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.

Map reference: Commonwealth of Independent States - European States

Area
Total area total: 603,700 km²
Land: 603,700 km²
Comparative: slightly smaller than Texas

Land boundaries: total 4,558 km, Belarus 891 km, Hungary 103 km, Moldova 939 km, Poland 428 km, Romania (southwest) 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: undefined
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 plateaux, mountains being found only in the west (the Carpathians), and in the Crimean Peninsula in the extreme south

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

Land use
Arable land: 56%
Permanent crops: 2%
Meadows and pastures: 12%
Forest and woodland: 0%
Other: 30%

Irrigated land: 26,000 km² (1990)

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

Population: 51,867,828 (July 1995 est.)
Growth rate: 0.04% (1995 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

Age structure
0-14 years: 21% (female 5,217,850; male 5,407,450)
15-64 years: 65% (female 17,563,924; male 16,334,299)
65 years and over: 14% (female 4,976,893; male 2,367,412) (July 1995 est.)

Population growth rate: 0.04% (1995 est.)

Birth rate: 12.31 births/1000 population (1995 est.)

Death rate: 12.67 deaths/1000 population (1995 est.)

Net migration rate: 0.71 migrant(s)/1000 population (1995 est.)

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
Current issues natural hazards: NA
Current issues international agreements: party to - Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Antarctic Treaty, Environmental Modification, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution; signed, but not ratified - Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Law of the Sea

Infant mortality rate: 20.5 deaths/1000 live births (1995 est.)

Life expectancy at birth
Total population: 70.11 years
Male: 65.59 years
Female: 74.87 years (1995 est.)

Total fertility rate: 1.81 children born/woman (1995 est.)

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

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 municipalites (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), Respublika Krym* (Simferopol'), Rivnens'ka (Rivne), Sevastopol'**, Sums'ka (Sevastopol'), Ternopil's'ka (Ternopil'), Vinnyts'ka (Vinnytsya), Volyns'ka (Luts'k), Zakarpats'ka (Uzhhorod), Zaporiz'ka (Zaporizhzhya), Zhytomyrs'ka (Zhytomyr)
Note: names in parentheses are administrative centers when name differs from oblast' name

Independence: 1 December 1991 (from Soviet Union)

National holiday: Independence Day, 24 August (1991)

Constitution: using 1978 pre-independence constitution; new constitution currently being drafted

Legal system: based on civil law system; no judicial review of legislative acts

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

Executive branch
Chief of state: President Leonid D. KUCHMA (since 19 July 1994); election last held 26 June and 10 July 1994 (next to be held NA 1999); results - Leonid KUCHMA 52.15%, Leonid KRAVCHUK 45.06%
Head of government: Acting Prime Minister Yeuben MARCHUK (since 3 March 1995); First Deputy Prime Ministers Yevhen MARCHUK and Viktor PYNZENYK (since 31 October 1994) and six deputy prime ministers
Cabinet: Council of Ministers; appointed by the president and approved by the Supreme Council
National Security Council: originally created in 1992, but signficantly revamped and strengthened under President KUCHMA; members include the president, prime minister, Ministers of Finance, Environment, Justice, Internal Affairs, Foreign Economic Relations, Economic and Foreign Affairs; the NSC staff is tasked with developing national security policy on domestic and international matters and advising the president
Presidential Administration: helps draft presidential edicts and provides policy support to the president
Council of Regions: advisory body created by President KUCHMA in September 1994; includes the Chairmen of Oblast and Kiev and Sevastopol City Supreme Councils

Legislative branch: unicameral
Supreme Council: elections last held 27 March 1994 with repeat elections continuing through December 1998 to fill empty seats (next to be held NA); results - percent of vote by party NA; seats - (450 total) 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 - 405 deputies have been elected; run-off elections for the remaining 45 seats to be held by December 1998

Judicial branch: joint commission formed in April 1995 to define a program of judicial reform by year-end

International organization participation: BSEC, CCC, CE (guest), CEI (associate members), CIS, EBRD, ECE, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICRM, IFC, ILO, IMF, IMO, INMARSAT, INTELSAT (nonsignatory user), INTERPOL, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO, ITU, NACC, OSCE, PCA, PFP, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNPROFOR, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO

