Population, its dynamics and structure

Ukraine is one of the most densely populated countries in Europe. This was stipulated by natural, historic, and economic peculiarities of land settlement in Ukraine. Colonization of modern Ukrainian territory dates back to ancient times. The Middle Dnipro Region (the so-called Podniprovye that currently embraces Kyiv and Cherkasy regions) was the center of the first state formations of the eastern Slavs. The northern part of forest-steppe region and the southern part of Polissya ranked among the most densely populated and developed territories starting from the times of Kyiv Rus till the XIX century. The southern part of forest-steppe zone remained sparsely populated till the XVIII century. Intensive settlement of such lands started in the second half of the XIX century due to extension of commercial farming and development of mining industry in Donbass and Dnipro regions.

Before the World War I, the forest-steppe zone was notable for the densest population. On the contrary, the southern part of steppe zone and the utmost northern part of Ukrainian Polissya remained quite deserted.

According to approximate estimates, in the end of the XVIII century Ukrainian population totaled some 7.9 mn people. By the mid-XIX century, it grew to 12.1 mn people. The second half of the XIX century and the beginning of the XX century (i.e. the period of impetuous development of capitalism) were characterized with more intensive growth of Ukrainian population. In 1913, its total quantity on the territory of modern Ukraine was equal to 35.2 mn people. Events that characterized public life in Ukraine after the revolution of 1917 significantly affected the volume of its population. A lot of people died in the period of civil war. The policy of full collectivization of agriculture and dispossession of kulaks introduced by Stalin was accompanied with expulsion of hundreds of thousands Ukrainians and their resettlement in Siberia and northern regions of Russia. In 1932-1933, Stalinist regime organized the artificial starvation in Ukraine. Peasants were deprived of the whole reserves of their bread. During this period, millions people died of starvation. Until recently, it was even forbidden to mention those events. At present, the monument devoted to the victims of Holodomor (artificially caused starvation) was set near the city of Lubny (Poltava region). Besides to that, millions of innocent people died in prisons and camps during repressions organized in the 1930s.

During the World War II, Ukrainian population also sustained heavy casualties. A lot of Ukraine’s sons and daughters perished at the front, in captivity, and in fascist slavery. Stalinist repressions continued in the 1940s, and in the beginning of the 1950s. During these years Ukraine lost almost 10 mn people. In 1929-1959, total losses of Ukrainian population amounted to some 16 mn people. Devastation of Ukrainian peasants, excessive urbanization, and settlement of the eastern regions of Russia caused great migration of Ukrainian population beyond the bounds of the state. Besides, changes in the volume of Ukrainian population resulted from significant curtailment of birth rate and natality. Such downward tendency led to situation when total quantity of Ukrainian population featured extremely slow augmentation and suffered from regular abrupt cutbacks.

Changes in birth rate, mortality, and natality featured by Ukraine in the previous decades directly affected and currently affect the age structure of Ukrainian population. The overall tendency is as follows: population growth was accompanied with its accelerated ageing. In particular, young able-bodied people (i.e. up to 16 years old) contributed 25.6% to the total in 1970 and only 21.5% in 1995 while the share of elder able-bodies people (men – up to 60 years old, women – up to 55 years old) correspondingly incremented from 17.8% to 22.7%.

Ageing of Ukrainian population can be explained with curtailed birth rate and some rural tendencies, namely mass outflow of rural youth to the cities. For the most part, the process of ageing affected the villages of Chernigiv, Sumy, Poltava, Khmelnitskiy, Cherkasy, and Vinytsya regions where the aged accounted for more than 33% of the total.

Women dominate the sex-age pattern of Ukrainian population. According to population census accomplished in 1989, there were 27.8 mn women in Ukraine (54% of the total population), and 23.9 mn of men (46%). The exceeding quantity of women was stipulated by considerable losses in the number of men during the years of the World War II. Today, such tendency primarily characterizes the elder age groups. The 1950s featured even the greater difference in the number of men and women. For instance, in 1959 total quantity of men in Ukraine was behind the quantity of women by 4.1 mn. In the 1980s and the 1990s, such gap gradually converged. In 2000, total quantities of men and women under 46 years old generally stood on a par.

The social distribution of Ukrainian population featured significant changes as well. The number of workers and officers was notable for sweeping upsurge. At present, Ukrainian economy embraces more than 20 mn workers and officers, which is three times greater than it was before the World War II. Their quantity significantly grew even in those sectors of national economy, which previously represented an agricultural sector being industrially outdated.

The history of Ukrainian peasantry is quite complicated. Perversion of the principles of civilized co-operation, and unreasonably accelerated collectivization of Ukrainian agriculture accompanied with violence led to situation when millions of peasants and their families were torn away from their land and homes. The number of rural population constantly curtailed, and the same changes characterized the living and working conditions as well as the professional distribution of peasantry. The quantity of machine-operators featured the upward tendency embracing tractor operators, mechanicals, drivers, and specialists of cattle-breeding farms. On the contrary, intellectuals witnessed hard times during the years of command-and-administrative system. However, the quantity of specialists that had the higher education gradually augmented and today their number is equal to 3 mn people. Besides, it should be mentioned that intellectuals in Ukraine had no proper working conditions, and their creative potential was strictly limited. A lot of outstanding writers, artists, painters, musicians, and singers suffered from repressions. In conditions of today’s economic recession, living conditions of the major part of Ukrainian intellectuals became even more awesome.

Significant changes also characterize the regional distribution of Ukrainian population. Such changes were primarily stipulated by people transference to industrial regions and centers, industrialization of previously agricultural regions, and development of cities. At present, the average density of population totals 85.7 people per 1 sq. km. The most densely populated region includes the industrial southeastern part of the country represented by Donetsk (193), Dnipropetrovsk (119), and Lugansk (103) regions. Besides, significant quantity of Ukrainians lives in the forest-steppe part of western Ukraine, namely Lviv (126 people per 1 sq. km), Chernivtsy (116), and Ivano-Frankivsk (105) regions. The mentioned regions (plus Zakarpattya and Ternopil regions) are also notable for the highest density of rural population.

The lowest density of population characterizes Kherson (44 people per 1 sq. km) and Chernigiv (42 people per 1 sq. km) regions.

