Ukraine

Demographics

Ethnic Ukrainians make up 77.8% of the population, ethnic Russians 17.3%, Ruthenians (in Transcarpathia) some 0.9%. The industrial regions in the east and south-east are the most heavily populated, and about 70% of the population lives in urban areas.

Related Topics:
Ukrainians - Russians - Ruthenians - Transcarpathia

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Other minorities include significant groups of Romanians (with Moldovans, 0.8%), Belarusians (0.6%), Crimean Tatars (0.5%), Bulgarians (0.4%), Hungarians, Poles (0.4%) and Jews (0.3%).

Related Topics:
Romanians - Moldovan - Belarusians - Crimean Tatars - Bulgarians - Hungarians - Poles - Jews

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Ukrainian is the only official state language while the usage of closely related Russian is very important culturally and economically. They are spoken by 55% and 45% accordingly (but considered to be a native language by 67.5% and 29.6% of population, according to census-2001). Standard literary Ukrainian is mainly spoken in the western quarter of the country, including its cities such as Lviv. In central Ukraine, Russian is usually the main language of cities (including Kiev), while Surzhyk (a certain kind of dialect or mixed language with mainly Russian vocabulary and Ukrainian grammar and phonetics) is widespread in the rural areas (15% to 20%, according to some surveys). In the eastern quarter Russian influence is even stronger. In the Crimean peninsula Ukrainian is virtually unused, despite numerous attempts to introduce it as the only language of advertising, media, and administration.

Related Topics:
Ukrainian - Russian - Lviv - Surzhyk - Dialect - Mixed language

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The share of students receiving their education in Russian has significantly declined from 41% in 1995 to 24% in 2004, in favour of their Ukrainian counterparts. Still, many urban Ukrainian schools are de-facto Russian-speaking, especially in the East and South. Russian continues to be the language of international communication for many Ukrainians and is understood throughout the country.

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Minorities