About Ukraine
Ukraine is the largest country by area in Europe (excluding the European part of Russia), and is slightly larger than France. Ukraine’s population of approximately 47 Million makes the country the seventh most populous in Europe. Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, is its largest city, with a population of approximately 2.6 million.
Independence Square, Kiev
Many Ukrainians identify themselves as Russians. Although official statistics indicate that only 17.8% of Ukrainians are Russian by ethnicity, it is generally accepted that a much larger percentage of population identifies themselves as Russians. Russian is the predominant language spoken in Eastern Ukraine. In the western regions, particularly in cities such as L’viv, Ukrainian is the dominant language. Both languages are spoken in Kiev and are used in television and radio broadcasts.
The predominant religion in Ukraine is Orthodox Christianity, which is split in organization among the Russian Patriarchate, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kiev Patriarchate, and the Ukraine Autocephalous Orthodox Church. Catholicism and Greek Rite Orthodoxy are followed by small but significant minorities. Much of Ukraine’s large Jewish population was wiped out during World War II and the Soviet era. Many others left Ukraine after the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991-2 and now Jews account for approximately 0.2% of the population.
Ukraine’s commitment to education remains high, even as the centrally planned economy has been replaced with market forces. Ukraine maintains a literacy rate of over 99%.
Ukraine’s Economy
Ukraine is well-known for its agricultural prowess and for its famous black earth soil which at one point in the early 20th Century could produce enough wheat to feed the world. Agriculture continues to be an important part of its economy and has rebounded after decades of decay under the forced collectivization and socialization under Soviet control. Ukraine in 2008 is expected to export a record amount of grain.
Ukraine also has a significant machinery and truck industry, including farm and construction vehicles. As part of its legacy from being part of the Soviet Union, Ukraine maintains a strong aerospace industry. Ukraine inherited the Antonov Design Bureau, which produces and designs passenger, cargo and military aircraft and continues to design and launch its own rockets and satellites. Ukraine’s first astronaut went to space in 1997.
Information technology is a fast-growing market in Ukraine, and Ukraine is becoming an increasingly popular destination for programming and information technology support outsourcing.
Ukraine’s primary exports are ferrous and nonferrous metals, mineral products, chemicals, energy transport services, machinery, transport equipment, grain, and textiles. 30% of Ukraine’s exports are sold to the European Union and the share is increasing.
Although Ukraine derives a substantial part of its energy supply from nuclear power, it is heavily dependent upon Russian gas and oil supplies. Russia has shown a willingness in the past to reduce fuel supplies to Ukraine, particularly in the winter, in order to influence Ukrainian government policy.
Corruption and organized crime are generally believed to be as pervasive as in Russia or other former Soviet republics, excluding the Baltic States.
Ukraine joined the World Trade Organization in May, 2008.
Currency: The Ukrainian hryvnia has been worth between $4.50 and $5.00 in the last two years. The National Bank of Ukraine currently manages the exchange rate through a crawling peg mechanism, but it is widely believed that the hryvnia will move to a free exchange regime by 2009.
Per capita GDP: $1,780
Real GDP growth was 7.7% in 2007 and is expected to fluctuate between 6.0% and 6.5% through 2012. Inflation was 12.8% in 2007 and is currently running at 30%.
Ukraine’s practical unemployment rate is estimated to be approximately 10%.
Commercial Opportunities
American companies are pursuing opportunities in the following areas:
- Sales of consumer products to a market of 46 million people whose real incomes are increasing
- Outsourcing of computer programming and technical support services
- Outsourcing of high-level scientific research and engineering services
- Tourism
- Providing world-class business services, such as legal, financial and accounting services to Ukrainian firms
- Providing consulting services, either directly to Ukrainian companies, or through technical assistance programs funded by individual nations or multinational organizations, such as the World Bank.
- Providing services to assist Ukrainian companies in accessing the American market for export of manufactured products, such as steel, agricultural products, and machinery
Political System
Ukraine’s constitution calls for a president, elected for a five year term by popular vote. The 450-seat legislature, called the Verkhovna Rada (Supreme Congress), elects its own prime minister. Members of the Rada are elected by a party proportional vote. The president is head of state and generally has more power than does the prime minister. The constitution of Ukraine sets the judiciary branch as independent of the executive and legislative branches. The judiciary branch passed an important test in 2004 when it ruled the presidential election invalid due to vote rigging and voided the victory claimed by establishment (and pro-Russian) candidate Viktor Yanukovich.
Ukraine is divided into 24 regions (oblasts) and one autonomous republic (Crimea). The 24 oblasts and Crimea are further separated into 490 raions (regions).
The government of Ukraine is decidedly pro-Western and suspicious of Russia. The Ukrainian government has made known its desire to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization as well as the European Union. Ukraine is a member of the Commonwealth of Independent States, a loose confederation of former Soviet republics formed after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
Ukraine returned all of its Soviet legacy nuclear weapons to Russia and was declared a nuclear-free zone in 1996. Ukraine’s armed forces is the second largest in Europe, behind that of Russia.
While there is widespread concern that commercial oligarchs exercise excessive influence on policy, Ukraine’s reputation for supporting freedom of speech and human rights is generally positive, particularly compared to Russia. The Orange Revolution that annulled the 2004 election of Viktor Yushchenko did a great deal to establish a culture of democracy and transparency in Russia, but there remains a very vibrant and significant opposition.
The current president is Viktor Yushchenko and the prime minister is Yulia Timoshenko.
The Ukrainian Language
Ukrainian is the only officially recognized state language of Ukraine. Ukrainian has survived as a distinct language in spite of the fact that throughout most of its history, Ukraine was dominated by foreign powers with their own languages. Ukrainian is closely related to Russian but nevertheless distinct. Like Russian, Ukrainian is an Eastern Slavic language and uses a variation of the Cyrillic alphabet. The language question remains a very sensitive issue in Ukrainian society.
Although the grammar is very similar to Russian, the vocabulary can be very different. Also, like Russian, Ukrainian is an inflected language, meaning that it uses cases in its grammar. Ukrainian has one additional case beyond those used in Russian. Some current Ukrainian words are related to archaic forms of Russian words; many others come from Polish, Tatar and Hungarian. Native Russian and Ukrainian speakers can sometimes understand one another; frequently they cannot or do so only with difficulty, especially if western Ukrainian dialects are used. A detailed history of the Ukrainian Language is available here.
The Ukrainian spoken is eastern Ukraine is much more similar to Russian than the dialects spoken in western and central Ukraine or among the diasporas that emigrated before Communism to the United States and Canada. The first significant secular Ukrainian language literature began to appear in the 1700’s and flourished in the 1800’s. A map displaying the regional prevalence of the Ukrainian language illustrates the regional language preferences.
Russian remains widely spoken and used in Ukraine, particularly in Eastern Ukrainian cities such as Xar’kiv, Sebastopil, and Dnipropetrivsk as well as Kyiv. In western areas such as L’viv and Ivano Frankivsk, Ukrainian is the language of choice. On occasion, individuals who understand Russian will decline to speak it on principle.
Click here for a sample of written Ukrainian. Click here for a sample of spoken Ukrainian.
Ukrainian History
Ukraine’s recorded history extends to the 7th Century BC, when the Greeks both traded with local settlements and established their own outposts on the Black Sea. Ukrainian history therefore extends to ancient times and a summary lies beyond the scope of this web site. Some links the reader may find helpful: