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Geography
Official Name: Ukraine
Area: 233,000 sq. mi..
Capital: Kiev (pop. 2.6 million); other cities: Kharkiv (1.6 million), Lviv (800,000).
Terrain: A vast plan bounded by the Carpathian mountains in the southwest and by the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov in the South.
Climate: Continental temperate.
People
Population (est.): 52 million.
Nationality: Noun--Ukrainian(s); adjective--Ukrainian.
Ethnic groups: Ukrainian, Russian, Jews, Belarussian, Moldovans, Bulgarians, Poles, Hungarians, Romanians.
Languages: Ukrainian, Russian.
Education: Literacy--100%.
Health: Infant mortality rate--21/1,000. Life expectancy--65 yrs. males, 75 yrs. females.
Work force: 24 million. Industry and construction--33%. Agriculture and forestry--21%. Health, education, and culture--16%. Transport and communication--7%.
Government
Type: Parliamentary.
Independence: August 24, 1991.
Constitution: Using the 1977 Soviet constitution; a 40-member constitutional commission is working on a new draft.
Branches: Executive--president, prime minister, cabinet. Legislative--450-member parliament, the Supreme Rada (members elected to five-year terms). Judicial--people's courts, provincial courts, Supreme Court. Political parties: Congress of National Democratic Forces, New Ukraine, Civic Congress.
Suffrage: Universal at 18.
Administrative subdivisions: 24 provinces and 1 autonomous republic.
Economy
GDP (est): $204 billion.Annual growth rate: -14.2%.
Per capita income: $3,900.
Natural resources: Vast fertile lands, coal, natural gas, various large mineral deposits, timber.
Agriculture: Products--Grain, sugar.
Industry: Types--Ferrous metals and products, coke, fertilizer, metallurgical equipment, diesel locomotives, tractors.
Trade: Exports--$12.7 billion: coal, electric power, ferrous and non-ferrous metals, chemicals, machinery, and transport equipment. Imports--$15.3 billion: Machinery and parts, transportation equipment, chemicals, textiles.
The population of Ukraine is about 52 million, which represents about 18% of the population of the former Soviet Union. Ukrainians make up about 73% of the total; ethnic Russians number about 20%. The industrial regions in the east and southeast are the most heavily populated, and the urban population makes up about 70% of the population. Ukrainian and Russian are the principal languages, but about 88% of the population consider Ukrainian their native language.
The dominant religions are the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which retains its links to the Russian Orthodox Church. The Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church is nationalist oriented and independent of Moscow.
The birth rate of Ukraine is diminishing. About 70% of adult Ukrainians have a secondary or higher education. Ukraine has about 150 colleges and universities, of which the most important are at Kiev, Lviv, and Kharkiv. About 70,000 scholars in 80 research institutes make Ukraine a leader in science and technology.
The first identifiable groups to populate what is now Ukraine were Cimmerians, Scythians, Sarmatians, and Goths, among other nomadic peoples who arrived throughout the first millennium B.C. These people were well known to colonists and traders in the ancient world, including Greeks and Romans, who established trading outposts which eventually became city states. Slavic tribes occupied eastern Ukraine in the sixth century A.D. and established Kiev. Situated on lucrative trade routes, Kiev quickly prospered as the center of a powerful state, Rus. In the 11th century, Kievan Rus was, geographically, the largest state in Europe.
A Christian missionary, Cyril, converted the Kievan nobility in 988. Conflict among the feudal lords le