Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
At the lower end of the scale are the elderly and other pensioners. Although the basic
pension has increased to around 1200uah per month (2012), over 24% of Ukrainians re-
main below the poverty line. Due to losses in WWII, industrial accidents, deadly roads,
vodka and general bad health among males, many of the elderly are women. They can
often be seen selling their home-grown produce on the street to make ends meet.
Population
As a crossroads between Europe and Asia, Ukraine has been settled by numerous ethnic
groups throughout history and has a fascinating underlying mix. However, most people
still describe themselves as Ukrainians and, hence, of Slavic origin. According to the last
census (2001), 77% of the country's population are ethnically Ukrainian. The other large
ethnic group is Russian, who account for 17% of the population and are mainly concen-
trated in the south and east. However, these figures are not reflected in the language
people speak: many claiming to be Ukrainian use Russian as their first language.
Only nine countries in the world have a lower birth rate than Ukraine, with 2013 estim-
ates putting the average number of children born per woman at just 1.29. The world av-
erage is around 2.5.
Minorities
Ukraine's ethnic minority groups include, in order of size, Belarusians, Moldovans,
Tatars, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Romanians, Poles and Jews. Almost all of the country's
260,000 Tatars live in Crimea. No one measures the size of western Ukrainian Hutsul
communities, which in any case are seamlessly integrated into the wider community.
Former Israeli prime minister Golda Meir and film star Milla Jovovich were both born in
Kyiv, Bolshevik Leon Trotsky hailed from outside Odesa, and both Dustin Hoffman and
Sylvester Stallone have Ukrainian roots.
Dying Nation
Since independence in 1991 Ukraine's population has fallen more dramatically than that
of any other country not affected by war, famine or plague. The number of citizens
plummeted from 52 million in 1993 to around 44.5 million in 2013, as birth rates and life
expectancy dropped concomitantly. This demographic trend has slowed in the last few
years, and there's even been a mini baby boom, but the overall situation has only im-
 
Search WWH ::




Custom Search