Diplomatic representation
In the us chief of mission: Ambassador Yuriy 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 William Green MILLER
From the us embassy: 10 Yuria Kotsyubinskovo, 252,053 Kiev 53
From the us mailing address: use embassy street address
From the us telephone: [7] (044) 244-73-49, 244-37-45
From the us FAX: [7] (044) 244-73-50

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

Economy overview: After Russia, the Ukrainian republic was far and away the most important economic component of the former Soviet Union, producing more than three 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. In early 1992, 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. Loose monetary and fiscal policies pushed inflation to hyperinflationary levels in late 1993. Greater monetary and fiscal restraint lowered inflation in 1994, but also contributed to an accelerated decline in industrial output. Since his election in July 1994, President KUCHMA has developed - and parliament has approved - a comprehensive economic reform program, maintained financial discipline, and reduced state controls over prices, the exchange rate, and foreign trade. Implementation of KUCHMA's economic agenda will encounter considerable resistance from parliament, entrenched bureaucrats, and industrial interests and will contribute to further declines in output and rising unemployment which will sorely test the government's ability to stay the course on reform in 1995.

Real gdp growth rate: -19% (1994 est.)

Real gdp per capita: $3,650 (1994 est.)

Agriculture products: accounts for about 25% of GDP; grain, vegetables, meat, milk, sugar beets

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

Industrial production growth rate: -28% (1994 est.), accounts for 50% of GDP

Labor force: 23.55 million (January 1994)
By occupation industry and construction: 33%
By occupation agriculture and forestry: 21%
By occupation health education andculture: 16%
By occupation tradeanddistribution: 7%
By occupation transportandcommunication: 7%
By occupation other: 16% (1992)

Unemployment rate: 0.4% officially registered; large number of unregistered or underemployed workers

Budget
Revenues: $N/A
Expenditures: $NA, including capital expenditures of $NA

Fiscal year: calendar year

Exports: $11.8 billion (1994)
Commodoties: coal, electric power, ferrous and nonferrous metals, chemicals, machinery and transport equipment, grain, meat
Partners: FSU countries, China, Italy, Switzerland

Imports: $14.2 billion (1994)
Commodoties: energy, machinery and parts, transportation equipment, chemicals, textiles
Partners: FSU countries, Germany, Poland, Czech Republic

Debt external: $7.5 billion (yearend 1994)

Exchange rates: karbovantsi per 1$US - 107,900 (end December 1994), 130,000 (April 1994)

Electricity
Capacity: 54,380,000 kW
Production: 182 billion kWh
Production consumption per capita: 3,200 kWh (1994)

Telephone system: 7,886,000 telephone circuits; about 151.4 telephone circuits/1000 persons (1991); the telephone system is inadequate 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, Odesa, and Luhans'k by Sprint
Local: an NMT-450 analog cellular telephone network operates in Kiev (Kyyiv) and allows direct dialing of international calls through Kiev's EWSD digital exchange
Intercity: NA
International: calls to other CIS countries are carried by land line or microwave; other international calls to 167 countries are carried by satellite or by the 150 leased lines through the Moscow gateway switch; INTELSAT, INMARSAT, and Intersputnik earth stations

Military expenditures: 544.3 billion karbovantsi, less than 4% of GDP (forecast for 1993; note - conversion of defense expenditures into US dollars using the current exchange rate could produce misleading results

Airports: 706
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
With unpaved runways over 3047 m: 7
With unpaved runways 2438 to 3047 m: 7
With unpaved runways 15-24 to 2438 m: 16
With unpaved runways 914 to 1523 m: 37
With unpaved runways under 914 m: 476

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

Waterways: 1,672 km perennially navigable (Pryp''yat' and Dnipro Rivers)

Merchant marine
Total: 379 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 3,799,253 GRT/5,071,175 DWT
Ships by type: barge carrier 7, bulk 55, cargo 221, chemical tanker 2, container 20, multifunction large-load carrier 1, oil tanker 10, passenger 12, passenger-cargo 5, railcar carrier 2, refrigerated cargo 5, roll-on/roll-off cargo 32, short-sea passenger 7

Disputes international: 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; potential dispute with Russia over Crimea; 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

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