Country Facts - Ukraine

The People

Nationality
Ukrainian(s)

Ethnic Composition

Ukrainian	73%
Russian	22%
Jewish	1%
Other	4%

Religious Composition
Ukrainian Orthodox - Moscow Patriarchate, Ukrainian Orthodox - Kiev Patriarchate, Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox, Ukrainian Catholic (Uniate), Protestant, Jewish

Languages Spoken

Ukrainian (official), Russian, Romanian, Polish, Hungarian

Education and Literacy

The Ukraine has 98 percent literacy and a high rate of graduation from secondary schools.

Labor Force

Total: 22.8 million (1997)

By occupation:

Industry	32%
Agriculture	24%
Services	44%

Geography

Land Mass Total

233,089 sq mi (603,700 sq km)

Land

233,089 sq mi (603,700 sq km)

Land Boundaries

Total: 2,832 mi (4,558 km)

Border countries: Belarus 553 mi (891 km), Hungary 64 mi (103 km), Moldova
583 mi (939 km), Poland 265 mi (428 km), Romania (south) 105 mi (169 km), Romania (west) 224 mi (362 km), Russia 979 mi (1,576 km), Slovakia 55 mi (90 km)

Coastline

1,728 mi (2,782 km)

Maritime claim

Continental shelf: 656 ft (200 m) or to the depth of exploitation
Exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
Territorial sea: 12 nm

Climate/Weather

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: Black Sea 0 ft (0 m)
Highest: Hora Hoverla 6,761 ft (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)

Natural hazards

N/A

Environment - current issues

Inadequate supplies of potable water; air and water pollution; deforestation; radiation contamination in the northeast from 1986 accident at Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.

Geography Note

Strategic position at the crossroads between Europe and Asia; second-largest country in Europe.

Demographics

Population

48,396,470 (July 2002)

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))

Growth Rate

-0.72% (2002)

Life Expectancy

66.33 years (2002)
Female: 72.06 years
Male: 60.86 years

GDP Per Capita

Purchasing power parity
US$4,200 (2001)

Infant Mortality

21.14 deaths/1,000 live births (2002)

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)

Net migration rate

-0.42 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2002)

Economy & Trade

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 percent 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 percent 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 percent - the first growth since independence - and industrial production grew 12.9 percent. The economy continued to expand in 2001 as real GDP rose 9 percent and industrial output grew by over 14 percent. Growth was under-girded by strong domestic demand and growing consumer and investor confidence. Analysts are giving predictions of 4 to 4.5 percent growth all the way through 2005, although much depends on the elections in the latter part of 2005.

Unemployment

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

Inflation Rate

12% (2001)

Industries

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

Exports

US$17.3 billion (2001)

Imports

US$17.1 billion (2001)

Total Trade

Purchasing power parity
GDP US$205 billion (2001)

Top Export Partners

Russia 22.6%, Turkey 6.2%, Italy 5.1%, Germany (2001)

Top Import Partners

Russia 36.9%, Turkmenistan 10.5%, Germany 8.7%, US (2001)

Top Exports

Ferrous and nonferrous metals, fuel and petroleum products, machinery and transport equipment, food products

Top Imports

Energy, machinery and parts, transportation equipment, chemicals

Debt - external

US$11.8 billion (2001)

Economic aid

US$637.7 million (1995); IMF Extended Funds Facility $2.2 billion (1998)

Fiscal Year:

Calendar year

Business Workweek

	Monday - Friday	Saturday - Sunday
Offices	9a.m. to 6p.m.	Closed
Retail	9a.m. to 9p.m.	Slightly shorter hours on weekends.
Banks	9a.m. to 1p.m.	Closed
Government	10a.m. to 4p.m. (noon on Friday)	Closed

Note: Once a month, usually in the fourth week, shops will shut down for an entire "sanitary" day for extensive cleaning.

Holidays

Official Holidays

Holidays	2003	2004	2005
New Year's Day	January 1	January 1	January 1
Second Day of New Year	January 2	January 2	January 2
Christmas Day (Orthodox)¹	January 7	January 7	January 7
Orthodox New Year	January 14	January 14	January 14
Women's Day	March 8	March 8	March 8
Labor Day	May 1	May 1	May 1
Good Friday	May 3	April 25	April 9
Easter (Orthodox)²	April 27	April 11	May 1
Victory Day	May 9	May 9	May 9
Holy Trinity Orthodox Pentacost)³	June 15	May 30	June 19
Constitution Day	June 28	June 28	June 28
Independence Day	August 24	August 24	August 24

¹	Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. In A.D.320, Pope Julius I fixed the date at December 25 based on the Gregorian calendar. The Orthodox church calculates Christmas using the Julian calendar and celebrates 13 days later on January 7.
²	Easter, a Christian holiday celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ, is the first Sunday after the full moon and the vernal equinox (fixed in the Gregorian calendar at March 21), and often observed with Good Friday and Easter Monday. In the West, Easter is predicted using the Gregorian calendar, while Eastern Orthodox Christians use the much older Julian calendar, and celebrate 13 days later.
³	The Christian feast of Pentecost, Whit Sunday or Whit Monday takes place 50 days after Easter, in observation of the day God came to the disciples through the Holy Ghost. Within the Orthodox Church this feast is also known as the Holy Trinity.

Country information used by permission of World Trade Press