| GEOGRAPHY |
| Country name: |
conventional long form: none
conventional short form: Ukraine
local long form: none
local short form: Ukrayina
former: Ukrainian National Republic, Ukrainian State, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic |
| Capital: |
Kiev (Kyyiv) |
| Location: |
Eastern Europe, bordering the Black Sea, between Poland, Romania, and Moldova in the west and Russia in the east |
| Geographic
Coordinates: |
49 00 N, 32 00 E |
| Area: |
total: 603,700 sq km
land: 603,700 sq km
water: 0 sq km |
| Area
Comparative: |
slightly smaller than Texas |
| Land
Boundaries: |
total: 4,663 km
border countries: Belarus 891 km, Hungary 103 km, Moldova 939 km, Poland 526 km, Romania (south) 169 km, Romania (west) 362 km, Russia 1,576 km, Slovakia 97 km |
| Coastline: |
2,782 km |
| Maritime
Claims: |
territorial sea: 12 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
continental shelf: 200-m or to the depth of exploitation |
| 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 |
| Elavation
Extremes: |
lowest point: Black Sea 0 m
highest point: Hora Hoverla 2,061 m |
| Natural
Resources: |
iron ore, coal, manganese, natural gas, oil, salt, sulfur, graphite, titanium, magnesium, kaolin, nickel, mercury, timber, arable land |
| GOVERNEMENT |
| Governement
Type: |
republic |
| Administratives
Divisions: |
24 provinces (oblasti, singular - oblast'), 1 autonomous republic* (avtonomna respublika), and 2 municipalities (mista, singular - misto) with oblast status**; Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Chernivtsi, Crimea or Avtonomna Respublika Krym* (Simferopol'), Dnipropetrovs'k, Donets'k, Ivano-Frankivs'k, Kharkiv, Kherson, Khmel'nyts'kyy, Kirovohrad, Kiev (Kyyiv)**, Kyyiv, Luhans'k, L'viv, Mykolayiv, Odesa, Poltava, Rivne, Sevastopol'**, Sumy, Ternopil', Vinnytsya, Volyn' (Luts'k), Zakarpattya (Uzhhorod), Zaporizhzhya, Zhytomyr
note: administrative divisions have the same names as their administrative centers (exceptions have the administrative center name following in parentheses) |
| Independence |
24 August 1991 (from the Soviet Union) |
| National
Holiday: |
Independence Day, 24 August (1991); the date of 22 January (1918), the day Ukraine first declared its independence (from Soviet Russia), is now celebrated as Unity Day |
| Constitution: |
adopted 28 June 1996 |
| Legal
System; |
based on civil law system; judicial review of legislative acts |
| Suffrage |
18 years of age; universal |
| Executive
Branch: |
chief of state: President Viktor A. YUSHCHENKO (since 23 January 2005)
head of government: Prime Minister Yuliya TYMOSHENKO (since 4 February 2005); First Deputy Prime Minister - Anatoliy KINAKH (since 4 February 2005)
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 former-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
elections: president elected by popular vote for a five-year term; note - a special repeat runoff presidential election between Viktor YUSHCHENKO and Viktor YANUKOVYCH took place on 26 December 2004 after the earlier 21 November 2004 contest - won by Mr. YANUKOVYCH - was invalidated by the Ukrainian Supreme Court because of widespread and significant violations; prime minister and deputy prime ministers appointed by the president and approved by the Supreme Council
election results: Viktor YUSHCHENKO elected president; percent of vote - Viktor YUSHCHENKO 51.99%, Viktor YANUKOVYCH 44.2% |
| Legislative
Branch: |
unicameral Supreme Council or Verkhovna Rada (450 seats; under recent amendments to Ukraine's election law, the Rada's seats are allocated on a proportional basis to those parties that gain 3% or more of the national electoral vote; members serve five-year terms beginning with the next election in 2006)
elections: last held 31 March 2002 (next to be held March 2006)
election results: percent of vote by party/bloc - Our Ukraine 24%, CPU 20%, United Ukraine 12%, SPU 7%, Yuliya Tymoshenko Bloc 7%, United Social Democratic Party 6%, other 24%; seats by party/bloc - Our Ukraine 101, Regions of Ukraine 61, CPU 59, Working Ukraine 14, United Social Democratic Party 33, Agrarian Party 22, SPU 20, Yuliya Tymoshenko Bloc 19, United Ukraine 19, People's Democratic Party-Party of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs 16, Center Group 15, Democratic Initiatives 14, unaffiliated 57 (December 2004)