Migration of population

In the past decades, Ukraine was notable for powerful migration flows, which is evidence to the level of social mobility in the state. In the 1970s and the 1980s, some 3% of Ukrainian population (1.5 mn people) annually changed their places of residence.

During the pre-revolution period (i.e. before the year 1917), lack of land and intolerable economic situation compelled the thousands of peasants that lived in Chernigiv, Kiev, and Poltava provinces to migrate to the Middle East, Siberia, Kazakhstan, and the Far East. Besides, peasants migrated to Canada, Brazil, Argentina, and the USA.

After the revolution, a lot of Ukrainians moved to new industrial regions in the eastern part of the former USSR. Among others, thousands of Ukrainians built the cities of Magnitogorsk and Novokuznetsk, Bratsk, and Norilsk, developed the lands of Altai and Kazakhstan, exploited oil deposits in Tyumen, and laid new transportation routes in the Far East.

In the end of the 1980s and in the beginning of the 1990s, external migration of Ukrainian population was characterized with permanent irrevocable movement of Ukrainians to the non-CIS countries. In particular, in 1987-1991 some 270,000 Ukrainians left their homeland forever. As of 1991, Jews contributed 63% to the emigration outflow, as compared to 14% brought in by Ukrainians, and 11% added by Russians. In 1992, the share of Jews lowered to 50% of the total while the share of Ukrainians rose to 20%, which showed that ethnical motives of emigration featured certain weakening.

Emigration losses of Ukrainian population total some 45,000 people that primarily represented Kyiv, Zhytomyr, and Chernigiv regions. Despite the policy of Ukraine’s government aimed at the backing of national minorities, representatives of non-indigenous population (Jews, Czechs, Poles) contributed a lot to the total quantity of recently migrated citizens of Ukraine.

Along with this, Ukraine is notable for active inflow of immigrants. On the average, some 600,000 citizens of Russia and Moldova left their countries for Ukraine annually.

Major reasons of immigration to Ukraine embrace the changes in political and economic situation in republics of the former USSR including those resulted from national heterogeneity of population, establishing of mono-national states, worsening of inter-national relations, occurrence of military conflicts and the hearths of social tension, and returning of forcibly displaced people.

Consequently, in 1986-1992 migration growth of population augmented 4-7 times and significantly affected the demographic situation in modern Ukraine. For instance, in 1992 migration inflow reached 288,100 people that fully compensated the natural curtailment of Ukrainian population. In the recent years, close migration ties with Ukraine characterized almost all republics of the former USSR. The most significant shifts in migration-caused replenishment of Ukrainian population occurred at the expense of Russia, and the countries of the Central Asia and Transcaucasia. Most of incoming people took up their residence in the eastern industrially developed regions of Ukraine.

The end of 1980s was marked with return of forcibly displaced people to their historical homeland, and particularly – the return of Crimean Tatars to the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. As of January 1, 1994 some 254,000 people returned to Ukraine, which already caused certain changes in the sex-age structure of population, ethno-cultural situation in the country, and above all – the proposal of labor force on Crimean labor market.

In the past decades, Ukraine featured significant flow of internal migration (both intra-republican, intra-regional, and inter-regional). For the most part, such flow was stipulated by intensive dislocation of Ukrainian population (primarily the one representing rural areas) to industrial regions and centers characterized with noteworthy industrial construction and industrial development. Internal migration flows were inseparably linked with the growth of urban population. For instance, in the 1960s and the 1970s some 600,000 people moved to Ukrainian cities annually. For the most part, such migrants represented the rural regions.

In the recent years, migration losses of rural areas were notable for gradual curtailment due to abridgement of mobile migration contingent in villages of most Ukrainian regions, and purposeful re-orientation of state migration programs in favor of Ukrainian villages. In the 1990s, annual outflow of people that inhabited Ukrainian villages dropped 2.5 times against the 1970s’ figures, and the year 1992 was the first year when the inflow of migrants that moved to rural regions exceeded the quantity of migrated rural inhabitants. Labor pendulum migrations that embrace insignificant distances have no negative economic and social consequences. They add to territorial concentration of the industry and other sectors of national economy. In previous decades, such flows served as important sources of systematic smoothening of manpower deficiency in the cities.

Workers’ travels at long distances result in transportation overloads, and significant time expenses, which otherwise could provide for personal development, upgrading of workers’ qualification, and upbringing of children. Besides, mass attraction of suburbanites negatively affects the provision of suburban areas with manpower, and adds to concentration of economic activity in large cities.

Functioning of Ukrainian economy in market conditions led to qualitatively new stage in development of migration processes closely tied with political and social-and-economic situation in the state. The new stage is characterized with spontaneous territorial redistribution of manpower influenced by the level of economic and social development of different regions, development of labor market, and formation of domicile market.

Stabilization of migration processes would be reached due to curtailed inflow of rural inhabitants to the cities (resulted from exhausting of mobile reserves of manpower in most rural regions of Ukraine), dropped demand for manpower in the cities, grown direct outflow of urban population to rural regions, and backward migration of those rural inhabitants that failed to settle down in the cities. Further development of migration-type labor trips would depend on the situation on domestic labor market and international market for manpower, and distortions in income of Ukrainian population.

National distribution of the population

Modern national and ethnical distribution of Ukrainian population is the result of protracted historical process. Peoples that currently inhabit Ukraine have proceeded along the complicated path of formation and ethnical development. Social-and-economic conditions and development of productive powers should be ranked as decisive factors that led to formation of Ukrainian nation and current ethnical distribution of Ukrainian population.

Ukrainian population is notable for its multi-national character. Being one of numerous European nations Ukrainians contribute almost three fourth to the total quantity of Ukraine’s citizens. Ukrainians compactly populated almost the whole territory of the country. Most Ukrainians live in the western regions and forest-steppe regions of the Left-Bank and the Right-Bank Ukraine. The lowest quantity of Ukrainians characterizes Lugansk and Donetsk regions as well as the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.

A lot of Ukrainians live on the territory of newly established independent states that were formed after the collapse of the USSR. For the most part, Ukrainian nation is represented in the Russian Federation (4.4 mn people), Kazakhstan (898,000 people), Moldova (599,000 people), and Belarus (290,000 people). In 1990, the quantity of Ukrainians that lived in the non-CIS countries totaled almost 4 mn people. The most significant quantity of Ukrainians lives in the USA (1.2 mn people), Canada (1 mn people), Argentina (some 220,000 people), Brazil (155,000 people), Poland (350,000-600,000 people), Romania (250,000-280,000 people), Czech Republic and Slovakia (150,000 people), France (45,000 people), Great Britain (almost 30,000 people), and Australia (35,000 people). Ukrainians that went overseas primarily embraced the inhabitants of the Western Ukraine who left their homeland in the end of XIX and the beginning of the XX century due to lack of land and national oppression. For the total, there are more than 47 mn Ukrainians worldwide.

