Demographics of Ukraine


The demographics of Ukraine include statistics on population growth, population density, ethnicity, education level, health, economic status, religious affiliations, and other aspects of the population of Ukraine.
The data in this article are based on the 2001 Ukrainian census which is the most recent, the CIA World Factbook, and the . The next census is scheduled to take place in 2020.
In January 2020 the total population of Ukraine was estimated to be 41,902,416 excluding the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol, which were annexed by Russia in 2014..
During the 2014 Ukrainian Crisis, the Ukrainian Government also lost control of portions of the Donbass region, including major cities such as Luhansk, Donetsk and Horlivka. If the populations of these cities is subtracted from Ukraine's current demographics, the total population of Ukraine falls below 40 million. In 2019 an electronic census estimated that Ukraine's population, minus the lost Crimean and Donbass populations, to be 37.3 million.

Historical data

There were roughly four million Ukrainians at the end of the 17th century.
The majority of the historical information is sourced from Demoscope.ru. The territory of modern Ukraine at the times listed above varied greatly. The western regions of Ukraine, west of Zbruch river, until 1939 for most of time were part of the Kingdom of Galicia and later the Polish Republic. The detailed information for those territories is missing, for more information see Demographics of Poland. The Crimean peninsula changed hands as well, in 1897 it was a part of the Taurida Governorate, but after the October Revolution became part of the Russian SFSR, and later was turned under the administration of the Ukrainian SSR.
The territory of Budjak became a part of the Ukrainian SSR in June 1940. The censuses of 1926 through 1989 were taken in the Ukrainian SSR. The census of 1897 is taken with the correspondence to nine gubernias that included in the territory of today's Ukraine. The statistics of 1906 records are taken from which provides a broad degree of historical explanation on the situation in the Imperial Russia. The census statistics of 1931 was estimated by Ukrainian professor Zenon Kuzela from Berlin. His calculations are as of 1 January 1931. This ethnographer is mentioned in the encyclopedia of Ukraine as one of the sources only available due to lack of the official census.
The 2001 census was the first official census of the independent republic of Ukraine. Its data is given as on 1 January. The 2003–2009 stats were taken from the official website of Ukrstat and represent the data as of February of each year for the real population.

Famines and migration

The famines of the 1930s, followed by the devastation of World War II, created a demographic disaster. Life expectancy at birth fell to a level as low as ten years for females and seven for males in 1933 and plateaued around 25 for females and 15 for males in the period 1941–44. According to The Oxford companion to World War II, "Over 7 million inhabitants of Ukraine, more than one-sixth of the pre-war population, were killed during the Second World War."
Significant migration took place in the first years of Ukrainian independence. More than one million people moved into Ukraine in 1991–92, mostly from the other former Soviet republics. In total, between 1991 and 2004, 2.2 million immigrated to Ukraine, and 2.5 million emigrated from Ukraine. As of 2015, immigrants constituted an estimated 11.4% of the total population, or 4.8 million people. In 2006, there were an estimated 1.2 million Canadians of Ukrainian ancestry, giving Canada the world's third-largest Ukrainian population behind Ukraine itself and Russia. There are also large Ukrainian immigrant communities in the United States, Poland, Australia, Brazil and Argentina.
Since about 2015 there has been a growing number of Ukrainians working in the European Union, particularly Poland. Eurostat reported that 662,000 Ukrainians received EU residence permits in 2017, with 585,439 being to Poland. World Bank statistics show that money remittances back to Ukraine have roughly doubled from 2015 to 2018, worth about 4% of GDP. However this emigration is not represented in Ukrainian migration data, measuring registrations at the State Migration Service which is usually only done by Ukrainians obtaining foreign citizenship. It is unclear if those moving to work in the EU intend this to be temporary or permanent.

Population decline

Ukraine's population in 2017 was estimated at 37,289,000 The country's population has been declining since the 1990s because of a high emigration rate, coupled with high death rates and low birth rates. The population has been shrinking by an average of over 300,000 annually since 1993.
In 2007, the country's rate of population decline was the fourth highest in the world.
Life expectancy is falling, and Ukraine suffers a high mortality rate from environmental pollution, poor diets, widespread smoking, extensive alcoholism and deteriorating medical care.
During the years 2008 to 2010, more than 1.5 million children were born in Ukraine, compared to fewer than 1.2 million during 1999–2001. In 2008 Ukraine posted record-breaking birth rates since its 1991 independence. Infant mortality rates have also dropped from 10.4 deaths to 8.3 per 1,000 children under one year of age. This is lower than in 153 countries of the world.

