Ukraine
republic
Ukraine as the 2000 edition of the CIA World Factbook published it: 109 fields, one of 34 editions from 1992 to 2025.
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Introduction
1 fieldBackground
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.
Geography
Eastern Europe, bordering the Black Sea, between Poland and Russia
18 fieldsLand useshare of 603,700 sq 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 plateaus, 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, sulfur, graphite, titanium, magnesium, kaolin, nickel, mercury, timber, arable land
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
- party to:
- Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands
- signed, but not ratified:
- Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol
Geography - note
strategic position at the crossroads between Europe and Asia; second-largest country in Europe
People
15 fieldsPer 1,000 population(2000 est.)
Male · female
Age structure
- 0-14 years:
- 18% (male 4,482,754; female 4,296,206)
- 15-64 years:
- 68% (male 16,018,331; female 17,509,078)
- 65 years and over:
- 14% (male 2,243,266; female 4,603,392) (2000 est.)
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:
- 0.49 male(s)/female
- total population:
- 0.86 male(s)/female (2000 est.)
Religions
Ukrainian Orthodox - Moscow Patriarchate, Ukrainian Orthodox - Kiev Patriarchate, Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox, Ukrainian Catholic (Uniate), Protestant, Jewish
Government
Republic; President Leonid D. KUCHMA (since 19 July 1994); Prime Minister Viktor YUSHCHENKO (since 22 December 1999), First Deputy Prime Minister Yuriy YEKHANUROV (since 30 December 1999), and three deputy prime ministers
18 fieldsPresidential electionpercent of vote
Country name
- conventional long form:
- none
- conventional short form:
- Ukraine
- local long form:
- none
- local short form:
- Ukrayina
- former:
- Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic
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); note: oblasts have the administrative center name following in parentheses
Executive branch
- chief of state:
- President Leonid D. KUCHMA (since 19 July 1994)
- head of government:
- Prime Minister Viktor YUSHCHENKO (since 22 December 1999), First Deputy Prime Minister Yuriy YEKHANUROV (since 30 December 1999), and three deputy prime ministers
- cabinet:
- Cabinet of Ministers appointed by the president and approved by the Supreme Council
note: there is also a National Security and Defense Council or NSDC originally created in 1992 as the National Security Council, but significantly revamped and strengthened under President KUCHMA;
the NSDC staff is tasked with developing national security policy on domestic and international matters and advising the president; a Presidential Administration that helps draft presidential edicts and provides policy support to the president; and a Council of Regions that serves as an advisory body created by President KUCHMA in September 1994 that includes chairmen of the Kyyiv (Kiev) and Sevastopol' municipalities and chairmen of the oblasti
- elections:
- president elected by popular vote for a five-year term;
- election last held 31 October and 14 November 1999 (next to be held NA 2004);
- prime minister and deputy prime ministers appointed by the president and approved by the People's Council
- election results:
- Leonid D. KUCHMA elected president; percent of vote - Leonid KUCHMA 56.21%, Petro SYMONENKO 37.77%
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)
- elections:
- last held 29 March 1998 (next to be held NA 2002)
- election results:
- percent of vote by party (for parties clearing 4% hurdle on 29 March 1998) - Communist 24.7%, Rukh (combined) 9.4%, Socialist/Peasant 8.6%, Green 5.3%, People's Democratic Party 5.0%, Hromada 4.7%, Progressive Socialist 4.0%, United Social Democratic Party 4.0%;
- seats by faction (as of 25 February 2000) - Communist 115, PRVU 36, Fatherland Party 35, United Social Democratic 34, People's Democratic Party 27, Trudova Ukrayina 27, Rukh (K) 27, left-center 23, Green 18, Rukh (U) 17, Peasant Party 15, Hromada 14, Reforms Congress 12, independents 14, unaffiliated 31, vacant 5
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]
note: and numerous smaller parties
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
- chief of mission:
- Ambassador Konstantin Ivanovych HRYSHCHENKO
- chancery:
- 3350 M Street NW, Washington, DC 20007
- telephone:
- [1] (202) 333-0606
- FAX:
- [1] (202) 333-0817
- consulate(s) general:
- Chicago and New York
Diplomatic representation from the US
- chief of mission:
- Ambassador Steven Karl PIFER
- embassy:
- 10 Yuria Kotsubynskoho, 254053 Kiev 53
- mailing address:
- use embassy street address
- telephone:
- [380] (44) 246-9750
- FAX:
- [380] (44) 244-7350
Flag description
two equal horizontal bands of azure (top) and golden yellow represent grainfields under a blue sky
Economy
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.
31 fieldsGDP - composition by sector(1998 est.)
Trading partnersexports left, imports right
Electricity
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.
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)
Industries
coal, electric power, ferrous and nonferrous metals, machinery and transport equipment, chemicals, food-processing (especially sugar)
Exports - commodities
ferrous and nonferrous metals, fuel and petroleum products, machinery and transport equipment, food products
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)
Communications
8 fieldsTelephone system
Ukraine's telecommunication development plan, running through 2005, emphasizes improving domestic trunk lines and international connections, and developing a mobile cellular system
- domestic:
- at independence in December 1991, Ukraine inherited a telephone system that was antiquated, inefficient and in disrepair;
- more than 3.5 million applications for telephones could not be satisfied;
- telephone density is now rising slowly and the domestic trunk system is being improved;
- from a small base, the mobile cellular telephone system is expanding at a high rate
- international:
- two new domestic trunk lines are a part of the fiber-optic Trans-Asia-Europe (TAE) system and three Ukrainian links have been installed in the fiber-optic Trans-European Lines (TEL) project which connects 18 countries;
- additional international service is provided by the Italy-Turkey-Ukraine-Russia (ITUR) fiber-optic submarine cable and by earth stations in the Intelsat, Inmarsat, and Intersputnik satellite systems
Television broadcast stations
at least 33 (plus 21 repeater stations that relay broadcasts from Russia) (1997)
Transportation
9 fieldsAirports by runway lengthpaved left, unpaved right
Networkskm
Highways
- total:
- 176,310 km
- paved:
- 170,139 km (including 1,770 km of expressways);
- note - these roads are said to be hard-surfaced, meaning that some are paved and some are all-weather gravel-surfaced
- unpaved:
- 6,171 km (1998 est.)
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
- total:
- 156 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 862,690 GRT/963,550 DWT
- ships by type:
- bulk 9, cargo 105, container 4, passenger 11, passenger/cargo 3, petroleum tanker 14, rail car carrier 2, roll-on/roll-off 5, short-sea passenger 3 (1999 est.)
Military
Army, Navy, Air Force, Air Defense Force, Internal Troops, National Guard, Border Troops
7 fieldsMilitary branches
Army, Navy, Air Force, Air Defense Force, Internal Troops, National Guard, Border Troops
Transnational Issues
2 fieldsDisputes - 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 [Country Listing] [ The World Factbook Home]
Cite this entry
Central Intelligence Agency. “Ukraine.” The World Factbook 2000. Archived by The Factbook, thefactbook.org/ukraine/2000.