Ethnographic groups of Ukrainians, their geographic distribution

Culture, language, traditions, and the way of life of Ukrainians are characterized with quite similar features. At the same time, they are notable for certain ethnographic (local) peculiarities resulted from social-and-economic and historical development of different Ukrainian regions, influence of natural and economic conditions, and ties with neighboring nations.

Ethnographic peculiarities of certain Ukrainian territories differentiated in the old days, and became apparent in the feudal era when formation of Ukrainian nation featured its initial period. Data obtained in the framework of ethnology, geography, history, and economics allow to distinguish the following ethnographic regions on the territory of Ukraine: Naddnipryanschina, Podillya, Slobozhanschina, Polissya, Volyn, Prikarpattya, and Zakarpattya. What is more, such regions consist of several sub-regions that nourish their own specific cultural characteristics and genetic ties. Despite the fact that such division had been recognized officially (being confirmed by numerous documents and literary heritage), it is quite provisional and changeable. More precise regional distribution can be obtained via detailed study of historical, geographic, and ethnographic peculiarities of mentioned territories.

Naddnipryanschyna (also known as Pridniprovya, i.e. the Near-Dnipro Ukraine) embraces the huge territory along the middle reaches of Dnipr (Kyiv, Cherkasy, and Dnipropetrovsk regions, the eastern part of Kirovograd region, and the western parts of Poltava and Chernigiv regions). This territory featured the most intensive formation of Ukrainian nation, its national character and language. Naddnipryanschyna represented the arena of national-liberation struggle of Ukrainian people and saw a lot of people’s riots against oppressors. Despite close similarity between the right-bank and the left-bank parts of Naddnipryanschyna, these regions insignificantly vary in their material culture (particularly, in construction of houses, separate types of clothes, etc.).

Podillya occupies the basin of Pivdennyi Bug and the left bank of Dnistro. For the first time, the term “Podillya” had been mentioned in the documents of the mid-XIV century. Earlier, this region was called Nyzovye.

Slobozhanschyna (also known as Slobodyan Ukraine) is the historical name of the southeastern Ukraine. In the mid-XVI century this sparsely populated territory was inhabited by Ukrainian settlers that left the right-bank and the left-bank parts of Ukraine, Galychina, and Volyn. In the 1660s, Ukrainian and Russian settlements gave rise to four Cossack regiments – Ostrozhskyi, Okhtyrskyi, Sumskyi, and Kharkoivskyi. According to population census accomplished in 1926, Ukrainians contributed 64.2% to the total population of Slobozhanschyna against 35.4% brought in by Russians. As regards cultural peculiarities, Slobozhanschyna has much in common with Poltava region (neighboring ethnographic region). It was Poltava region and the Left-Bank Ukraine that historically gave the major part of migrants, which inhabited Slobodian Ukraine.

Polissya embraces the central and northern parts of Chernigiv region, the northern parts of Kyiv, Zhytomyr, and Rivno regions, the northwestern Volyn, and the northern areas of Sumy region. For the first time, the term “Volyn” was mentioned in the chronicles. In the old days, this territory was inhabited by Slavonic tribes of Dregovichs, Volyns, and Drevlyans.

Volyn is the territory in the northwestern part of Ukraine, which embraces the basins of southern tributaries of Pripyat, and the upper reaches of Western Bough. Formerly, this area was inhabited by the Western Slavonic tribes of Dulibs, Bouzhans, Volyns and some others. In the feudal era, this ethnographic region constituted a part of Volodymyr-Volynskyi Principality while in the beginning of XII century it was embraced by Halytsian-Volynian Principality. In the second half of the XIV century, the Western Volyn belonged to Poland while after the Union of Lublin (in 1569) Poland occupied the whole territory of Volyn. In the end of XVIII century, the Western Volyn became a part of tsarist Russia while after the World War I this region again returned to Poland. At the same time, Eastern Volyn (Zhytomir region) remained a part of the Soviet Ukraine. According to population census performed in 1926, Ukrainians accounted for 80.9% of the total population of Eastern Volyn, as compared to 6.4% added by Russians, 5% - by Jews, 4.4% - by Poles, and 2.8% - by Germans. As regards the western part of Volyn, Ukrainians added 70% to the total, Jews – 15%, and Poles – 10%.

The region of the Carpathian Mountains is notable for original cultural characteristics that were stipulated by peculiarities of mountainous landscape and isolated way of life. Geography and economy of this Ukrainian region greatly affected the peculiarities of culture, routine life, and language. Local specifics of regional economy (valley cattle-breeding, homecraft), houses, and clothes allow for distinguishing of such historic-and-ethnographic regions as Prikarpattya and Zakarpattya. Besides, Prikarpattya has a number of sub-regions, namely Pokuttya and Bukovyna.

Bukovyna is native Slavonic territory, which constituted a part of Kyivan Rus and Halytsian-Volynian Principality (the latter – within the XII and the first half of the XIV century). Bukovyna can be divided in Northern Bukovyna primarily inhabited by Slavonic population and Southern Bukovyna occupied by Valakhs and Slavs. In the mid-XIV century, Southern Bukovyna was captured by Moldavia Principality, in the XVI century it was seized by Turkey, and in 1774 it became a part of Austria (though in 1812, Khotin district passed to Russia). In November 1918, the whole territory of Bukovyna became a part of Romania. In 1940, Northern Bukovyna (where Ukrainian population prevailed) was included in Ukrainian SSR as a part of Chernivtsi region.

Pokuttya is also notable for its original culture. Geographically, it occupies the southwestern valley part of modern Ivano-Frankivsk region and stretches between Dnister and Cheremosh rivers.

Until the year 1848, Galicia included the territory of modern Chernivtsy region and the southeastern part of Poland (Zheshuv and major part of Krakow provinces). After the first partition of Poland (in 1772) till the World War I, Galicia was embraced by the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which artificially united all Galician lands in one province called the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria. In other words, Galicia embraced two regions - Eastern Galicia (inhabited by Ukrainians) and Western Galicia (inhabited by Poles).

