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Location: Eastern Europe, bordering the Black Sea, between Poland and Russia
Map references: Commonwealth of Independent States - European States
Area:
total area: 603,700 sq km
land area: 603,700 sq km
comparative area: 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
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 sq km (1990)
Population: 51,867,828 (July 1995 est.)
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/1,000 population (1995 est.)
Death rate: 12.67 deaths/1,000 population (1995 est.)
Net migration rate: 0.71 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1995 est.)
Infant mortality rate: 20.5 deaths/1,000 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.)
Nationality:
noun: Ukrainian(s)
adjective: Ukrainian
Ethnic divisions: 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: age 15 and over can read and write (1989)
total population: 98%
male: 100%
female: 97%
Labor force: 23.55 million (January 1994)
by occupation: industry and construction 33%, agriculture and forestry 21%, health,
education, and culture 16%, trade and distribution 7%, transport and communication
7%, other 16% (1992)
Names:
conventional long form: none
conventional short form: Ukraine
local long form: none
local short form: Ukrayina
former: Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic
Digraph: UP
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
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 alegal 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.
National product: GDP - purchasing power parity - $189.2 billion (1994 estimate as extrapolated from World Bank estimate for 1992)
National product real growth rate: -19% (1994 est.)
National product per capita: $3,650 (1994 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 14% per month (1994)
Unemployment rate: 0.4% officially registered; large number of unregistered or underemployed workers
Budget:
revenues: $NA
expenditures: $NA, including capital expenditures of $NA
Exports: $11.8 billion (1994)
commodities: 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)
commodities: energy, machinery and parts, transportation equipment, chemicals, textiles
partners: FSU countries, Germany, Poland, Czech Republic
External debt: $7.5 billion (yearend 1994)
Industrial production: growth rate -28% (1994 est.); accounts for 50% of GDP
Electricity:
capacity: 54,380,000 kW
production: 182 billion kWh
consumption per capita: 3,200 kWh (1994)
Industries: coal, electric power, ferrous and nonferrous metals, machinery and transport equipment, chemicals, food-processing (especially sugar)
Agriculture: accounts for about 25% of GDP; grain, vegetables, meat, milk, sugar beets
Currency: Ukraine withdrew the Russian ruble from circulation on 12 November 1992 and declared the karbovanets (plural karbovantsi) sole legal tender in Ukrainian markets; Ukrainian officials claim this is an interim move toward introducing a new currency - the hryvnya - possibly in mid-1995
Fiscal year: calendar year
Railroads:
total: 23,350 km
broad gauge: 23,350 km 1.524-m gauge (8,600 km electrified)
Highways:
total: 273,700 km
paved and graveled: 236,400 km
unpaved: earth 37,300 km
Inland waterways: 1,672 km perennially navigable (Pryp''yat' and Dnipro Rivers)
Pipelines: crude oil 2,010 km; petroleum products 1,920 km; natural gas 7,800 km (1992)
Ports: Berdyans'k, Illichivs'k, Izmayil, Kerch, Kherson, Kiev (Kyyiv), Mariupol', Mykolayiv, Odesa, Pivdenne, Reni
Merchant marine:
total: 379 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 3,799,253 GRT/5,071,175 DWT
shipsby 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
Airports:
total: 706
with paved runways over 3,047 m: 14
with paved runways 2,438 to 3,047 m: 55
with paved runways 1,524 to 2,437 m: 34
with paved runways 914 to 1,523 m: 3
with paved runways under 914 m: 57
with unpaved runways over 3,047 m: 7
with unpaved runways 2,438 to 3,047 m: 7
with unpaved runways 1,524 to 2,438 m: 16
with unpaved runways 914 to 1,523 m: 37
with unpaved runways under 914 m: 476