Demographics of Ukraine

Population

45,426,249 (1 January 2013)

Age structure

(1989 official.)

(2005 official.)

(2015 official.)

Median age

Historical data

There were roughly 4 million Ukrainians at the end of the 17th century. The majority of the historical information is sourced from Demoscope.ru. Please note that territory of modern Ukraine at the times listed above varied greatly. The western regions of Ukraine, west of Zbruch river, until 1939 for most of time were part of the Kingdom of Galicia and later the Polish Republic. The detailed information for those territories is missing, for more information see Demographics of Poland. The Crimean peninsula changed hands as well, in 1897 it was a part of the Taurida Governorate, but after the October Revolution became part of the Russian SFSR, and later was turned under the administration of the Ukrainian SSR.

The territory of Budjak (southern Bessarabia) became a part of the Ukrainian SSR in June 1940. The censuses of 1926 through 1989 were taken in the Ukrainian SSR. The census of 1897 is taken with the correspondence to nine gubernias that included in the territory of today's Ukraine. The statistics of 1905 records are taken from www.statoids.com which provides a broad degree of historical explanation on the situation in the Imperial Russia. The census statistics of 1931 was estimated by the professor Zenon Kuzela (1882–1952) from Berlin. His calculations are as of January 1, 1931. This ethnographer is mentioned in the encyclopedia of Ukraine as one of the sources only available due to lack of the official census.

The 2001 census was the first official census of the independent republic of Ukraine. Its data is given as on January 1. The 2003–2009 stats were taken from the official website of Ukrstat and represent the data as of February of each year for the real population.

Ukrainian provinces of the Russian Empire

The figures below refer to the nine governorates of the Russian Empire (Volhynia, Yekaterinoslav, Kiev, Podolia, Poltava, Taurida, Kharkov, Kherson and Chernigov) with a Ukrainian majority.

Between WWI and WWII

(a) Information is given for Ukraine's territory within its old boundaries up to September 17, 1939 (b) Information is given for Ukraine's territory within its present-day boundaries, after the annexation of Eastern Galicia and Volhynia on September 1939

After WW II

(e) estimate

Note: Data excludes Crimea starting in 2014.

Current vital statistics

Note: The 2014 statistics, as well as all comparisons between 2014 and 2013, now include Crimea as part of Russia.

The number of Russians decreased by 10% of the total population of Ukraine [or around half of all Russians in Ukraine] because many were exercising Russia's right of return

The number of births during the months of January–November 2016 decreased by 12740 over the same period in 2015. The birth rate for January–September 2016 was 7.7 per 1,000 population, an decrease over 8.0 during January–September 2015.

The number of deaths during the same period has decreased from 14,249. The mortality rate for January–September 2016 was 11.2 deaths per 1,000 inhabitants of rate of 11.9 during the period of January–September 2015.

During the period of January-September 2016 the natural increase over the last three years were respectively −3.5 per 1,000 and −3.9 in 2015.

Birth data by oblast

Note: Recent data for Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts has been affected by the War in Donbass, and may only include births within the government-held parts of the oblasts.

Year in review 2013

Compared to 2012, amount of attrition increased by 16,278 persons, or 3.1 to 3.5 persons per 1,000 inhabitants real. Natural decrease was observed in 23 oblasts of the country, while natural increases were recorded only in the capital Kiev, Zakarpattya, Rivne and Volyn oblast (respectively 5,302, 3,689, 2,889 and 1,034 people).

Some regions registered a low natural decline, such as Chernivtsi, Ivano-Frankivsk, Sevastopol, Lviv, Ternopil, Crimea, Kherson and Odessa (respectively, −55, −642, −863, −2,124, −2,875, −2,974, −3,748 and −4,448 people). The largest declines were recorded in Donetsk, Luhansk, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Poltava and Chernihiv (respectively −28,311, −15,291, −15,007, −12,765, −10,062 and −10,057), regions which have in common a low birth rate and high mortality of a large urban population and a strong rural population aging.

Net migration rate

−5.4 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2015).

Infant mortality rate

Life expectancy at birth

Total fertility rate

In 2001 Ukraine recorded the lowest fertility rate ever recorded in Europe for an independent country: 1.08 child/woman. During this year the number of children born was less than half of that born in 1987. Lower rates were recorded only in former East Germany, which registered 0.77 child/woman in 1994, as well as Taiwan (from 2008 to 2010), and both Hong Kong and Macau (from about 2000 to 2010). After neglect by the Kuchma administration, both the Yushchenko and the Yanukovych governments have made increasing the birth rate a priority.

Total fertility rate by oblast

Although none of the oblasts in 2013 has recorded a higher fertility rate 2.10 children per woman. However, the rate has been in rural areas in the Rivne Oblast (2.50) and the Volyn Oblast (2.20). While a very close generational renewal rate was achieved in the Odessa Oblast (2.04), Zakarpattia Oblast (2.00), Mykolaiv Oblast (1.95), Chernivtsi Oblast (1.93) and Zhytomyr Oblast (1.91) weaker when they have been recorded in the Luhansk oblast (1.41), Sumy oblast (1.47) and Cherkasy Oblast (1.53).

