1993 Edition

Area

total area: 603,700 km2 land area: 603,700 km2 comparative area: slightly smaller than Texas

Climate

temperate continental; subtropical 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

Coastline

2,782 km

Environment

air and water pollution, deforestation, radiation contamination around Chornobyl' nuclear power plant

International disputes

potential border disputes with Moldova and Romania in northern Bukovina and southern Odes'ka Oblast'; potential dispute with Moldova over former southern Bessarabian areas; 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

Irrigated land

26,000 km2 (1990)

Land boundaries

total 4,558 km, Belarus 891 km, Hungary 103 km, Moldova 939 km, Poland 428 km, Romania (southwest) 169 km, Romania (west) 362 km, Russia 1,576 km, Slovakia 90 km

Land use

arable land: 56% permanent crops: 2% meadows and pastures: 12% forest and woodland: 0% other: 30%

Location

Eastern Europe, bordering the Black Sea, between Poland and Russia

Map references

Asia, Commonwealth of Independent States - European States, Europe, Standard Time Zones of the World

Maritime claims

NA

Natural resources

iron ore, coal, manganese, natural gas, oil, salt, sulphur, graphite, titanium, magnesium, kaolin, nickel, mercury, timber

Note

strategic position at the crossroads between Europe and Asia; second largest country in Europe

Terrain

most of Ukraine consists of fertile plains (steppes) and plateaux, mountains being found only in the west (the Carpathians), and in the Crimean Peninsula in the extreme south

Birth rate

12.38 births/1,000 population (1993 est.)

Death rate

12.53 deaths/1,000 population (1993 est.)

Ethnic divisions

Ukrainian 73%, Russian 22%, Jewish 1%, other 4%

Infant mortality rate

21 deaths/1,000 live births (1993 est.)

Labor force

25.277 million by occupation: industry and construction 41%, agriculture and forestry 19%, health, education, and culture 18%, trade and distribution 8%, transport and communication 7%, other 7% (1990)

Languages

Ukrainian, Russian, Romanian, Polish

Life expectancy at birth

total population: 69.87 years male: 65.32 years female: 74.65 years (1993 est.)

Literacy

age 9-49 can read and write (1970) total population: 100% male: 100% female: 100%

Nationality

noun: Ukrainian(s) adjective: Ukrainian

Net migration rate

0.69 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1993 est.)

Population

51,821,230 (July 1993 est.)

Population growth rate

0.06% (1993 est.)

Religions

Ukrainian Orthodox - Moscow Patriarchate, Ukrainian Orthodox - Kiev Patriarchate, Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox, Ukrainian Catholic (Uniate), Protestant, Jewish

Total fertility rate

1.82 children born/woman (1993 est.)

Administrative divisions

24 oblasts (oblastey, singular - oblast'), 1 autonomous republic* (avtomnaya, respublika), and 2 municipalites (singular - misto) with oblast status**;, Chernihivs'ka, Cherkas'ka, Chernivets'ka, Dnipropetrovs'ka, Donets'ka, Ivano-Frankivs'ka, Kharkivs'ka, Khersons'ka, Khmel'nyts'ka, Kirovohrads'ka, Kyyiv (Kiev)**, Kyyivs'ka (Kiev), Luhans'ka, L'vivs'ka, Mykolayivs'ka,, Odes'ka, Poltavs'ka, Respublika Krym*, Rivnens'ka, Sevastopol'**,Sums'ka,, Ternopil's'ka, Vinnyts'ka, Volyns'ka, Zakarpats'ka, Zaporiz'ka, Zhytomyrs'ka

Capital

Kiev (Kyyiv)

Chief of State

President Leonid Makarovych KRAVCHUK (since 5 December 1991)

Constitution

using 1978 pre-independence constitution; new consitution currently being drafted

Digraph

UP

Diplomatic representation in US

chief of mission: Ambassador Oleh Hryhorovych BILORUS chancery: 3350 M Street NW, Suite 200, Washington, DC 20007 telephone: (202) 333-0606

