Ukraine Country Overview
Where is Ukraine located? The Eastern European country of Ukraine, with its capital in Kyiv, is the second largest country in Europe in terms of area. Like most Eastern European countries, Ukraine is also located on the time zone map in the Eastern European time zone, which has a time shift of +2 hours to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). In the summer months, there is a time change to daylight saving time, when the time is put forward one hour. Then the standard difference increases to +3 hours.
Bordering Countries of Ukraine
According to abbreviationfinder, Ukraine is a country located in Eastern Europe, bordered by four other countries. To the north lies Belarus, while to the east lies Russia. Further south is Moldova, while to the west lies Poland and Slovakia.
Ukraine has a long history of cultural exchanges with its neighbouring countries due to its strategic location in Eastern Europe. This has led to strong cultural ties between Ukraine and its neighbours as well as strong political cooperation in recent years. In addition, Ukraine also has strong economic ties with its bordering countries due to its thriving industrial sector which have attracted foreign investment.
The relationship between Ukraine and its neighbours is complex but largely peaceful despite occasional disputes over matters such as energy resources or border issues. In recent years there have been efforts by both sides to improve relations as well as increased trade between them for mutual benefit. For example, Ukraine has signed several free trade agreements with neighbouring countries that have helped boost economic growth in both nations. Furthermore, there have been efforts by all sides to promote regional stability through joint military exercises or peacekeeping operations in conflict zones such as Transnistria or Abkhazia.
Population Distribution
As of 2023, the latest population of Ukraine is 43,922,939, based on our calculation of the current data from UN (United Nations).
| Total population | 43,922,939 |
| Population growth rate | -0.10% |
| Birth rate | 10.30 births per 1,000 people |
| Life expectancy | |
| Overall life expectancy | 68.93 years |
| Men life expectancy | 63.41 years |
| Women life expectancy | 74.80 years |
| Age structure | |
| 0-14 years | 15.95% |
| 15-64 years | 67.56% |
| 65 years and above | 16.49% |
| Median age | 40.10 years |
| Gender ratio (Male to Female) | 0.85 |
| Population density | 72.77 residents per km² |
| Urbanization | 67.20% |
| Ethnicities | |
| 78% Ukrainians, 17% Russians, 0.6% Belarusians, 0.5% Crimean Tatars; over 130 nationalities in total | |
| Religions | |
| Orthodox (without special classification) 16% Ukrainian Orthodox – Moscow Patriarchate 9% Ukrainian Orthodox – Kiev Patriarchate 10% Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox 1.7% Ukrainian Catholics (Uniate), Protestants, Jews 38% (2004) | |
| Human Development Index (HDI) | 0.750 |
| HDI ranking | 88th out of 194 |
People in Ukraine
Almost 44 million people live in Ukraine. Most of them, 70 out of 100 people, live in a city. Kiev is the most populous city with 2.7 million people. Then follow the megacities of Kharkiv, Dnipro, Odessa and Donetsk.
In Ukraine, every woman has an average of 1.56 children. That’s not a lot and so the population is slowly falling. The average age is 41.2 years. In Germany, by the way, it is 47.4 years, which is a lot higher. However, life expectancy in Ukraine is very low. It is 68.2 years for men and 77.9 years for women.
Most of the residents of Ukraine are Ukrainians (78 percent), but Russians also live in the country (17 percent). However, the distribution is not the same everywhere. More Russians than Ukrainians live on the Crimean peninsula. Russians also have high proportions of the population in the districts of eastern Ukraine, in Luhansk and Donetsk.
Minorities with less than one percent of the population are Moldovans, Belarusians, Crimean Tatars, Bulgarians, Magyars, Poles, Jews and Armenians. Around 30,000 people belong to a German-speaking minority. Before the First World War, this number was much higher at several hundred thousand people.
Languages in Ukraine
Ukrainian is spoken in Ukraine. It is the official language of the country. Until independence in 1991, Russian was also the official language. Today most of the residents also understand and speak Russian. However, 70 percent state Ukrainian as their mother tongue. In most schools, Ukrainian is now the language of instruction and no longer Russian.
In areas with a high proportion of Russian populations, such as eastern Ukraine, more people speak Russian than Ukrainian on a daily basis – not only Russians, but also Ukrainians who live there. In 2012, Russian became the recognized official language wherever at least 10 percent of the population speak it. After all, this is the case in 13 out of 27 regions and it was then implemented in nine regions. Politically, the language issue is a hot topic in the country.
Ukrainian and Russian are both East Slavic languages and evolved from a common language. They are related to each other and there are many similarities. Speakers can communicate with each other to a certain extent. The vocabulary is about two thirds the same (also with Belarusian).
In addition to Ukrainian and Russian, other languages are spoken in the country such as Hungarian, Romanian, Crimean Tatar, Belarusian and Armenian.
Like Russian, Ukrainian is written in Cyrillic script. However, there are also the letters Ї, which is pronounced Ji, and Ґ, which stands for the g, because Г (in Russian, the G) is used for h.
Religions in Ukraine
75 out of 100 Ukrainians belong to the Orthodox Church. This is divided into several churches, which for a long time were not all recognized. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate was not established until 1991. It fought with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate for ownership of many church buildings. The Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church was also not recognized. Against the resistance of the Russian Orthodox Church, the three churches were merged in 2018. There are also 4 percent Muslims, 2.7 percent Protestants and 2.4 percent Catholics in the country.