The fertility rate of the highest urban areas were recorded in the Zakarpattia Oblast (1.80), the city of Sevastopol (1.57), Volyn Oblast (1.56), Kiev Oblast (1.56) and the Rivne Oblast (1.54). The lowest rates were recorded in the Sumy Oblast (1.23), Kharkiv Oblast (1.26), Cherkasy Oblast (1.28), Chernihiv Oblast (1.28), Chernivtsi Oblast (1.28), Luhansk oblast (1.28), Poltava oblast (1.29), Donetsk oblast (1.29) and Zaporizhia Oblast (1.32).

Ethnic groups

In 2001 year, Ukrainians 77.8%, Russian 17.3%, Romanian 0.8% (including Moldovan 0.5%), Belarusian 0.6%, Crimean Tatar 0.5%, Bulgarian 0.4%, Hungarian 0.3%, Polish 0.3%, Jewish 0.2%, Pontic Greeks 0.2% and other 1.6% (including Muslim Bulgarians, otherwise known as Torbesh and a microcosm of Swedes of Gammalsvenskby).

Languages

According to the latest census that took place, in Ukraine are common following languages Ukrainian 67.5%, Russian 29.6%, Crimean Tatar, Urum (Turkic Greeks), Bulgarian, Moldovan, Polish, Hungarian. The below table gives the total population of various ethnic groups in Ukraine and the primary language, according to the 2000 census.

Religion

Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kiev Patriarchate 39.8%, Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) 29.4%, Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church 14.1%, Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church 2.8%, Roman Catholic 1.7%, Protestant 2.4%, Islam 0.6%, Jewish 0.2%, other 2% (2008 est.)

Regional differences in population change

Between the Soviet census of 1989 and the Ukrainian census of 2001, Ukraine's population declined from 51,706,600 to 48,457,020, a loss of 2,926,700 people or 5.7% of the 1989 population. However, this trend has been quite uneven and varied regionally. Two regions in western Ukraine — Rivne and Zakarpattia, saw slight population increases of .3% and .5% respectively. A third western Ukrainian region, Volyn, lost less than .1% of its population between 1989 and 2001. Collectively, between 1989 and 2001 the seven westernmost regions of Ukraine lost 167,500 people or 1.7% of their 1989 population. The total population of these regions in 2001 was 9,593,800.

Between 1989 and 2001, the population of Kiev City increased by .3% due to positive net-migration. Outside the capital, the central, southern and eastern regions experienced a severe decline in population. Between 1989 and 2001, the Donetsk region lost 491,300 people or 9.2% of its 1989 population, and neighbouring Luhansk region lost 11% of its population. Chernihiv region, in central Ukraine northeast of Kiev, lost 170,600 people or 12% of its 1989 population, the highest percentage loss in of any region in Ukraine. In southern Ukraine, Odessa region lost 173,600 people, or 6.6% of its 1989 population. By 2001, Crimea's population declined by 29,900 people, representing only 1.4% of the 1989 population.

However, this was due to the influx of approximately 200,000 Crimean Tatars – a number equivalent to approximately 10% of Crimea's 1989 population – who arrived in Crimea after 1989 and whose population in that region increased by a factor of 6.4 from 38,000 to 243,400 between 1989 and 2001. Collectively, the net population loss in the regions of Ukraine outside the westernmost regions was 2,759,200 people or 6.6% of the 1989 population. The total population of these regions in 2001 was 39,186,100.

Thus, from 1989–2001 the pattern of population change was one of slight growth in Kiev, slight declines in western Ukraine, large declines in eastern, central and southern Ukraine and slight decline in Crimea due to a large influx of Crimean Tatars.

Regional differences in birth and fertility rates

Ukraine's total fertility rate is one of the lowest in Europe. However, significant regional differences in birth rates may account for some of the demographic differences. In the third quarter of 2007, for instance, the highest birth rate among Ukrainian regions occurred in Volyn Oblast, with a birth rate of 13.4/1,000 people, compared to the Ukrainian country-wide average of 9.6/1,000 people. Volyn's birthrate is higher than the average birth rate of any European country with the exceptions of Iceland and Albania.

In 2007, for the first time since 1990, five Ukrainian regions (Zakarpattia Oblast, Rivne Oblast, Volyn Oblast, Lviv Oblast, and Kiev Oblast) experienced more births than deaths. This demonstrates a positive trend of increasing birthrates in the last couple of years throughout Ukraine. The ratio of births to deaths in those regions in 2007 was 119%, 117%, 110%, 100.7%, and 108%, respectively.

With the exception of Kiev region, all of the regions with more births than deaths were in the less industrially developed regions of western Ukraine. According to a spokesperson for Ukraine's Ministry of Justice, the overall ratio of births to deaths in Ukraine had improved from 1 to 1.7 in 2004–2005 to 1 to 1.4 in 2008. However, the worst birth to death ratios in the country were in the eastern and central oblasts of Donetsk, Luhansk, Cherkasy and Poltava. In these regions, for every birth there were 2.1 deaths.

