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Ukraine
Online Business Education. Economy. Politics. Culture. Religion. Media

Ukraine

Country Profile

Capital City: Kiev (Kyiv)

Other Cities: Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Lviv, Odesa

Local Time: UTC +2h

Geography:
Location: Eastern Europe, bordered on the West by Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary; on the Southwest by Romania and Moldova; on the South by the Black Sea and Sea of Azov; on the East and Northeast by Russia; and on the North by Belarus.
Area: 603 700 sq km (233 100 sq mi)
Terrain: mostly flat; 95% of lands are plains and 5% are mountainous.
Border countries: Belarus, Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia

Climate: two climatic zones: moderate, subtropical (southern shore of Crimea)

Government:
Type: Presidential-parliamentary.
Independence: August 24, 1991.
Constitution: First post-Soviet constitution adopted June 28, 1996.

People:
Nationality: noun--Ukrainian(s); adjective--Ukrainian
Population: 47.42 million
Ethnic Groups: Ukrainians, Russians, Belarusians, Moldovans, Hungarians, Bulgarians, Jews, Poles, Crimean Tatars, and other groups.
Religions: Ukrainian Orthodoxy, Ukrainian Greek Catholicism, Judaism, Roman Catholicism, Islam
Languages: Ukrainian (official), Russian, others
Literacy: 98%

Business

Currency: Hryvnia (UAH)

Agriculture products: Grain, sugar, sunflower seeds.

Natural resources: Coal, iron ore, oil and gas, gravel, salt; biggest ozocerite and brimstone deposits in the world.

Internet Links

Official Sites of Ukraine

President of Ukraine

Parliament of Ukraine

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine

Mission of Ukraine to the UN

Embassy of Ukraine

Embassy of Ukraine

Map
Map of Ukraine

Political Map of Ukraine

Introduction

Ukraine

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 civil liberties.

Geography Ukraine

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

Geographic coordinates: 49 00 N, 32 00 E

Map references: Asia, Europe

Area: total: 603,700 sq km water: 0 sq km land: 603,700 sq km

Area - comparative: slightly smaller than Texas

Land boundaries: total: 4,663 km border countries: Belarus 891 km,
Hungary 103 km, Moldova 939 km, Poland 526 km, Romania (south) 169 km,
Romania (west) 362 km, Russia 1,576 km, Slovakia 97 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 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,
arable land

Land use: arable land: 57% permanent crops: 2% other: 41% (1998 est.)

Irrigated land: 24,540 sq km (1998 est.)

Natural hazards: NA

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

Environment - international agreements: party to: Air Pollution, Air
Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Antarctic-Marine
Living Resources, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change,
Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of
the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants,
Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds,
Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol

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

People Ukraine

Population: 48,396,470 (July 2002 est.)

Age structure: 0-14 years: 16.8% (male 4,147,344; female 3,970,343) 15-64
years: 68.7% (male 15,881,821; female 17,366,172) 65 years and over: 14.5%
(male 2,341,885; female 4,688,905) (2002 est.)

Population growth rate: -0.72% (2002 est.)

Birth rate: 9.59 births/1,000 population (2002 est.)

Death rate: 16.4 deaths/1,000 population (2002 est.)

Net migration rate: -0.42 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2002 est.)

Sex ratio: at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.04
male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.91 male(s)/female 65 years and over:
0.5 male(s)/female total population: 0.86 male(s)/female (2002 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 21.14 deaths/1,000 live births (2002 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:   72.06 years (2002 est.) male: Total fertility
rate: 1.32 children born/woman (2002 est.)

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: 0.96% (1999 est.)

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: 240,000 (1999 est.)

HIV/AIDS - deaths: 4,000 (1999 est.)

Nationality: noun: Ukrainian(s) adjective: Ukrainian

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

Religions: Ukrainian Orthodox - Moscow Patriarchate, Ukrainian Orthodox -
Kiev Patriarchate, Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox, Ukrainian Catholic
(Uniate), Protestant, Jewish

Languages: Ukrainian, Russian, Romanian, Polish, Hungarian

Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write total
population: 98% male: 100% female: 97% (1989 est.)

