Ukraine

republicIndependence 24 August 1991

Ukraine as the 1992 edition of the CIA World Factbook published it: 76 fields, one of 34 editions from 1992 to 2025.

field in that editiontext changed from the edition beforenot in that editionthe open editionEach field below ends in its editions, 1990 to 2025. Point at a year above to follow it down.

CapitalKiev (Kyyiv)

Area603,700 km2

Populationas each edition published it

51.94 million July 1992 · 35.66m in 2025

Population growth% a year

Not in this edition 0.06% in 1993

Median ageyears

Not in this edition 38 yrs in 2003

Life expectancyyears at birth

Not in this edition 69.87 yrs in 1993

Fertility ratechildren per woman

2 children per woman 1992 · 1.22 in 2025

Infant mortalitydeaths per 1,000 live births

22 deaths per 1,000 live births 1992 · 8.4 in 2025

GDP per capitaeach edition's own dollars

Not in this edition $3,960 in 1994

GDP real growth% a year

Not in this edition -13% in 1993

Geography

13 fields

Land useshare of 603,700 km2

arable land 56%permanent crops 2%meadows and pastures 12%other 30%NA% forest and woodland; includes 3% irrigated

Total area

603,700km2

Comparative area: slightly smaller than Texas

Coastline

2,782km

Contiguous zone: NA nmContinental shelf: NA meter depthExclusive fishing zone: NA nmExclusive economic zone: NA nmTerritorial sea: NA nm

Land boundaries

4,558km total

Belarus 891 km, Czechoslovakia 90 km, Hungary 103 km, Moldova 939 km, Poland 428 km, Romania (southwest) 169 km, Romania (west) 362 km, Russia 1,576 km

Disputes

potential border disputes with Moldova and Romania in northern Bukovina and southern Odessa oblast

Climate

temperate continental;
subtropical 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

Environment

air and water pollution, deforestation, radiation contamination around Chernobyl nuclear plant

Note

strategic position at the crossroads between Europe and Asia; second largest country in Europe

People

14 fields

Population

51,940,426

(July 1992), growth rate 0.2% (1992)

Per 1,000 population(1992)

Birth

14Death

12Net migration

Ethnic divisions

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

Nationality

noun - Ukrainian(s); adjective - Ukrainian

Religions

Ukrainian Autonomous Orthodox, Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox, Ukrainian Catholic (Uniate), Protestant, Jewish

Labor force

25,277,000; industry and construction 41%, agriculture and forestry 19%, health, education, and culture 18%, trade and distribution 8%, transport and communication 7%, other 7% (1990)

Government

Republic

20 fields

Presidential electionpercent of vote

61.59%

Leonid KRAVCHUK 61.59%Vyacheslav CHERNOVIL 23.27%Levko LUKYANENKO 4.49%Volodymyr GRINEV 4.17%Iher YUKHNOVSKY 1.74%Leopold TABURYANSKIY 0.57%

Administrative divisions

24 oblasts (oblastey, singular - oblast') and 1 autonomous republic* (avtomnaya respublika);
Chernigov, Cherkassy, Chernovtsy, Dnepropetrovsk, Donetsk, Ivano-Frankovsk, Khar'kov, Kherson, Khmel'nitskiy, Kiev, Kirovograd, Krym (Simferopol')*, Lugansk, L'vov, Nikolayev, Odessa, Poltava, Rovno, Sumy, Ternopol', Vinnitsa, Volyn' (Lutsk), Zakarpat (Uzhgorod), Zaporozh'ye, Zhitomir;
note - an oblast usually has the same name as its administrative center (exceptions have the administrative center name following in parentheses)

Independence

24 August 1991;
1 December 1991 de facto from USSR;
note - formerly the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in the Soviet Union

Legal system

based on civil law system; no judicial review of legislative acts

Leaders

Chief of State:: President Leonid M. KRAVCHUK (since 5 December 1991)
Head of Government:: Prime Minister Vitol'd FOKIN (since 14 November 1991); two First Deputy
Prime Ministers:: Valentyn SYMONENKO and Konstantyn MASYK (since 21 May 1991); two Deputy Prime Ministers: Oleh SLEPICHEV and Viktor SYTNYK (since 21 May 1991)

Political parties and leaders

Ukrainian Republican Party, Levko LUKYANENKO, chairman;
Green Party, Yuriy SHCHERBAK, chairman;
Social Democratic Party, Andriy NOSENKO, chairman;
Ukrainian Democratic Party, Yuriy BADZO, chairman;
Democratic Rebirth Party, Oleksandr Volodymyr GRINEV, Oleksandr FILENKO, YEMETS, Miroslav POPOVICH, Sergei LYLYK, Oleksandr BAZYLYUK, Valeriy KHMELKO, leaders;
People's Party of Ukraine, Leopold TABURYANSKIY, chairman;
Peasant Democratic Party, Jerhiy PLACHYNDA, chairman;
Ukrainian Socialist Party, Oleksandr MOROZ, chairman