Notably, western Ukraine never experienced the Holodomor, as Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Romania ruled it at the time, helping to explain the better demographics there, as the rural population was never devastated. Specifically, during the time of the Holodomor, Poland ruled Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv, Rivne, Ternopil, and Volyn Oblasts, whereas Zakarpattia Oblast was under Czechoslovak rule, and Romania controlled Chernivtsi Oblast and the Budjak section of Odessa Oblast.

Abortion behavior in the North, South, East and Center regions of Ukraine are relatively homogeneous while the Western region differs greatly. Overall, the abortion rate in western Ukraine is three times lower than in other regions; however this is not due to an increased use of modern contraceptive methods in the West, but simply due to the fact that pregnant women in the Western regions are more likely to keep their babies. Donetsk and Dniproptrovsk oblasts in eastern and central Ukraine have the country's highest rate of abortions.

Regional differences and death rates and health

Death rates also vary widely by region; Eastern and southern Ukraine have the highest death rates in the country, and the life expectancy for children born in Chernihiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Kherson, Kropyvnytskyi, Luhansk, Mikolaiv, and Odessa regions is 1.5 years lower than the national average.

Ukraine had a suicide rate of 29.6 per 100,000 population in 1998, a significant increase from the suicide rate of 19 per 100,000 in 1988. Suicides are more frequent in the industrially developed regions and in the rural areas of the country than in the cities; In western Ukraine, the suicide rate was lower than the national average at 11.1 per 100,000.

The Southern and eastern Ukrainian regions also suffer from the highest rates of HIV and AIDS, which impacts life expectancy. In late 2000, 60% of all AIDS cases in Ukraine were concentrated in the Odessa, Dnipropetrovsk, and Donetsk regions. A major reason for this is the fact that the urbanized and industrialized regions in the East and South of Ukraine suffered most from the economic crisis in the 1990s, which in turn led to the spread of unemployment, alcoholism, and drug abuse, thus setting the conditions for wider spread of the epidemic.

Regional differences in income

In terms of income, the rural western and central regions of Ukraine are the poorest while Kiev and the industrialized eastern regions of Ukraine are the wealthiest. In December 2010 the average monthly income in Ukraine was 2629 hryvnias. The poorest regions in Ukraine, Volyn and Chernihiv, had monthly incomes of 1995 and 1951 hryvnias, respectively. In contrast, the monthly income in the city of Kiev was 4174 hryvnias per month, the city of Sevastopol 2712 hryvnias per month, and in Kiev region was 2647 per month. Outside of the capital and the city of Sevastopol, the wealthiest regions were Donetsk and Luhansk, whose monthly incomes were 2654 and 2631 hryvnias per month, respectively.

In terms of poverty rates, the western and southern regions of Ukraine (particularly rural areas within those regions) have the country's highest poverty rates while Ukraine's eastern regions have the lowest poverty rates. In 2001, 39 percent of Ukraine's population could be defined as poor when the World Bank's poverty threshold of a dollar per day per capita was used. According to these standards, 49 percent of rural western Ukrainians and 45 percent of urban western Ukrainians were poor. In southern Ukraine, the percentages of poor were 51 and 40 percent, respectively. In contrast, 35% of urban and rural Ukrainians were poor based on per capita income less than one dollar per day in the regions of Eastern Ukraine. When poverty was measured according to the percentage of the population who spent 80% or more of their income on food, regional differences shrank somewhat. In the western regions of Ukraine, 28 percent of rural residents and 9 percent of urban residents spent 80% of their income or more on food. In Ukraine's eastern regions, 19 percent of rural and 11 percent of urban residents spent 80% or more of their income on food.

Migration

Ukraine is the major source of migrants in Russia and many of the European Union Member States. During the 1990s and early 2000s, Ukraine's sputtering economy and political instability contributed to rising emigration, especially to nearby Russia, Poland and Hungary, but also to other States such as Italy, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, Israel, Russia and Canada. Although estimates vary, approximately two to three million Ukrainian citizens are currently working abroad, most of them illegally, in construction, service, housekeeping, and agriculture industries. Eastern Ukrainians are likely to immigrate to Russia while western Ukrainians are likely to move to the E.U.

Between 1991 and 2004, the government counted 2,537,400 individuals who emigrated; 1,897,500 moved to other post-Soviet states, and 639,900 moved to other, mainly Western, states.

By the early 2000s, Ukrainian embassies reported that 300,000 Ukrainian citizens were working in Poland, 200,000 in Italy, approximately 200,000 in the Czech Republic, 150,000 in Portugal, 100,000 in Spain, 35,000 in Turkey, 20,000 in the United States and small significant numbers in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK. The largest number of Ukrainian workers abroad, about one million, are in the Russian Federation. Since 1992, 232,072 persons born in Ukraine have emigrated to the US.

From the point of view of the economic impact on natives, more appropriate than the absolute numbers is the volume of immigration as a proportion of the native population. Excluding the Russian Federation, Portugal and the Czech Republic have the highest rate of Ukrainian emigrants as a proportion of the native population, while the much larger Italy has the largest absolute confirmed number of Ukrainian emigrants (leaving aside Poland, for which there is conflicting data).