Government Ukraine

Country name: conventional long form: none conventional short form:
Ukraine local long form: none former: Ukrainian National Republic,
Ukrainian State, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic local short form:
Ukrayina

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 - when using a place name with an adjectival ending
's'ka' or 'z'ka,' the word Oblast' should be added to the place name note:
oblasts have the administrative center name following in parentheses

Independence: 24 August 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

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

Executive branch: chief of state: President Leonid D. KUCHMA (since 19
July 1994) head of government: Prime Minister Anatoliy KINAKH (since 29
May 2001), First Deputy Prime Minister Oleh DUBYNA (since 29 May 2001)
cabinet: Cabinet of Ministers appointed by the president and approved
by the Supreme Council elections: president elected by popular vote for
a five-year term; election last held 31 October and 14 November 1999
(next to be held NA 2004); prime minister and deputy prime ministers
appointed by the president and approved by the Supreme Council election
results: 57.7%, Petro SYMONENKO 38.8% 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 Kyyiv (Kiev) and Sevastopol'
municipalities and chairmen of the oblasti

Legislative branch: unicameral Supreme Council or Verkhovna Rada (450
seats; under Ukraine's new election law, 225 of the Supreme Council's
seats are allocated on a proportional basis to those parties that gain 4%
or more of the national electoral vote; the other 225 members are elected
by popular vote in single-mandate constituencies; all serve four-year
terms) election results: percent of vote by party - Our Ukraine 24%,
For One Ukraine 12%, CPU 20%, Social-Democratic Party of Ukraine 6%,
SPU 7%, Juliya Tymochenko Election Bloc 7%, other 24%; seats by party -
Our Ukraine 112, For One Ukraine 101, CPU 67, Social-Democratic Party
of Ukraine 24, SPU 23, Juliya Tymochenko Election Bloc 21, Democratic
Party of Ukraine 4, Unity 3, others 95 elections: last held 31 March 2002
(next to be held NA 2006)

Judicial branch: Supreme Court; Constitutional Court

Political parties and leaders: Agrarian Party [Mykhaylo HLADIY];
Communist Party of Ukraine or CPU [Petro SYMONENKO]; Democratic Union
[Oleksandr OMELCHENKO]; Fatherland (Motherland) All Ukrainian Party
[Yuliya TYMOSHENKO, chairperson]; For One Ukraine [leader NA]; Green Party
of Ukraine or PZU [Vitaliy KONONOV, chairman]; Juliya Tymochenko Election
Bloc [leader NA]; Liberal Party [Volodymyr SHCHERBAN]; Our Ukraine [leader
NA]; Party of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs [Anatoliy KINAKH]; Party
of Regions [Volodymyr SEMYNOZHENKO]; Party of Ukrainian Unity [Ivan
BILAS]; Peasant Party of Ukraine or SelPU [Serhiy DOVHAN]; People's
Democratic Party or PDP [Valeriy PUSTOVOYTENKO, chairman]; People's
Movement of Ukraine or Rukh U [Hennadiy UDOVENKO, chairman]; Progressive
Socialist Party [Nataliya VITRENKO]; Reforms Congress [Viktor PYNZENYK];
Social-Democratic Party of Ukraine (United) [Viktor MEDVEDCHUK]; Socialist
Party of Ukraine or SPU [Oleksandr MOROZ, chairman]; Solidarity [Petro
POROSHENKO]; Trudova Ukrayina/Working Ukraine [Viktor PINCHUK, chairman];
Ukrainian Popular Movement or Rukh K [Yuriy KOSTENKO, chairman]; Unity
[Oleksandr OMELCHENKO]; Working Ukraine/Labort Ukraine [Serhiy TYHYPKO];
Yabluko [BRODSKY] note: and numerous smaller parties

Political pressure groups and leaders: NA

International organization participation: BSEC, CCC, CE, CEI, CIS,
EAPC, EBRD, ECE, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICRM, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO,
Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, MONUC, NAM (observer), NSG, OAS (observer),
OPCW, OSCE, PCA, PFP, UN, UNAMSIL, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNIFIL, UNMEE,
UNMIBH, UNMIK, UNMOP, UNMOT, UNMOVIC, UPU, WCL, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO,
WToO, WTrO (observer), ZC

