Information about Ukraine: useful info, travel tips, facts sheet

facts & info [/info.shtml] ... photos ... message board home useful information map of Ukraine visas crossing the border handling money handling documents passport registration safety accommodations transportation nature and climate weather languages Ukrainian arts & crafts common gripes Ukraine links life and society work and business language study photo galleries Carpathians Crimea travel & sightseeing message board Ukraine FAQ site map guestbook partner links Be sure to read: - Ukraine FAQ - travel in and out of Ukraine - cultural mindset & differences - business and drinking - popular kinds of recreation - the most useful Ukraine links - working in Ukraine Ukraine... emerging from the shadows Not too long ago (early 2004) I prefaced this page with these sentences: Ukraine is notoriously bad at advertising itself. Here's a country of 47 million people, larger than France, right in the middle of Europe, and yet much—if not most—of the world doesn't even know it exists! Just a year later, international awareness of Ukraine had skyrocketed as a result of the 2004 presidential election and resulting Orange Revolution , which aroused a great deal of interest in what until recently was just another post-Soviet backwater. Ukraine Facts Sheet Location : Eastern Europe*; Neighbors are Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Moldova, Russia, and Belarus *Ukraine is part of former Soviet Union or USSR, one of the NIS states ("Newly Independent States"), and member of CIS ("Commonwealth of Independent States", a subdivision of the NIS) Population : 48 million (down from peak of 51 million in 1980s) Area : 603,000 km 2 (slightly larger than France and slightly smaller than Texas) Capital : Kyiv (or Kiev )* * Kyiv is derived from Ukrainian and Kiev from Russian (Kiev is considered the birthplace of Russian and East Slavic culture and statehood). While Kyiv is now considered politically correct, Kiev appears in Google seven times more frequently. More about Kyiv >> Major cities : official populations Kyiv - 2,635,300 Kharkiv - 1,575,900 Dnipropetrovsk - 1,161,200 Donetsk - 1,101,800 Odesa - 1,059,500 Zaporizhya - 887,400 Lviv - 805,900 Kryvyy Rih - 703,000 Mykolayiv - 519,000 Mariupol - 490,000 Luhansk - 493,300 Languages : Ukrainian and Russian* *Ukrainian is Ukraine's single official government language; In everyday use the languages are about equally popular across Ukraine, though proportion of usage differs widely by region. However, the vast majority of the population is functionally bilingual. More about language in Ukraine >> Ethno-lingual makeup : by respondents' self-definition Ukrainian-speaking Ukrainians: 38% Russian-speaking Ukrainians: 30% Russian-speaking Russians: 17% not sure: 10% other ethnicity: 5% Geography : 95% of Ukraine is flat or nearly flat, with small rolling hills. In the west the Carpathians rise to 2061 m ( Hoverla ), and in the south the Crimean Mountains reach 1545 m. Climate : temperate continental, except for a small strip of Crimea's southern coast, which has a mediterranean climate More about Ukraine's climate and geography >> Ukraine weather map >> Date of independence : August 24, 1991 History : see this easy-to-read timeline of Ukrainian history with dates and maps at uazone.net. Also, read my page on Ukraine from 1988 to 1993 Major religions : Ukrainian Orthodoxy - Moscow Patriarchate Ukrainian Orthodoxy - Kyiv Patriarchate Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodoxy Ukrainian Catholicism (Uniate) Protestantism, Jewish Orthodoxy, Greek Catholicism GDP : $49.9 billion (2004), GDP per capita : $1023 (official*) *In actuality, about 50% of Ukraine's economic production is "in the shadows," and actual earnings are greater. In addition, the hryvnia has been fixed to the dollar for years and is now quite undervalued. Using "purchasing power parity" the following numbers come closer to the truth: GDP : $260.4 billion, GDP per capita : $5400, GDP real growth rate : 9.4% In 2004 Ukraine was Europe's fastest growing economy, but has yet to reach pre-1991 levels of economic production. Currency : Hryvnia (or grivna , if transliterated from Russian), abbreviation = UAH (sometimes "hr"). Exchange rate since spring 2005 hovers around 5 UAH to 1 USD. See current exchange rates in the box on the right (Dollar, Euro, and Ruble) Handling money in Ukraine >> Government structure : Republic Powerful executive branch with five-year presidential term and Cabinet of Ministers with a Prime Minister appointed by the President. Legislative branch consists of unicameral 450-seat Verkhovna Rada (Supreme Council). People's deputies serve four-year terms. Judicial branch: Supreme Court, Constitutional Court. Ukraine's government structure is still in a developmental stage. During President Kuchma's terms (1994-2004) the executive branch became the only real center of power, but this is likely to be changed in 2005-2006 by a series of administrative and constitutional reforms. Ukraine consists of 27 administrative regions : 24 oblasts, the Crimea Autonomous Republic, and the cities of Kyiv and Sevastopol. More on Ukraine's political system from Ukrainian Embassy in Canada Links to Ukraine's principal governing bodies from Ukraine State Tax Administration National holidays : January 1 - New Year's Day January 7 - Christmas (Orthodox calendar) March 8 - International Women's Day May 1 and 2 - International Workers' Solidarity Day May 9 - Victory Day June 28 - Constitution Day August 24 - Independence Day Economy : Principal exports are metals, minerals, electronics, chemicals, and vegetables. 2004 Report on Ukraine's economy, investment climate, and economic freedom from The Heritage Foundation Demographic structure : Gradually aging population. The birth rate plummeted in the 1990s but is slowly recovering as the economic situation improves. One of the highest women-to-men ratios in the world. Life expectancy : men - 62 years, women - 73 years CLICK HERE to book a hotel room anywhere in Ukraine map of Ukraine click on map to enlarge | Ukraine weather map | search site Web TryUkraine.com Quick online hotel booking Kyiv, Odesa, Yalta, Donetsk, Kherson, Chernivtsi, Carpathians credit card payment and guaranteed reservations! Exchange Rates © 2005-2006 Rick DeLong. All rights reserved.