction large-load carrier 2, oil tanker 19, passenger 7, passenger-cargo 4, railcar carrier 2, refrigerated cargo 6, roll-on/roll-off cargo 13, short-sea passenger 5
Note: Ukraine owns an additional 41 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 515,743 DWT operating under the registries of The Bahamas, Cyprus, Liberia, Malta, Panama, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (1997 est.)

Ports and terminals


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Disputes international: dispute with Romania over continental shelf of the Black Sea under which significant gas and oil deposits may exist; agreed in 1997 to two-year negotiating period, after which either party can refer dispute to the International Court of Justice; has made no territorial claim in Antarctica (but has reserved the right to do so) and does not recognize the claims of any other nation; certain territory of Moldova and Ukraine_including Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina_are considered by Bucharest as historically a part of Romania; this territory was incorporated into the former Soviet Union following the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact in 1940

Refugees and internally displaced persons

Illicit drugs: limited cultivation of cannabis and opium poppy, mostly for CIS consumption; limited government eradication program; used as transshipment point for opiates and other illicit drugs to Western Europe and Russia