Ukraine

Ukraine

General Information
Geography
Government
Economy
Population
Health
Communications and media
Chronology


GENERAL INFORMATION

National name Ukrayina/Ukraine Area 603,700 sq km/233,088 sq mi Capital Kiev Language Ukrainian (a Slavonic language; official), Russian (also official in Crimea), other regional languages Religion traditionally Ukrainian Orthodox; also Ukrainian Catholic; small Protestant, Jewish, and Muslim communities Time difference GMT +2 Major holidays 1, 7 January, 8 March, 1–2, 9 May, 24 August


GEOGRAPHY

Major towns/cities Kharkov, Donetsk, Dnipropetrovs'k, Lviv, Krivoy Rog, Zaporizhzhya, Odessa Physical features Russian plain; Carpathian and Crimean Mountains; rivers: Dnieper (with the Dnieper dam 1932), Donetz, Bug Airports one international airport and about 20 domestic airports; total passengers carried: 1.47 million (2003 est) Railways total length: 22,078 km/13,719 mi; total passenger journeys: 464.8 million (2002) Roads total road network: 169,739 km/105,470 mi, of which 97% paved (2003 est); passenger cars: 137.3 per 1,000 people (2003 est)


GOVERNMENT

Head of state Viktor Yushchenko from 2004 Head of government Viktor Yanukovych from 2006 Political system emergent democracy Political executive limited presidency Administrative divisions 24 provinces, one autonomous republic (Crimea), and two metropolitan areas (Kiev and Sevastopol) Political parties Ukrainian Communist Party (UCP), left wing, anti-nationalist (banned 1991–93); Peasants' Party of the Ukraine (PPU), conservative agrarian; Ukrainian Socialist Party (SPU), left wing, anti-nationalist; Ukrainian People's Movement (Rukh); Ukrainian Republican Party (URP), moderate nationalist; Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists (CUN), moderate nationalist; Democratic Party of Ukraine (DPU),moderate nationalist; Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (SDPU), federalist Death penalty abolished in 1999 Armed forces 187,600; plus 1 million reservists and paramilitary forces of 85,000 (2006 est) Conscription 18 months (army and air force) or two years (navy) Defence spend (% GDP) 2.4 (2005 est) Education spend (% GDP) 5.4 (2003 est) Health spend (% GDP) 3.8 (2004)


ECONOMY

Currency hryvna GDP (US$) 81.7 billion (2005 est) Real GDP growth (% change on previous year) 5 (2006 est) GNI (US$) 71.4 billion (2005 est) GNI per capita (PPP) (US$) 6,720 (2005 est) Consumer price inflation 9.3% (2006 est) Unemployment 3.5% (2005 est) Labour force 19.4% agriculture, 24.2% industry, 56.4% services (2005) Foreign debt (US$) 25.9 billion (2005 est) Major trading partners Russia, Germany, Turkey, Italy, China, Poland, Turkmenistan Resources coal, iron ore, crude oil, natural gas, salt, chemicals, brown coal, alabaster, gypsum, mercury, titanium Industries metallurgy, mechanical engineering, chemicals, machinery products Exports non-precious metals, machinery and equipment, food, beverages, agriculture products, coal, oil, various minerals. Principal market: Russia 21.9% (2005) Imports mineral fuels, machine-building components, chemicals and chemical products, food, beverages and agricultural products, metals. Principal source: Russia 35.5% (2005) Arable land 53.8% (2006 est) Agricultural products wheat, buckwheat, sugar beet, potatoes, fruit and vegetables, sunflowers, cotton, flax, tobacco, hops; animal husbandry accounts for more than 50% of agricultural activity


POPULATION

Population 45,986,400 (2006 est) Population growth rate -1% (2005–10) Population density (per sq km) 76 (2006 est) Urban population (% of total) 67 (2005 est) Age distribution (% of total population) 0–14 15%, 15–59 64%, 60+ 21% (2005 est) Ethnic groups 73% of the population is of Ukrainian descent; 22% ethnic Russian; 1% Jewish; 4% other races including Belorussian, Moldovan, Hungarian, Bulgarian, Polish and Crimean Tatar Life expectancy 61 (men); 73 (women) (2005–10) Child mortality rate (under 5, per 1,000 live births) 18 (2004) Education (compulsory years) 9 Literacy rate 99% (men); 99% (women) (2004 est)


HEALTH

Physicians (per 10,000 people) 29.7 (2004 est) Hospital beds (per 1,000 people) 8.8 (2003 est) HIV infection (% of population aged 15–49) 1.4 (2005 est) AIDS deaths 22,000 (2005 est) Access to drinking-water source (% of total population) 100 (urban); 94 (rural) (2002)


COMMUNICATIONS AND MEDIA

Landline telephones (per 100 people) 25.8 (2005 est) Mobile phone subscribers (per 100 people) 37 (2005 est) Radios (per 1,000 people) 889 (2001 est) TV sets (per 1,000 people) 487 (2004 est) Personal computer users (per 100 people) 3.9 (2005 est) Internet users (per 100 people) 9.8 (2005 est)