Diplomatic representation in the US: chief of mission: Ambassador
Konstantin Ivanovych HRYSHCHENKO FAX: [1]
Chicago and New York telephone:
Diplomatic representation from the US: chief of mission: Ambassador
Carlos PASCUAL embassy: 10 Yurii Kotsiubynskyi Street, Kiev 01901 mailing
address: use embassy street address telephone: [380] (44) 490-4000 FAX:
[380] (44) 244-7350

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

Economy Ukraine

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 the unique equipment (for example, large diameter pipes)
and raw materials to industrial and mining sites (vertical drilling
apparatus) in other regions of the former USSR. Ukraine depends on
imports of energy, especially natural gas, to meet some 85% of its
annual energy requirements. Shortly after independence in late 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 by 1999 had fallen to less than 40% the 1991
level. Loose monetary policies pushed inflation to hyperinflationary
levels in late 1993. Ukraine's dependence on Russia for energy
supplies and the lack of significant structural reform have made the
Ukrainian economy vulnerable to external shocks. Now in his second
term, President KUCHMA has pledged to reduce the number of government
agencies, streamline the regulatory process, create a legal environment
to encourage entrepreneurs, and enact a comprehensive tax overhaul.
Reforms in the more politically sensitive areas of structural reform and
land privatization are still lagging. Outside institutions - particularly
the IMF - have encouraged Ukraine to quicken the pace and scope of reforms
and have threatened to withdraw financial support. GDP in 2000 showed
strong export-based growth of 6% - the first growth since independence -
and industrial production grew 12.9%. The economy continued to expand in
2001 as real GDP rose 9% and industrial output grew by over 14%. Growth
was undergirded by strong domestic demand and growing consumer and
investor confidence.

GDP: purchasing power parity - $205 billion (2001 est.)

GDP - real growth rate: 9% (2001 est.)

GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $4,200 (2001 est.)

GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 13% industry: 40% services:
47% (2000 est.)

Population below poverty line: 29% (2001 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: 3.7%
highest 10%: 23.2% (1999)

Distribution of family income - Gini index: 30 (1999)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 12% (2001 est.)

Labor force: 22.8 million (yearend 1997)

Labor force - by occupation: industry 32%, agriculture 24%, services 44%
(1996)

Unemployment rate: 3.6% officially registered; large number of
unregistered or underemployed workers (November 2001)

Budget: revenues: $10.2 billion expenditures: $11.1 billion, including
capital expenditures of $NA (2002 est.)

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

Industrial production growth rate: 14.2% (2001 est.)

Electricity - production: 163.57 billion kWh (2000)

Electricity - production by source: fossil fuel: 49.54% hydro: 7.02%
other: 0.01% (2000) nuclear: 43.44%

Electricity - consumption: 151.72 billion kWh (2000)

Electricity - exports: 400 million kWh (2000)

Electricity - imports: 0 kWh (2000)

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

Exports: $17.3 billion (2001 est.)

Exports - commodities: ferrous and nonferrous metals, fuel and petroleum
products, machinery and transport equipment, food products

Exports - partners: Russia 22.6%, Turkey 6.2%, Italy 5.1%, Germany
(2001 est.)

Imports: $17.1 billion (2001 est.)

Imports - commodities: energy, machinery and parts, transportation
equipment, chemicals

Imports - partners: Russia 36.9%, Turkmenistan 10.5%, Germany 8.7%, US
(2001 est.)

Debt - external: $11.8 billion (2001)

Economic aid - recipient: $637.7 million (1995); IMF Extended Funds
Facility $2.2 billion (1998)

Currency: hryvnia (UAH)

Currency code: UAH

Exchange rates: hryvnia per US dollar - 5.3126 (January 2002), 5.3722
(2001), 5.4402 (2000), 4.1304 (1999), 2.4495 (1998), 1.8617 (1997)

Fiscal year: calendar year

Communications Ukraine

Telephones - main lines in use: 9.45 million (April 1999)

Telephones - mobile cellular: 236,000 (1998)