Eastern Galicia was a native Ukrainian territory. In the XIII century, it actually laid foundation for Halytsian-Volynian Principality. In the end of the XIV century, major part of this territory became a part of Poland. In the XV century, Galicia was transformed into Rus Province (still being a part of Poland) with Lvov being its center and Lvov, Peremyshl and Sanok lands being its components.

After the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, in 1918 Western Galicia gave rise to the Western Ukrainian People’s Republic. In July 1919, this territory became a part of Poland as a result of Ukrainian-Polish war that lasted in 1918-1919. The new formation called Eastern Malopolscha was founded in Eastern Galicia and embraced Lviv, Stanislav, Ternopil, and Volyn provinces. Able-bodied population that inhabited these lands was notable for mass migration abroad. According to population census accomplished in 1931, Ukrainians made up some 65% of the total population of Eastern Galicia, Poles – 28.5%, and Jews – 10.3%.

In the course of several centuries, ethnographic groups of Ukrainians were formed in all corresponding ethnographic regions of modern Ukraine. For quite a long period of time, such groups retained their cultural traditions, customs, and native language. The highest ethnical diversity was intrinsic to Ukrainian mountain-dwellers (Gutsuls, Lemki, and Boyki), and inhabitants of Ukrainian Polissya (Polyschuks, Pinchuks, and Lytvyns).

Since olden times, Ukrainian population of the southeastern Carpathians (as regards modern administrative division, mountainous districts of Ivano-Frankivsk and Chernivtsy regions as well as Rakhiv district of Zakarpatye region are concerned) was called Gutsuls. Gutsuls were notable for rich material and spiritual culture, peculiar way of life and housekeeping (valley cattle-breeding, river floating of timber, etc.). Formerly, their settlements were characterized with disconnectedness of farmsteads, and unique close-circuit complex of residential houses and auxiliary buildings. Gutsul clothes stood out for their colorfulness, and rich decorating. Folk arts of Ukrainian Gutsuls gained in noteworthy popularity all around the world: carving, pyrography and encrustation, decorative metal working, copper and silver casting, pottery, decorative weaving, carpet weaving, unique music art, songs and dancing folklore. Separate peculiarities of Gutsul culture and way of life remained intact to this day.

Ethnographic group of Ukrainian mountain-dwellers that inhabited central regions of the Carpathians between San and Lomnitsa rivers (mountainous districts of Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Zakarpattya regions) is known as Boyki.

Their culture and way of life can be characterized with archaism (resulted from historical fate and natural environment), houses heated by chimneyless stoves, primitiveness of household equipment, and more modest decoration of clothes (as compared to Gutsuls). At present, Boyki almost fully resemble those Ukrainians, which live in other regions of Ukraine, regarding major peculiarities of their culture and life.

A part of Ukrainian population that long ago inhabited both slopes of the Low Beskid Mountains, the interfluve of San and Poprad rivers, and western bank of Uzh river is known as Lemki. Ethnographic sources insist that Lemki got this appellation due to conversational usage of dialectal particle “lem” (which meant “only”). Over the centuries, Lemki suffered from hard times being oppressed by Hungarian, Austrian, and Polish feudal lords. Such oppression caused the backwardness of their economy, which was primarily based on agriculture, and valley cattle-breeding. Uniqueness of their economy, way of life, culture, and language can be explained with their isolation from major Ukrainian territories, and quite unfriendly natural environment. Extreme poverty compelled Lemki emigrate to the USA, Canada, and Argentina. In the post-war years and due to accomplished exchange of population between Poland and the USSR, a lot of Lemki migrated from Lemkivschina to the territory of modern Lviv, Ternopil, and Mykolayiv regions. At present, ethnographic region of Lemki habitation has no precise borders.

During the Austro-Hungarian reign, Ukrainians that lived in the western part of Ukraine (Galicia, Bukovina, Zakarpatye) were often called the Rusins. The word “Rusin” derived from the word “Rus”. Ukrainians of the western Ukrainian regions called themselves the Rusins to emphasize their original ties with Kievan Rus. Foreign written sources called them the Rusens, which was the Latin appellation of the word “Rus”. Historical peculiarities of their development stipulated certain peculiarities of their culture and language.

Polissya also embraced a number of ethnical groups of Ukrainians. In particular, ethnical group of Ukrainians that inhabited this region is called the Polischuks. As regards major peculiarities of their culture, way of life, and language, the Polischuks do not differ from Ukrainians that live in other regions of the country.

From olden days, Ukraine also hosted a number of smaller ethnical groups of Ukrainians. In this connection, a special heed should be given to the Pidgoryane, Opolyane, Lyshaki (Carpathian region), Tuteyshie (Polesye), Sevryuki, Cherkassy (the upper reaches of Dnipro), Volokhs (Bukovina) and some others, which should be treated as local ethnical groups rather than ethnical communities. Their names occurred depending on territorial and lingual peculiarities of their life.

Non-indigenous nations

Apart from Ukrainians, the largest ethnical group on the territory of Ukraine is the one of Russians (14.356 mn people, i.e. 27% of the total population of Ukraine). Major part of Russians lives in large cities (88% of the total). As regards rural areas, Russians primarily live in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, and Sumy, Kherson, Kirovograd, and Mykolayiv regions. Such geographic distribution of Russians had formed historically. For instance, the largest ethnical arrays of Russians that retained to present day occurred due to governmental and landlord colonization and spontaneous settlement back in the XVII-XVII centuries in Slobodian Ukraine and later – in Novorossyia and Bessarabyia. In the period of capitalism, the inflow of Russians to the cities and industrial centers of Donbass and Pridneprovye featured significant intensification. During the Soviet era, the quantity of Russian population in Ukraine augmented three times.

Other nationalities contribute only 5.2% to the total population of Ukraine. For instance, total quantity of Byelorussians is equal to 440,000 people, which is 0.9% of the total. The most ancient settlements of Byelorussians are located within the borders of Ukrainian-Belarussian ethnical territory. At present, most Belarussians live in the cities of Donetsk, Lugansk, and Dnipropetrovsk regions as well as the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.

