People of Ukraine
The population of Ukraine is 48,396,470 (July 2002 est.) people,
which represents about 18% of the population of the former Soviet
Union. Ukrainians make up about 73% of the total; ethnic Russians
number about 22%. The industrial regions in the east and southeast
are the most heavily populated, and the urban population makes up
about 70% of the population. Ukrainian and Russian are the principal
languages, but about 88% of the population consider Ukrainian their
native language.
During the Soviet period, Russian was the required language of
government administration and public life. In 1991 Ukrainian once
again became the official language, though in the Crimea, where
there is a Russian-speaking majority, Russian is the official language.
In addition, primary and secondary schools using Russian as the
language of instruction still prevail in the Donets Basin and other
areas with large Russian minorities. Ukrainian—belonging to
the East Slavic language family that also includes Russian and Belarusian—uses
a form of the Cyrillic alphabet. It is closely related to Russian,
and the two languages are mutually intelligible. Significant minorities
speak Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Bulgarian, or Hungarian.
The dominant religions are the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, much
of which retains its links to the Russian Orthodox Church, and the
Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Kiev
Patriarchate) is independent of Moscow.
The birth rate of Ukraine is diminishing. About 70% of adult Ukrainians
have a secondary or higher education. Ukraine has about 150 colleges
and universities, of which the most important are at Kiev, Lviv,
and Kharkiv. About 70,000 scholars in 80 research institutes make
Ukraine a leader in science and technology.
Some tabular data:
Population : 48,396,470 (July 2002 est.)
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
est.)
Population Growth Rate : -0.72% (2002 est.)
Birth Rate / 1000 : 9.59 births/1,000 population (2002 est.)
Death Rate / 1000 : 16.4 deaths/1,000 population (2002 est.)
Net Migration Rate : -0.42 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2002
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: 0.5 male(s)/female
total population: 0.86 male(s)/female (2002 est.)
Infant Mortality Rate / 1,000 Live Births : 21.14 deaths/1,000
live births (2002 est.)
Life Expectancy At Birth : total population: 66.33 years
male: 60.86 years
female: 72.06 years (2002 est.)
Fertility Rate - Children Born/Woman : 1.32 children born/woman
(2002 est.)
HIV/AIDS - Adult Prevalence Rate : 0.96% (1999 est.)
HIV/AIDS - Infected People Living : 240,000 (1999 est.)
HIV/AIDS - Deaths : 4,000 (1999 est.)
Nationality : noun: Ukrainian(s)
adjective: Ukrainian
Ethnic Groups : 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 : definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 98%
male: 100%
female: 97% (1989 est.)
Countryfacts Information Courtesy: CIA Worldbook
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