Executive branch

president, prime minister, cabinet

FAX

(202) 333-0817

[7] (044) 244-7350

Flag

two equal horizontal bands of azure (top) and golden yellow represent grainfields under a blue sky

Head of Government

Prime Minister Leonid Danilovych KUCHMA (since 13 October 1992); Acting First Deputy Prime Minister Yukhym Leonidovych ZVYAHIL'SKYY (since 11 June 1993) and five deputy prime ministers

Independence

1 December 1991 (from Soviet Union)

Judicial branch

being organized

Legal system

based on civil law system; no judicial review of legislative acts

Legislative branch

unicameral Supreme Council

Member of

BSEC, CBSS (observer), CIS, CSCE, EBRD, ECE, IAEA, IBRD, ILO, IMF, INMARSAT, IOC, ITU, NACC, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNPROFOR, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO

Names

conventional long form: none conventional short form: Ukraine local long form: none local short form: Ukrayina former: Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic

National holiday

Independence Day, 24 August (1991)

Other political or pressure groups

Ukrainian People's Movement for Restructuring (Rukh); New Ukraine (Nova Ukrayina); Congress of National Democratic Forces

Political parties and leaders

Green Party of Ukraine, Vitaliy KONONOV, leader; Liberal Party of Ukraine, Ihor MERKULOV, chairman; Liberal Democratic Party of Ukraine, Volodymyr KLYMCHUK, chairman; Democratic Party of Ukraine, Volodymyr Oleksandrovych YAVORIVSKIY, chairman; People's Party of Ukraine, Leopol'd TABURYANSKYY, chairman; Peasants' Party of Ukraine, Serhiy DOVGRAN', chairman; Party of Democratic Rebirth of Ukraine, Volodymyr FILENKO, chairman; Social Democratic Party of Ukraine, Yuriy ZBITNEV, chairman; Socialist Party of Ukraine, Oleksandr MOROZ, chairman; Ukrainian Christian Democratic Party, Vitaliy ZHURAVSKYY, chairman; Ukrainian Conservative Republican Party, Stepan KHMARA, chairman; Ukrainian Labor Party, Valentyn LANDIK, chairman; Ukrainian Party of Justice, Mykhaylo HRECHKO, chairman; Ukrainian Peasants' Democratic Party, Serhiy PLACHINDA, chairman; Ukrainian Republican Party, Mykhaylo HORYN', chairman; Ukrainian National Conservative Party, Viktor RADIONOV, chairman

President

last held 1 December 1991 (next to be held NA 1996); results - Leonid KRAVCHUK 61.59%, Vyacheslav CHERNOVIL 23.27%, Levko LUKYANENKO 4.49%, Volodymyr HRYNYOV 4.17%, Iher YUKHNOVSKY 1.74%, Leopold TABURYANSKYY 0.57%, other 4.17%

Suffrage

18 years of age; universal

Supreme Council

last held 4 March 1990 (next scheduled for 1995, may be held earlier in late 1993); results - percent of vote by party NA; seats - (450 total) number of seats by party NA

Type

republic

US diplomatic representation

chief of mission: Ambassador Roman POPADIUK embassy: 10 Vul. Yuria Kotsyubinskovo, 252053 Kiev 53 mailing address: APO AE 09862 telephone: [7] (044) 244-7349

Agriculture

grain, vegetables, meat, milk, sugar beets

Budget

revenues $NA; expenditures $NA, including capital expenditures of $NA

Currency

Ukraine withdrew the Russian ruble from circulation on 12 November 1992 and declared the karbovanets (plural karbovantsi) sole legal tender in Ukrainian markets; Ukrainian officials claim this is an interim move toward introducing a new currency - the hryvnya - possibly in late 1993

Economic aid

$NA

Electricity

55,882,000 kW capacity; 281,000 million kWh produced, 5,410 kWh per capita (1992)

Exchange rates

Ukrainian karbovantsi per $US1 - 3,000 (1 April 1993)

Exports

$13.5 billion to outside of the successor states of the former USSR (1990) commodities: coal, electric power, ferrous and nonferrous metals, chemicals, machinery and transport equipment, grain, meat partners: NA

External debt

$12 billion (1992 est.)