Jews account for 0.9% of the total population of Ukraine (500,000 people) and primarily live in such cities as Kyiv, Odesa, Chernivtsi, and Kharkiv. Most Jews consider Russian as their native language while the remaining Jews speak in Yiddish and Ukrainian. Jews inhabited the territory of modern Ukraine back in the era of early feudalism. Mass migration of Jews to Ukraine happened in the XVI-XVII century when Jews left Poland due to its second and third partition. In the end of the XIX century, total quantity of Jews on the territory of Ukraine amounted to some 2.5 mn people. In the years of World War II, the quantity of Jews considerably lowered due to mass extermination of Jews by fascist intruders while in the post-war period general curtailment of their quantity was stipulated by mass emigration to Israel, the USA, and the Federal Republic of Germany.

Total quantity of Moldavians that live in Ukraine is equal to 325,000 people (0.6% of Ukrainian population). Three quarters of Moldavians live in rural area, primarily inhabiting Odesa and Chernivtsi regions.

Besides, Ukraine hosts some 234,000 Bulgarians, which make up approximately 0.5% of Ukrainian population. Most Bulgarians live in the western districts of Odesa region as well as in Zaporizhzhya region. Along with this, Ukrainian-Bulgarian villages were also established in Kirovograd and Mykolayiv regions.

Poles contribute some 0.4% to the total population of Ukraine (219,000 people). Vast majority of Poles (68%) inhabited cities and towns of Zhytomyr, Khmelnytski, Lvuv, and Vinitsya regions. The remaining Poles live in ethnically crossbred Ukrainian-Polish villages.

Hungarians embrace 163,000 people that compactly live in Zakarpatye region. The number of Romanians totals 135,000 people, which inhabited the southwestern part of Chernivtsi region, and Zakarpattya region. Greeks (for the total of 99,000 people) primarily live in the near-Don districts of Donetsk region and the cities of the Black Sea region. Volga Tatars (87,000 people) populated the cities and towns of Donbas.

According to population census performed in 1989, the Crimean peninsula hosted some 47,000 Crimean Tatars. For the most part, they inhabited mountainous and steppe regions of the peninsula as well as south coast of Crimea, and primarily live in Crimean villages. As of January 1, 1995 their quantity exceeded 250,000 people. However, status of Tatars that live in Crimea remains indefinite so far. Main reason of such uncertainty relates to the fact that this nation was deported from Crimea in 1944. At present, Crimean Tatars still have no right of self-determination and thus they do not officially rank among national minorities.

Besides to abovementioned nations, Ukraine also embraces Germans (38,000 people that primarily live in southern regions), Gagauzes (32,000 people that inhabited Izmail, Kiliya, and Bolgrad districts of Odesa region), and Czechs (9,000 people that live in the southern parts of Volyn, Rivnr, and Zhytomyr regions). The quantity of Slovaks is quite insignificant (8,000 people that inhabited the southwestern part of Zakarpatye). Several dozens of other nationalities primarily live in Ukrainian cities and towns.

All national minorities that live on the territory of Ukraine are notable for complicated and difficult historical development. However, having passed the Declaration of Sovereignty, the Act of Independence, and the Law of Ukraine “On National Minorities”, Ukraine purposefully embarked on spiritual revival of non-indigenous nations, protection of their rights and interests, and settlement of their social-and-economic and cultural-and-lingual problems. To intensify such activities, Ukraine is engaged in more precise definition of compact settlements of non-indigenous nations, and elaborates the possible ways of their improvement taking into account cultural and historic traditions of such minorities and providing them with objects of social infrastructure.

Urban and rural population, settlement patterns

In the XX century, the territory of Ukraine featured radical changes in distribution of urban and rural population. In the pre-revolution era, more than 80% of Ukrainian population lived in rural area. Later on, social changes, industrialization, development of mineral deposits, establishing of powerful scientific centers, and complicated living conditions in rural area stipulated intensive urbanization, i.e. development of cities and growth of urban population. In 1959-2006, the share of urban population in the total population of Ukraine grew from 46% to 68%. As of January 1, 2006 urban population accounted for 68% of the total against 32% brought in by rural inhabitants.

The share and density of urban population differ on the territorial basis. Urban population directly depends on location of industrial facilities. The most urbanized areas are represented by the northern part of Donetsk region, the southwestern part of Lugansk region, and regions that host large-scale industrial centers.

Regularities in present geographical distribution of rural population are based on historical peculiarities that were formed under the influence of economic, natural-and-geographic, and social-and-political factors. Distribution of rural population on the territory of Ukraine is notable for its unevenness. The most densely populated rural areas are located in forest-steppe parts of Lviv, Ternopil, Chernivtsi, Khmelnytskiy, and Vinytsya regions (60-70 individuals per 1 sq. km). Considerable density of rural population (50-60 individuals per 1 sq. km) also characterizes other forest-steppe regions of the Right-Bank Ukraine. Lower density of rural population (some 40 individuals per 1 sq. km) can be found in forest-steppe parts of the Left-Bank Ukraine. In general, forest-steppe zone embraces more than 50% of rural population in Ukraine.

To compare, Polissya is notable for considerably lower density of population. Such peculiarity resulted from insignificant tillage of its territory, greater area of waterlogged land and sands, and lower fertility of its soils. Most people that inhabited Polissya currently live in Chernigiv region (40-50 individuals per 1 sq. km) while the lowest density of population characterizes the waterlogged northwestern part of Volyn. As regards the whole Ukraine, the lowest density of rural population falls on steppe zone. For instance, certain districts of Kherson and Zaporizhzhya regions embrace meager 15-17 individuals per 1 sq. km. This territory lagged behind other parts of Ukraine regarding the time of its developing. Formerly, it primarily gave rise to different sectors of agriculture that did not require significant volume of manpower.

Total quantity of Ukrainian settlements together with their inter-connections form the so-called territorial settling system. In Ukraine, such system consists of 9 regional, 24 sub-regional, 72 local, 370 district, 1,200 clustered, and some 9,000 primary settling sub-systems. Territorial settling system of Ukraine is characterized with comparatively dense settling and embraces 1,354 cities and towns, and 28,854 villages.

In the last quarter of the XX century, management and formation of settling systems were notable for substantial defects. Such situation led to disproportion in the network of urban and rural settlements, concentration of Ukrainian population in large cities, as well as territorial unevenness in location of regional centers. Besides, Ukraine suffered from insufficient development of managerial functions borne by a number of regional and district centers, annual depopulation of rural settlements, existing gaps in provision with habitation facilities, unregulated development of urban agglomerations, lack of complex approach to further building works in urban settlements, and disproportions in development of social infrastructure.