note: following the election, United Ukraine splintered into the Agrarian Party, European Choice, People's Choice, People's Democratic Party, Regions of Ukraine, and Working Ukraine-Industrialists and Entrepreneurs; these factions have since undergone a number of changes |
| Judicial
Branch: |
Supreme Court; Constitutional Court |
| Political
parties and Leaders: |
Agrarian Party [Volodymyr LYTVYN]; Communist Party of Ukraine or CPU [Petro SYMONENKO]; Democratic Initiatives [Stepan HAVRYSH]; Industrialists and Entrepreneurs [Anatoliy KINAKH]; Our Ukraine bloc (comprised of several parties the most prominent of which are Rukh, the Ukrainian People's Party, Reforms and Order, and Solidarity) [Viktor YUSHCHENKO]; People's Democratic Party or PDP [Valeriy PUSTOVOYTENKO]; Regions of Ukraine [Viktor YANUKOVYCH]; Socialist Party of Ukraine or SPU [Oleksandr MOROZ, chairman]; United Social Democratic Party [Viktor MEDVEDCHUK]; Working Ukraine [Serhiy TYHYPKO]; Yuliya Tymoshenko Bloc [Yuliya TYMOSHENKO]
note: as well as numerous smaller parties; United Ukraine and Center Group are not actual political parties, but rather deputy groups (factions not based on a party) |
| PEOPLE |
| Population: |
47,425,336 (July 2005 est.) |
| Age structure: |
0-14 years: 15.6% (male 3,783,725/female 3,619,754)
15-64 years: 68.8% (male 15,619,989/female 16,992,628)
65 years and over: 15.6% (male 2,497,851/female 4,911,389) (2005 est.) |
| Median age: |
total: 38.22 years
male: 34.91 years
female: 41.21 years (2005 est.) |
| Nationality: |
noun: Ukrainian(s)
adjective: Ukrainian |
| Ethnic groups: |
Ukrainian 77.8%, Russian 17.3%, Belarusian 0.6%, Moldovan 0.5%, Crimean Tatar 0.5%, Bulgarian 0.4%, Hungarian 0.3%, Romanian 0.3%, Polish 0.3%, Jewish 0.2%, other 1.8% (2001) |
| Religions: |
Ukrainian Orthodox - Kiev Patriarchate 19%, Orthodox (no particular jurisdiction) 16%, Ukrainian Orthodox - Moscow Patriarchate 9%, Ukrainian Greek Catholic 6%, Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox 1.7%, Protestant, Jewish, none 38% (2004 est.) |
| Languages: |
Ukrainian (official) 67%, Russian 24%; small Romanian-, Polish-, and Hungarian-speaking minorities |
| COMUNICATIONS |
| Telephones - main
lines in use: |
10,833,300 (2002) |
| Telephones - mobile
cellular: |
4.2 million (2002) |
| Telephone system: |
general assessment: Ukraine's telecommunication development plan, running through 2005, emphasizes improving domestic trunk lines, international connections, and the 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; the mobile cellular telephone system is expanding at a high rate
international: country code - 380; 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 that 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 |
| Radio broadcast
stations: |
AM 134, FM 289, shortwave 4 (1998) |
| Television broadcast
stations: |
at least 33 (plus 21 repeaters that relay broadcasts from Russia) (1997) |
| Internet country
code: |
.ua |
| Internet hosts: |
94,345 (2004) |
| Internet users: |
3.8 million (2003) |
| TRANSPORT |
| Railways: |
total: 22,473 km
broad gauge: 22,473 km 1.524-m gauge (9,250 km electrified) (2003) |
| Highways: |
total: 169,679 km
paved: 164,249 km
unpaved: 5,430 km (2002) |
| Waterways: |
1,672 km (most on Dnieper River) (2004) |
| Pipelines: |
gas 20,069 km; oil 4,540 km; refined products 4,169 km (2004) |
| Ports and harbors: |
Berdyans'k, Feodosiya, Illichivs'k, Izmayil, Kerch, Kherson, Kiev (Kyyiv), Kiliya, Mariupol', Mykolayiv, Odesa, Reni, Sevastopol', Yalta, Yuzhnyy |
| Merchant marine: |
total: 201 ships (1,000 GRT or over) 675,904 GRT/709,802 DWT
by type: bulk carrier 6, cargo 148, container 4, passenger 7, passenger/cargo 6, petroleum tanker 10, refrigerated cargo 11, roll on/roll off 7, specialized tanker 2
foreign-owned: 1 (Russia 1)
registered in other countries: 113 (2005) |
| Airports: |
702 (2004 est.) |
| Airports - with
paved runways: |
total: 174
over 3,047 m: 13
2,438 to 3,047 m: 57
1,524 to 2,437 m: 30
914 to 1,523 m: 4
under 914 m: 70 (2003 est.) |
| Airports - with
unpaved runways: |
total: 528
over 3,047 m: 4
2,438 to 3,047 m: 3
1,524 to 2,437 m: 17
914 to 1,523 m: 35
under 914 m: 469 (2003 est.) |
| Heliports: |
8 (2004 est.) |
|