Telephone system: general assessment: Ukraine's telecommunication
development plan, running through 2005, emphasizes improving domestic
trunk lines, international connections, and the mobile cellular
system domestic: at independence in December 1991, Ukraine inherited
a telephone system that was antiquated, inefficient, and in disrepair;
more than 3.5 million applications for telephones could not be satisfied;
telephone density is now rising slowly and the domestic trunk system
is being improved; the mobile cellular telephone system is expanding
at a high rate international: two new domestic trunk lines are a part
of the fiber-optic Trans-Asia-Europe (TAE) system and three Ukrainian
links have been installed in the fiber-optic Trans-European Lines (TEL)
project which connects 18 countries; additional international service is
provided by the Italy-Turkey-Ukraine-Russia (ITUR) fiber-optic submarine
cable and by earth stations in the Intelsat, Inmarsat, and Intersputnik
satellite systems

Radio broadcast stations: AM 134, FM 289, shortwave 4 (1998)

Radios: 45.05 million (1997)

Television broadcast stations: at least 33 (plus 21 repeaters that
relay broadcasts from Russia) (1997)

Televisions: 18.05 million (1997)

Internet country code: .ua

Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 260 (2001)

Internet users: 750,000 (2001)

Transportation Ukraine

Railways: total: 22,510 km broad gauge: 21,951 km 1.524-m gauge (8,927
km electrified) standard gauge: 49 km 1.435-m gauge note: these data do
not include railroads dedicated to serving industry and not in common
carrier service (2001) narrow gauge: 510 km 0.750-m gauge

Highways: total: 273,700 km paved: 236,400 km (including 1,770 km of
expressways and a substantial amount of all-weather roads with gravel
surfaces) unpaved: 37,300 km (these roads are made of unstabilized earth
and are difficult to negotiate in wet weather) (1990)

Waterways: 4,499 km note: 1,672 km are on the Pryp'yat' and Dniester
(Dnister) (1990)

Pipelines: crude oil 4,000 km (1995); petroleum products 4,500 km
(1995); natural gas 34,400 km (1998)

Ports and harbors: Berdyans'k, Feodosiya, Illichivs'k, Izmayil, Kerch,
Kherson, Kiev (Kyyiv), Kiliya, Mariupol', Mykolayiv, Odesa, Reni,
Sevastopol', Yalta, Yuzhnyy

Merchant marine: total: 138 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 669,303
GRT/707,857 DWT ships by type: bulk 7, cargo 100, container 3, liquefied
gas 2, passenger 11, passenger/cargo 1, petroleum tanker 12, railcar
carrier 2 note: includes some foreign-owned ships registered here as
a flag of convenience: Cyprus 1, Greece 1, Panama 1, Russia 4, Saint
Vincent and the Grenadines 1 (2002 est.)

Airports: 718 (2001)

Airports - with paved runways:   50 1,524 to 2,437 m: Airports - with
unpaved runways:   37 1,524 to 2,437 m: Military Ukraine

Military branches: Ground Forces, Naval Forces, Air Force, Air Defense
Forces, Interior Troops, Border Troops

Military manpower - military age: 18 years of age (2002 est.)

Military manpower - availability: males age 15-49: 12,263,178 (2002 est.)

Military manpower - fit for military service: males age 15-49: 9,616,864
(2002 est.)

Military manpower - reaching military age annually: males: 390,823
(2002 est.)

Military expenditures - dollar figure: $500 million (FY99)

Military expenditures - percent of GDP: 1.4% (FY99)

Transnational Issues Ukraine

Disputes - international: Ukraine and Romania have yet to resolve claims
over Ukrainian-administered Zmiyinyy (Snake) Island and delimitation
of Black Sea maritime boundary, despite 1997 bilateral treaty to
find a solution in two years and numerous talks; Russia and Ukraine
have successfully delimited land boundary in 2001, but disagree on
delimitation of maritime boundary in the Sea of Azov and Black Sea;
Moldovan difficulties with break-away Transnistria region inhibit
establishment of a joint customs regime with Ukraine to curtail smuggling,
arms transfers, and other illegal activities

Illicit drugs: limited cultivation of cannabis and opium poppy, mostly
for CIS consumption; some synthetic drug production for export to West;
limited government eradication program; used as transshipment point for
opiates and other illicit drugs from Africa, Latin America, and Turkey,
and to Europe and Russia; drug-related money laundering a minor, but
growing, problem

This page was last updated on 1 January 2002

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