Elections

President:: last held 1 December 1991 (next to be held NA 1996);
results - Leonid KRAVCHUK 61.59%, Vyacheslav CHERNOVIL 23.27%, Levko LUKYANENKO 4.49%, Volodymyr GRINEV 4.17%, Iher YUKHNOVSKY 1.74%, Leopold TABURYANSKIY 0.57%
Supreme Council:: last held 4 March 1990 (next scheduled for 1995, may be held earlier in late 1992 or 1993);
results - percent of vote by party NA;
seats - (NA total) number of seats by party NA

Communists

Communist Party of Ukraine was banned by decree of the Supreme Council on 30 August 1991

Other political or pressure groups

Ukraninan People's Movement for Restructuring (RUKH)

Member of

CIS, CSCE, CE, ECE, IAEA, IMF, INMARSAT, IOC, ITU, NACC, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO

Diplomatic representation

Ambassador Oleh H. BILORUS;
Embassy at 1828 L Street, NW, Suite 711, Washington, DC 20036;
telephone (202) 296-6960

US:: Ambassador Roman POPADIUK; Embassy at ;10 Vul. Yuriy Kotsubinskoho, Kiev (mailing address is APO AE 09862); telephone (044) 244-7349; FAX (044) 244-7350

Flag

two horizontal bars of equal size: azure (sky blue) top half, golden yellow bottom half (represents grainfields under a blue sky)

Economy

17 fields

Inflation, consumer prices

83%

(1991 est.)

External debt

$10.4billion

(end of 1991 est.)

Because of its size, geographic location, Slavic population, and rich resources, the loss of Ukraine was the final and most bitter blow to the Soviet leaders wishing to preserve some semblance of the old political, military, and economic power of the USSR. 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 well-developed and diversified heavy industry supplied equipment and raw materials to industrial and mining sites in other regions of the USSR. In early 1992 the continued wholesale disruption of economic ties and the lack of an institutional structure necessary to formulate and implement economic reforms preclude a near-term recovery of output.

GDP

$NA, per capita $NA; real growth rate -10% (1991 est.)

Unemployment rate

NA%

Budget

not finalized as of May 1992

Exports

$13.5 billion (1990)

commodities:: coal, electric power, ferrous and nonferrous metals, chemicals, machinery and transport equipment, grain, meat
partners:: Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan

Imports

$16.7 billion (1990)

commodities:: machinery and parts, transportation equipment, chemicals, textiles
partners:: none *** No entry for this item ***

Industrial production

growth rate -4.5% (1991)

Electricity

NA kW capacity; 298,000 million kWh produced, 5,758 kWh per capita (1990)

Industries

coal, electric power, ferrous and nonferrous metals, machinery and transport equipment, chemicals, food-processing

Agriculture

grain, vegetables, meat, milk

Illicit drugs

illicit producer of cannabis and opium;
mostly for domestic consumption;
status of government eradication programs unknown;
used as transshipment points for illicit drugs to Western Europe

Economic aid

$NA

Currency

as of August 1992 using ruble and Ukrainian coupons as legal tender;
Ukraine plans to withdraw the ruble from circulation and convert to a coupon-based economy on 1 October 1992;
Ukrainian officials claim this will be an interim move toward introducing a Ukrainian currency - the hryvnya - possibly as early as January 1993

Exchange rates

Fiscal year

calendar year

Communications

9 fields

Merchant marine, 338 ships by type

cargo 221container 11barge carriers 9bulk cargo 59petroleum tanker 9chemical tanker 2liquefied gas 3passenger 24338 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 4,117,595 GRT/5,403,685 DWT

Networkskm

Highways

273,700Railroads

22,800 (1990)

Highways: (1990); 236,400 km hard surfaced, 37,300 km earth · Railroads: ; does not include industrial lines

Railroads

22,800 km all 1.500-meter gauge; does not include industrial lines (1990)

Highways

273,700 km total (1990); 236,400 km hard surfaced, 37,300 km earth

Inland waterways

NA km perennially navigable

Pipelines

Ports

maritime - Berdyansk, Il'ichevsk Kerch', Kherson, Mariupol' (formerly Zhdanov), Nikolayev, Odessa, Sevastopol', Yuzhnoye; inland - Kiev

Civil air

NA major transport aircraft

Airports

Telecommunications

inheriting part of the former USSR system, Ukraine has about 7 million telephone lines (13.5 telephones for each 100 persons);
as of 31 January 1990, 3.56 million applications for telephones could not be satisfied;
international calls can be made via satellite, by landline to other CIS countries, and through the Moscow international switching center;
satellite earth stations employ INTELSAT, INMARSAT, and Intersputnik