Fiscal year

calendar year

Illicit drugs

illicit producer of cannabis and opium; mostly for CIS consumption; limited government eradication program; used as transshipment points for illicit drugs to Western Europe

Imports

$16.7 billion from outside of the successor states of the former USSR (1990) commodities: machinery and parts, transportation equipment, chemicals, textiles partners: NA

Industrial production

growth rate -9% (1992)

Industries

coal, electric power, ferrous and nonferrous metals, machinery and transport equipment, chemicals, food-processing (especially sugar)

Inflation rate (consumer prices)

20%-30% per month (first quarter 1993)

National product

GDP $NA

National product per capita

$NA

National product real growth rate

-13% (1992 est.)

Overview

After Russia, the Ukrainian republic was far and away the most important economic component of the former Soviet Union producing more than three 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 well-developed and diversified heavy industry supplied equipment and raw materials to industrial and mining sites in other regions of the former USSR. In 1992 the Ukrainian government liberalized most prices and erected a legal framework for privatizing state enterprises while retaining many central economic controls and continuing subsidies to state production enterprises. In November 1992 the new Prime Minister KUCHMA launched a new economic reform program promising more freedom to the agricultural sector, faster privatization of small and medium enterprises, and stricter control over state subsidies. Even so, the magnitude of the problems and the slow pace in building new market-oriented institutions preclude a near-term recovery of output to the 1990 level.

Unemployment rate

NA%

Airports

total: 694 useable: 100 with permanent-surface runways: 111 with runways over 3,659 m: 3 with runways 2,440-3,659 m: 81 with runways 1,220-2,439 m: 78

Highways

273,700 km total (1990); 236,400 km hard surfaced, 37,300 km earth

Inland waterways

1,672 km perennially navigable (Pripyat and Dnipro River)

Merchant marine

394 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 3,952,328 GRT/5,262,161 DWT; includes 234 cargo, 18 container, 7 barge carriers, 55 bulk cargo, 10 oil tanker, 2 chemical tanker, 1 liquefied gas, 12 passenger, 5 passenger cargo, 9 short-sea passenger, 33 roll-on/roll-off, 2 railcar carrier, 1 multi-function-large-load-carrier, 5 refrigerated cargo

Pipelines

crude oil 2,010 km, petroleum products 1,920 km, natural gas 7,800 km (1992)

Ports

coastal - Berdyans'k, Illichivs'k Kerch, Kherson, Mariupol' (formerly Zhdanov), Mykolayiv, Odesa, Sevastopol', Pirdenne; inland - Kiev (Kyyiv)

Railroads

22,800 km; does not include industrial lines (1990)

Telecommunications

international electronic mail system established in Kiev; Ukraine has about 7 million telephone lines (135 telephones for each 1000 persons); as of mid-1992, 650 telephone lines per 1000 persons in Kiev with 15-20 digital switches as of mid-1991; NMT-450 analog cellular network under construction in Kiev; 3.56 million applications for telephones could not be satisfied as of January 1990; international calls can be made via satellite, by landline to other CIS countries, and through the Moscow international switching center on 150 international lines; satellite earth stations employ INTELSAT, INMARSAT, and Intersputnik; fiber optic cable installation (intercity) remains incomplete; new international digital telephone exchange operational in Kiev for direct communication with 167 countries

Branches

Army, Navy, Airspace Defense Forces, Republic Security Forces (internal and border troops), National Guard

Defense expenditures

544,256 million karbovantsi, NA% of GDP (forecast for 1993); note - conversion of the military budget into US dollars using the current exchange rate could produce misleading results

Manpower availability

males age 15-49 12,070,775; fit for military service 9,521,697; reach military age (18) annually 365,534 (1993 est.)