CHRONOLOGY

9th century Rus' people established state centred on Kiev and adopted Eastern Orthodox Christianity 988. 1199 Reunification of southern Rus' lands, after period of fragmentation, under Prince Daniel of Galicia-Volhynia. 13th century Mongol-Tatar Golden Horde sacked Kiev and destroyed Rus' state. 14th century Poland annexed Galicia; Lithuania absorbed Volhynia and expelled Tatars; Ukraine peasants became serfs of Polish and Lithuanian nobles. 1569 Poland and Lithuania formed single state; clergy of Ukraine formed Uniate Church, which recognized papal authority but retained Orthodox rites, to avoid Catholic persecution. 16th and 17th centuries Runaway serfs known as Cossacks (‘outlaws’) formed autonomous community in eastern borderlands. 1648 Cossack revolt led by Gen Bogdan Khmelnitsky drove out Poles from central Ukraine; Khmelnitsky accepted Russian protectorate in 1654. 1660–90 ‘Epoch of Ruins’: Ukraine devastated by civil war and invasions by Russians, Poles, and Turks; Poland regained western Ukraine. 1687 Gen Ivan Mazepa entered into alliance with Sweden in effort to regain Cossack autonomy from Russia. 1709 Battle of Poltava: Russian victory over Swedes ended hopes of Cossack independence. 1772–95 Partition of Poland: Austria annexed Galicia, Russian annexations included Volhynia. 1846–47 Attempt to promote Ukrainian national culture through formation of Cyril and Methodius Society. 1899 Revolutionary Ukrainian Party founded. 1917 Revolutionary parliament (Rada) proclaimed Ukrainian autonomy within a federal Russia. 1918 Ukraine declared full independence; civil war ensued between Rada (backed by Germans) and Reds (backed by Russian Bolsheviks). 1919 Galicia united with Ukraine; conflict escalated between Ukrainian nationalists, Bolsheviks, anarchists, White Russians, and Poles. 1921 Treaty of Riga: Russia and Poland partitioned Ukraine. 1921–22 Several million people perished in famine. 1922 Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (Ukrainian SSR) became part of Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). 1932–33 Enforced collectivization of agriculture caused another catastrophic famine with more than 7.5 million deaths. 1939 USSR annexed eastern Poland and added Galicia-Volhynia to Ukrainian SSR. 1940 USSR seized northern Bukhovina from Romania and added it to Ukrainian SSR. 1941–44 Germany occupied Ukraine; many Ukrainians collaborated; millions of Ukrainians and Ukrainian Jews were enslaved and exterminated by Nazis. 1945 USSR annexed Ruthenia from Czechoslovakia and added it to Ukrainian SSR, which became a nominal member of the United Nations (UN). 1946 Uniate Church forcibly merged with Russian Orthodox Church. 1954 Crimea transferred from Russian Federation to Ukrainian SSR. 1986 Major environmental disaster caused by explosion of nuclear reactor at Chernobyl, north of Kiev. 1989 Rukh (nationalist movement) established as political party; ban on Uniate Church lifted. 1990 Ukraine declared its sovereignty. 1991 Ukraine declared independence from USSR; joined newly-formed Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). 1992 Crimean sovereignty declared but then rescinded. 1994 Election gains made by radical nationalists in western Ukraine and Russian unionists in the east; Leonid Kuchma succeeded Leonid Kravchuk as president. 1996 New constitution strengthening presidency adopted. Remaining nuclear warheads returned to Russia for destruction. New currency (hryvnya) introduced. 1997 Treaty of friendship signed with Russia, resolving dispute over Black Sea fleet. 1998 Communist Party won largest number of seats in parliamentary elections, but short of absolute majority. Value of hryvnya fell sharply in wake of Russian currency crisis. 1999 Kuchma re-elected president; pro-Western reformist Viktor Yushchenko became prime minister. 2000 Death penalty abolished. Chernobyl nuclear power station closed permanently. 2001 Yushchenko government dismissed following no-confidence vote in parliament. 2002 Hung parliament following general election; mass demonstrations against President Kuchma's alleged corruption and misrule; pro-Russian Viktor Yanukovich appointed prime minister. 2004 Orange revolution: Yanukovich claimed victory over Yushchenko in presidential elections but result annulled by Supreme Court following street protests; Yushchenko won election rerun and became president. 2005 Presidential nominee Yulia Timoshenko approved as prime minister by parliament but dismissed later in year. 2006 Dispute with Russia over gas supplies, disrupting pipeline flows across Europe. Parties supporting Yanukovich and Timoshenko won most seats in parliamentary elections; Yushchenko forced to appoint Yanukovich as prime minister. 2007 Political rivalry between president and prime minister led Yushchenko to dissolve parliament; fresh elections scheduled for 30 September.


© RM 2009. Helicon Publishing is division of RM.