In the recent years, development of settling system was influenced by the absence of scientifically well-grounded approaches to development and distribution of productive capacities, and equilibration of production facilities and settlement patterns. Recession of Ukrainian economy negatively affected the existing economic ties between inhabited localities, and also hampered the formation of interrelated settling systems.

As regards the nearest perspective, development of settling system would be accomplished due to such factors as economic sovereignty and independence of Ukraine, and transition to market economy. Such factors would add to enlivening of economic activity, further broadening of external and internal ties, establishing of qualitatively new territorial productive facilities, and settlement of social and ecological problems.

Cities play crucial role in territorial organization of Ukraine. At present, Ukraine embraces 445 cities. According to existing classification, there are five categories of cities regarding their population: small cities (embracing up to 50,000 people), medium cities (hosting from 50,000 to 100,000 individuals), large cities (100,000 to 250,000 people), the largest cities (250,000 to 1 mn inhabitants), and millionaire cities (more than 1 mn inhabitants).

According to the principles of functional typology, Ukrainian cities can be also divided in several types depending on their population, employment and economic structure, administrative status, organizational and social-and-cultural functions, importance as the system-forming entities, position in settling system, and development outlooks:

1. Multifunctional, administrative, and large social-and-economic centers characterized with developed industry, education, servicing, and management. Such entities are represented by the largest Ukrainian cities and regional centers. Ukraine hosts 32 such cities.
2. Cities that primarily perform industrial functions; their population is primarily engaged in industrial production (such indicator is higher than the average Ukrainian level), and localization index in such cities exceeds “1”. Total quantity of such cities is 136.
3. Cities that primarily perform industrial and transportation functions; more than 30% of their manpower are engaged in industrial production, and more than 20% of their manpower represent transportation sector. Ukraine embraces 43 such cities.
4. Cities that primarily perform transportation functions; more than 30% of their active population are engaged in transportation sector though the level of its employment in industrial sphere is considerably lower, as compared to the average Ukraine’s figures. There are only 9 such cities in the country.
5. Cities that perform industrial and recreational functions (7 cities).
6. Cities that are recreational centers. Their employment structure is dominated by recreational sectors of national economy. Total quantity of such cities in Ukraine is 9.
7. Local organizational-and-economic and cultural centers, centers of agro-industrial complexes. Such cities are notable for insignificant population, insignificant percentage of people engaged in industrial production and high percentage of people engaged in agriculture. There are 188 such cities in the country.
8. Industrial-and-agrarian centers. Major part of their population works in agriculture (15 cities).
9. Cities with no population (Pripyat, Chernobyl) abandoned due to Chernobyl catastrophe.
10. Sleeping-type city (Slavutich).

As regards administrative distribution, urban settlements can be divided in cities of district, regional, and the state administration. The latter cities are represented by Kyiv and Sevastopol.

In Ukraine, there are 26 large cities, 5 of which embrace more than 1 mn inhabitants. In the 1960s and the 1970s, large and the largest cities were notable for quite significant tempos of development primarily due to mechanical augmentation of their population. Starting from the 1970s, further growth of urban population insignificantly slowed down. Among other things, such deceleration resulted from special measures aimed at suppression of excessive growth of large cities. At that time, development of large cities encountered first negative tendencies. A number of cities featured the worsening of ecological situation, and occurrence of housing and transport problems. Besides, imbalance between material production and nonproductive spheres became more profound.

Such unique settling forms as urban agglomerations emerged due to aggregation of urban settlements, especially around large cities. At present, there are 19 such agglomerations in Ukraine embracing 6 largest entities (Kyiv, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Lviv, and Odesa that together host more than 12 mn people), 6 large entities (Krivyi Rig, Gorlivka, Lugansk, Kramatorsk, Mariupol, and Stakhanov that together embrace some 5 mn people) and 8 smaller agglomerations (Simferopol, Mykolyiv, Kherson, Krasniy Lug, Kremenchug, Lysichansk, Nikopol, and Torez that together embrace some 4 mn people).

Mentioned agglomerations are characterized with development of satellite cities, i.e. urban settlements that maintain close production, labor, and cultural ties with major cities. For instance, Kyiv borders on such satellite cities as Irpen, Boyarka, Borispil, and Vyshneve.

Development of agglomerations is still characterized with a number of negative tendencies regarding the growth in the number of such urban localities. In particular, urban and rural settlements as well as their transport and engineering systems are developed quite uncoordinatedly, which led to disordered building up of their territory, losses of agricultural cropland, and worsening of natural environment.

Kyiv is the largest city and the capital of Ukraine. It is the most significant political-and-managerial, economic, scientific, and cultural center of the state, and also is the center of Kyiv region and Kyiv-Svyatoshyn district. Kyiv embraces some 2.6 mn inhabitants. The city is divided in 10 districts. Kyiv hosts the Verkhovna Rada (Supreme Council) of Ukraine, the President of Ukraine and its Secretariat, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, and most state institutions. There are more than 20 institutions of higher education in Kyiv (Taras Shevchenko National University, National Technical University “Kiev Polytechnics”, medical university, and many others). Also, Kyiv accommodated the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and its numerous research institutes. Among them, a special heed should be given to the world-famous E.O. Paton Electric Welding Institute. Besides, Kyiv is notable for the National Opera and Ballet Theatre, Ukrainian and Russian drama theatres, lots of museums, architectural sights, and picturesque parks (especially those located on the near-Dnipro slopes).

Kyiv is one of the largest industrial centers of Ukraine. In particular, Kyiv is well known due to its precision and complex machine-building, and instrument-making industries. Besides, Kyiv hosts a number of enterprises that represent light industry (knitwear, garment, and shoe factories, silk-making integrated works), and food-processing industry (confectionary factory, meat-processing plant, milk and bread-baking plants, etc.).

Kyiv is the large transportation center. Railroad, river, and motorcar roads, and airlines connect Kyiv with other Ukrainian cities and numerous countries worldwide. Also, Kyiv develops its own subway.

