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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 civic liberties.
Location: Eastern Europe, bordering the Black Sea, between Poland and Russia Geographic coordinates: 49 00 N, 32 00 E Map references: Commonwealth of Independent States Area:
Area - comparative: slightly smaller than Texas Land boundaries:
Coastline: 2,782 km Maritime claims:
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:
Natural resources: iron ore, coal, manganese, natural gas, oil, salt, sulfur, graphite, titanium, magnesium, kaolin, nickel, mercury, timber, arable land Land use:
Irrigated land: 26,050 sq km (1993 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:
Geography - note: strategic position at the crossroads between Europe and Asia; second-largest country in Europe
Population: 49,153,027 (July 2000 est.) Age structure:
Population growth rate: -0.83% (2000 est.) Birth rate: 9.03 births/1,000 population (2000 est.) Death rate: 16.48 deaths/1,000 population (2000 est.) Net migration rate: -0.84 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2000 est.) Sex ratio:
Infant mortality rate: 21.67 deaths/1,000 live births (2000 est.) Life expectancy at birth:
Total fertility rate: 1.26 children born/woman (2000 est.) Nationality:
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:
Country name:
Data code: UP 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)
Independence: 1 December 1991 (from Soviet Union, by voter approval) 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:
Legislative branch:
unicameral Supreme Council or Verkhovna 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)
Judicial branch: Supreme Court; Constitutional Court Political parties and leaders:
Agrarian Party of Ukraine or APU [Mykhaylo HLADIY, chairperson]; Communist Party of Ukraine [Petro SYMONENKO]; Fatherland (Motherland) All Ukrainian Party [Yuliya TYMOSHENKO, chairperson]; Green Party of Ukraine or PZU [Vitaliy KONONOV, chairman]; Hromada [Pavlo LAZARENKO]; Liberal Party of Ukraine or LPU [Volodymyr SHCHERBAN]; Party of Regional Revival of Ukraine or PRVU [Volodymyr RYBAK]; Peasant Party of Ukraine or SelPU [Serhiy DOVHAN]; People's Democratic Party [Valeriy PUSTOVOYTENKO, chairman]; People's Movement of Ukraine or Rukh U [Hennadiy UDOVENKO, chairman]; Progressive Socialist Party [Nataliya VITRENKO]; Reforms Congress [leader NA]; Reforms and Order Party [Viktor PYNZENYK]; Sobor Party [Anatoliy MATVIYENKO, chairman]; Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (United) [Viktor MEDVEDCHUK, chairman]; Socialist Party of Ukraine or SPU [Oleksandr MOROZ, chairman]; Trudova Ukrayina/Working Ukraine [Igor SHAROV, chairman]; Ukrainian Popular Movement or Rukh K [Yuriy KOSTENKO, chairman]; United Social Democratic Party of Ukraine [Viktor MEDVEDCHUK]; Yabluko Party [Viktor CHAYKA, chairman]
International organization participation: BSEC, CCC, CE, CEI, CIS, EAPC, EBRD, ECE, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICRM, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Inmarsat, Intelsat (nonsignatory user), Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO, ITU, NAM (observer), NSG, OAS (observer), OPCW, OSCE, PCA, PFP, UN, UN Security Council (temporary), UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNMIBH, UNMIK, UNMOP, UNMOT, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO (applicant), ZC Diplomatic representation in the US:
Diplomatic representation from the US:
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 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 1992-99 fell to less than 40% 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. The onset of the financial crisis in Russia dashed Ukraine's hopes for its first year of economic growth in 1998 due to a sharp fall in export revenue and reduced domestic demand. Output continued to drop, slightly, in 1999. The government has also not been able to significantly decrease its huge backlog of wage and pension arrears. Despite increasing pressure from the IMF to accelerate reform, substantial economic restructuring remains unlikely in 2000, largely because of resistance in the communist-dominated legislature to further privatization. GDP: purchasing power parity - $109.5 billion (1999 est.) GDP - real growth rate: -0.4% (1999 est.) GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $2,200 (1999 est.) GDP - composition by sector:
Population below poverty line: 50% (1999 est.) Household income or consumption by percentage share:
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 20% (1999 est.) Labor force: 22.8 million (yearend 1997) Labor force - by occupation: industry and construction 32%, agriculture and forestry 24%, health, education, and culture 17%, trade and distribution 8%, transport and communication 7%, other 12% (1996) Unemployment rate: 4.3% officially registered; large number of unregistered or underemployed workers (December 1999) Budget:
Industries: coal, electric power, ferrous and nonferrous metals, machinery and transport equipment, chemicals, food-processing (especially sugar) Industrial production growth rate: 4.3% (1999 est.) Electricity - production: 171 billion kWh (1999) Electricity - production by source:
Electricity - consumption: 144.011 billion kWh (1998) Electricity - exports: 7 billion kWh (1998) Electricity - imports: 4.15 billion kWh (1998) Agriculture - products: grain, sugar beets, sunflower seeds, vegetables; beef, milk Exports: $11.6 billion (1999 est.) Exports - commodities: ferrous and nonferrous metals, fuel and petroleum products, machinery and transport equipment, food products Exports - partners: Russia 20%, EU 17%, China 7%, Turkey 6%, US 4% (1999) Imports: $11.8 billion (1999 est.) Imports - commodities: energy, machinery and parts, transportation equipment, chemicals Imports - partners: Russia 48%, EU 23%, US 3% (1999) Debt - external: $12.6 billion (January 2000 est.) Economic aid - recipient: $637.7 million (1995); IMF Extended Funds Facility $2.2 billion (1998) Currency: 1 hryvna = 100 kopiykas Exchange rates: hryvnia per US$1 - 5.59 (February 2000), 5.3811 (January 2000), 4.1304 (1999), 2.4495 (1998), 1.8617 (1997), 1.8295 (1996), 1.4731 (1995) Fiscal year: calendar year
Telephones - main lines in use: 9.45 million (April 1999) Telephones - mobile cellular: 236,000 (1998) Telephone system:
Ukraine's telecommunication development plan, running through 2005, emphasizes improving domestic trunk lines and international connections, and developing a mobile cellular system
Radio broadcast stations: AM 134, FM 289, shortwave 4 (1998) Radios: 45.05 million (1997) Television broadcast stations: at least 33 (plus 21 repeater stations that relay broadcasts from Russia) (1997) Televisions: 18.05 million (1997) Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 35 (1999)
Railways:
Highways:
Waterways: 4,400 km navigable waterways, of which 1,672 km were on the Pryp'yat' and Dnistr (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, Illichivs'k, Izmayil, Kerch, Kherson, Kiev (Kyyiv), Mariupol', Mykolayiv, Odesa, Reni Merchant marine:
Airports: 706 (1994 est.) Airports - with paved runways:
Airports - with unpaved runways:
Military branches: Army, Navy, Air Force, Air Defense Force, Internal Troops, National Guard, Border Troops Military manpower - military age: 18 years of age Military manpower - availability:
Military manpower - fit for military service:
Military manpower - reaching military age annually:
Military expenditures - dollar figure: $500 million (FY99) Military expenditures - percent of GDP: 1.4% (FY99)
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 ICJ; 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: 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 Please click here for a guide to the country profiles Click here for all other countries
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