Kharkiv is the second largest city in Ukraine (embracing more than 1.5 mn inhabitants), also being the center of Kharkiv urban agglomeration. Favorable economic and geographic location of Kharkiv (close to important coal-mining and metallurgical base) stipulated its transformation into the largest industrial and transport center of Ukraine. Machine building is major sector of its industry. Kharkiv enterprises produce machine tools, tractors, airplanes, equipment for electric power stations (turbines, hydroelectric generators), various mechanisms abd automation facilities, and so on. Besides, Kharkiv enjoys quite developed chemical, light (clothing, knitwear), and food-processing industries. Kharkiv also built its own subway.

Kharkiv is the large scientific and cultural center. It embraces more than 20 institutions of higher education (university, polytechnic and aviation institutes, etc.), and some 150 research and planning-and-design institutes. Among them, a special attention should be drawn to Physical and Engineering Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine that accomplished the splitting of the atomic nucleus, and the Northeastern Scientific Center of the National Academy of Sciences. The city also hosts the opera and ballet theatre, Ukrainian and Russian drama theatres, historical and art museums.

The city of Dnipropetrovsk (called Katerynoslav till 1926, and embracing 1.1 mn people) is situated on Dnipro River between Donbas and Kryvyi Rig districts, which stipulated its adherence to metallurgical industry since the last quarter of the XIX century. At present, Dnipropetrovsk is one of the largest industrial centers of Ukraine, significant railway junction and river port. The city embraces 8 metallurgical enterprises, and tube-rolling mills. Its numerous machine-building plants produce rocket-probe, metallurgical and railway equipment, metalware, rolling mills, heavy machines, beet harvesters, electric locomotives, radio equipment, space-system appliances, and various instruments. Besides, the city is notable for developed by-product-coking and varnish-and-paint industries. Dnipropetrovsk hosts tire factory, and a number of enterprises that represent woodworking, light and food-processing industries. Also, Dnipropetrovsk is an important scientific and cultural center. It embraces a lot of educational institutions (university, institute of mines, etc.), scientific-and-research institutes, and the Near-Dnipro Scientific Center of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. There is opera and ballet theatre in the city, while its historical museum (named after D.I. Yavornitskyi) ranks among the oldest museums in Ukraine. However, the city is characterized with significant pollution of air with industrial emissions.

Donetsk (called Yuzovka till 1924, and embracing more than 1 mn inhabitants) is the center of Donbas region and the fourth largest city of Ukraine. Until the revolution of 1917, it was nothing but a village for factory workers. At present, Donetsk is a large industrial city with numerous parks and cultural-and-educational institutions. Together with the city of Makeevka and a number of adjacent urban settlements Donetsk forms the Donetsk-Makeevka urban agglomeration. Donetsk is the city of metallurgists, miners, and chemical industry workers. It embraces dozens of coalmines, and metallurgical, by-product-coking, and machine-building works. Its machine-building industry specializes in production of mining equipment, mine-rescue facilities, and metalware. The city hosts large-scale chemical plant. In the past years, Donetsk also gave rise to development of light industry. The city has its own scientific center of the National Academy of Sciences, of Ukraine, university, polytechnic institute and several educational institutions, opera and ballet theatre. Among others things, its provision with water is accomplished due to constructed water channel Siverskyi Donets-Donbass.

Donetsk is ecologically polluted city. Thus, its policy is primarily concentrated on the issues of environmental protection, provision of high-quality drinking water, and planting of greenery.

Odesa (more than 1 mn inhabitants) is the largest industrial, transportation, scientific, and cultural center of the Black Sea region. Major industries that are represented in Odesa include machine-building and metalworking, chemical, and food-processing industries. Odesa plants produce machines, tractor ploughs, cinematographic instrumentation, lifting cranes, and printing equipment. Its chemical industry comprises enterprises that produce superphosphate, plastics, paints, and medicinal preparations. Also, Odesa embraces a number of enterprises that represent light and construction industries.

Odesa is Ukraine’s major Black Sea port that works on the perennial basis. Odesa embraces the southern scientific center with the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, and some 20 institutions of higher education (university, polytechnic institute, institute of marine engineers, communications institute, etc.). The city is notable for its opera and ballet theatre, archeological, historical, and art museums. Odesa is the large recreational center.

Six Ukrainian cities with population ranging from 500,000 to 1 mn people (Zaporizhzhya, Kryvyi Rig, Lugansk, Lviv, Mariupol, and Mykolayiv) embrace some 4 mn inhabitants. In sum, their population makes up 11% of urban population and almost 8% of the total population of Ukraine. The group of the so-called largest cities (250,000 to 500,000 inhabitants) embraces 16 cities with total population of 5.4 mn people. The group of large cities (100,000 to 250,000 inhabitants) consists of 24 cities with total population of 3.8 mn people.

Medium and small cities should be considered as the centerpiece of Ukraine’s settling system. In the past decades, a lot of small and medium cities considerably augmented their productive capacities and improved the state of non-production sphere. Such cities featured the growth of population, improved social and cultural servicing of their inhabitants, and gained in significance as functional centers of local settling systems. However, significant quantity of small and medium cities that enjoyed favorable natural and economic conditions for perspective growth is presently notable for quite slow development. What is more, a lot of such cities suffered from stable curtailment of social and economic potential, sharpening of ecological situation, and reduction of their population. Thus, the issue of fostered development of small and medium cities remains quite urgent from the economic and social points of view. Such cities should keep on performing their functions as organizational and economic centers of productive activity, and should continue to render social-and-cultural services to people that inhabit the adjacent agricultural territories.

Urban-type communities constitute one of the most numerous categories of inhabited localities in Ukraine thus contributing the most to the structure of urban settlements. At present, Ukraine embraces 909 urban-type communities, which makes up 67.1% of the total network of urban settlements, and adds 13% to the total population of Ukraine. In the past decades, this category of settlements (that perform important functions in the system of rural settling, namely industrial, agro-industrial, transport, organizational, recreational, and some others) was notable for qualitative growth (via further broadening of their network, population growth, and augmentation of average density of population). In the beginning of the 1990s, total quantity of urban-type communities insignificantly curtailed since some of them got the municipal status. As regards further development of urban-type communities, Ukraine would have to settle such problems as the strengthening of their economic potential, improvement of productive and social infrastructure (via accelerated growth of industrial production, residential building, and engineering development of territories), and improvement of social and cultural servicing of their population.

Ukraine possesses approximately 29,000 villages. In the period between two population censuses that were accomplished in 1979 and 1989, the number of small villages was notable for its augmentation while the number of medium and large villages featured downward tendency. During the period under review, the average population of Ukrainian villages dropped from 665 to 601 inhabitants. Villages that are located in different natural and geographic zones have significant differences. For instance, due to high level of soil waters and prevalence of waterlogged areas Polissya villages were primarily established on elevated grounds, forest edges, and in close vicinity to meadows. Polissya villages are quite compact.

Quite different type of rural settlements can be found in forest-steppe zone. Considerable quantity of forest-steppe villages was established in river valleys, not watersheds. As regards their dimensions, such villages are bigger than Polesye settlements though are interior to steppe villages. Distance between villages in forest-steppe zone is quite insignificant. The largest villages are located in steppe zone and embrace some 3,000 to 5,000 inhabitants. They also occupy river valleys and lowlands. Distance between such villages is 2-3 times greater than distance between villages in forest-steppe zone. Rural settlements of the Ukrainian Carpathians are notable for their uniqueness. They are quite compact. Houses form the terraces on the slopes of mountains.

In the past decades, the outward appearance of rural settlements and cultural landscape of rural regions featured certain changes. Thatches became a thing of the past, new villages with up-to-date buildings appear, and the area of green plantations features an upward tendency. New houses in villages are primarily built of bricks. Roofs are covered with slates or roofing iron. Such public buildings as clubs, schools, hospitals, and shops are often many-storied.

However, consumer attitude to villages led to situation when living conditions in rural regions significantly differ from those in Ukrainian cities. Most villages lack water pipelines, centralized gas supplying, and streets paved with asphalt. Significant quantity of villages has no access roads with solid pavement. Erroneous policy of the so-called unpromising villages became one of the major reasons of their decline. Many villages, especially small ones, became degraded while some of them even disappeared from the geographic map of Ukraine. Their population died out or migrated to the cities and urban-type settlements.

In the 1990s, general economic recession in Ukraine slowed down the reconstruction of rural settlements. To liquidate the existing social-and-economic gap between rural and urban areas, Verkhovna Rada (Supreme Council) of Ukraine passed the Law “On Priority-Driven Social Development of Villages and Agroindustrial Complex in the National Economy of Ukraine” (in 1992), which provided for measures aimed at accelerated development of productive and non-productive spheres in rural settlements.

Manpower resources

Manpower resources embrace the most active population of a country, region or administrative district disposed to socially useful work in the framework of national economy. According to Ukrainian legislation, manpower resources include the able-bodied citizens: namely, men at the age of 16 to 60, and women at the age of 16 to 55, with an exception for unemployed invalids of the 1st and the 2nd groups and pensioners that obtain their pensions under preferential terms. Besides, manpower resources also include individuals of younger age that are de-facto engaged in socially useful work (pensioners, teenagers).

In Ukraine, manpower resources account for more than 50% of its total population. In 1970, Ukraine hosted 25.5 mn able-bodied citizens, which contributed 56% to the total. According to population census performed in 1989, Ukraine comprised 28.7 mn able-bodied citizens, which made up 55.8% of its total population. In 1996, manpower resources of Ukraine augmented to some 30 mn people.

For quite a long period of time, the volume of manpower resources in Ukraine changed under the influence of social-and-economic rather than demographic factors. This can be confirmed by the notion that augmentation of manpower resources outstripped the growth of able-bodied population.

At present, distribution of manpower resources in Ukrainian economy features the following tendency: the share of Ukrainians engaged in the sectors of material production gradually lowers while the share of Ukrainians in the non-productive sectors (education, healthcare, communal servicing, consumer services) gradually grows.

In 1985-1995, the most significant drop in employment rate was observed in industrial sectors, agriculture, transport, and communications. Besides, Ukraine featured structural redistribution of employees embraced by enterprises of different types of ownership. The number of employees that represent private companies constantly grows due to privatization of state-owned enterprises.

Manpower resources of Ukraine are notable for quite high level of education and qualification. For instance, in 1980 employees with higher and specialized secondary education accounted for 27% of the total quantity of workers embraced by the national economy. In 1985, this indicator grew to 30%, and in 1989 it comprised 34% of the total. At present, some 28.7% of employees in Ukraine possess higher and specialized secondary education.

Along with this, modern Ukraine is characterized with insignificant labor activity of youth (under 20 in age), which is almost 30% below the level of economically developed countries worldwide. Such tendency can be explained with considerably longer educational and professional training in Ukraine as well as two-year compulsory military service. However, recent social and political changes in Ukraine (in particular, aggravation of economic recession, and the gap between working time and existing salaries) led to significant curtailment in the number of young people that combine their study with work, and simultaneously caused the growth in the number of working youth. For the most part, such tendency is typical to large cities where young people traditionally oriented themselves to studying and obtaining of higher or specialized secondary education.

The highest share of pensioners in total quantity of active workers is currently observed in Chernigiv, Sumy, Cherkasy, Kharkiv, Odesa, and Poltava regions and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea (25-29%) while the lowest figures characterize the city of Kyiv (16.5%).

In the past decades, demographic development of Ukraine was characterized with augmented labor activity of women. Women contributed the most to the total quantity of workers and officers engaged in Ukrainian economy (52% in 1980 and 1985, 53% in 1990, and 51% in 1992 and 1995). For the most part, women in Ukraine represent the sphere of consumer services. For instance, in 1993 women comprised the bigger part of enterprises engaged in healthcare, physical culture, and social welfare (79% of the total number of their employees), trade and catering (75% of the total), culture (67%), and education (68%). In 1992, women added 49% to the total quantity of workers engaged in industrial sectors, and also contributed 41% to the total quantity of workers engaged in Ukrainian agriculture (average annual figures).

Higher labor activity of women can be explained with Ukrainian traditions, high level of their education, and economic motives. Besides, such proportion resulted from the fact that women more often lose their job and feature greater problems while looking for a new workplace. In most large cities, market proposition of female labor exceeded the proposition of male labor. For instance, in Kharkov region female labor contingent exceeds the one embracing working men by 17,500 individuals while in Kyiv such difference amounted to some 34,700 individuals. In future, considerable share of women in labor contingents is likely to retain in the central, eastern, and southeastern regions of Ukraine as well as the large cities of the country.