Fertility and natalist policies

The current birth rate in Ukraine, as of 2010, is 10.8 births/1,000 population, and the death rate is 15.2 deaths/1,000 population.
The phenomenon of lowest-low fertility, defined as total fertility below 1.3, is emerging throughout Europe and is attributed by many to postponement of the initiation of childbearing. Ukraine, where total fertility, was one of the world's lowest, shows that there is more than one pathway to lowest-low fertility. Although Ukraine has undergone immense political and economic transformations during 1991–2004, it has maintained a young age at first birth and nearly universal childbearing. Analysis of official national statistics and the Ukrainian Reproductive Health Survey show that fertility declined to very low levels without a transition to a later pattern of childbearing. Findings from focus group interviews suggest explanations of the early fertility pattern. These findings include the persistence of traditional norms for childbearing and the roles of men and women, concerns about medical complications and infertility at a later age, and the link between early fertility and early marriage. Ukraine subsequently has one of the oldest populations in the world, with the average age of 40.8 years.
To help mitigate the declining population, the government continues to increase child support payments. Thus it provides one-time payments of 12,250 hryvnias for the first child, 25,000 Hryvnias for the second and 50,000 Hryvnias for the third and fourth, along with monthly payments of 154 hryvnias per child. The demographic trend is showing signs of improvement, as the birth rate has been steadily growing since 2001. Net population growth over the first nine months of 2007 was registered in five provinces of the country, and population shrinkage was showing signs of stabilising nationwide. In 2007 the highest birth rates were in the western oblasts. In 2008, Ukraine emerged from lowest-low fertility, and the upward trend has continued to 2012. In 2014 the strong decline in births was re-established, with 2018 having fewer than half the number of births as in 1989.

Vital statistics

Ukrainian provinces of the Russian Empire

The figures below refer to the nine governorates of the Russian Empire with a Ukrainian majority.
Average populationLive birthsDeathsNatural changeCrude birth rate Crude death rate Natural change Total fertility rates
190024,969,0001,203,334660,723542,61148.226.521.7-
190125,505,0001,123,519657,883465,63644.125.818.3-
190225,935,0001,207,512681,580525,93246.626.320.3-
190326,449,0001,188,404663,067525,33744.925.119.9-
190426,961,0001,228,116682,068546,04845.625.320.3-
190527,210,0001,160,308779,107381,20141.127.613.5-
190627,949,0001,225,951724,045501,90643.925.918.0-
190728,418,0001,279,027701,451577,57645.024.720.3-
190829,069,0001,232,862692,624540,23842.423.818.6-
190929,700,0001,226,155744,818481,33741.325.116.2-
191030,297,0001,225,658839,491386,16740.527.712.7-
191130,858,0001,240,985670,742570,24340.221.718.5-
191230,580,0001,245,358654,157591,20140.721.419.3-
191331,142,0001,222,277715,924506,35339.223.016.36.00
191430,973,0001,240,114716,875523,23940.023.116.9-

Between WWI and WWII

Average populationLive birthsDeathsNatural changeCrude birth rate Crude death rate Natural change Fertility rates
192427,400,0001,150,577484,880665,69742.017.724.3
192528,000,0001,185,028531,819653,20942.319.023.35.39
192628,700,0001,207,907518,656689,25142.118.124.0
192729,589,0001,184,400522,600661,70040.017.722.4
192830,251,0001,139,300495,700643,60037.716.421.3
192930,894,0001,081,000538,700542,30035.017.417.6
193031,436,0001,023,000578,100484,90032.518.414.2
193131,882,000975,300514,700460,60030.616.114.4
193232,342,000782,000668,200113,80024.220.73.5
193332,456,000564,0002,104,000-1,540,00017.464.8-47.4
193430,916,000551,500462,00089,50017.814.92.9
193531,006,000759,100341,900417,20024.511.013.5
193631,423,000893,100359,500533,50028.411.417.0
193731,957,0001,214,000428,400785,60038.013.424.6
193832,742,0001,113,500430,800682,60034.013.220.9
193933,425,0001,073,500412,600660,90032.112.319.8
1940 40,649,0001,100,00027.33.80

Information is given for Ukraine's territory within its old boundaries up to 17 September 1939
Information is given for Ukraine's territory within its present-day boundaries, after the annexation of Eastern Galicia and Volhynia in September 1939

After WW II

Current vital statistics

Note: Starting 2014 territories of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, the city of Sevastopol and part of the anti-terrorist operation zone are not included in Demographics of Ukraine. These territories are included to the Demographics of Russia.
All data from State Statistics Service of Ukraine.
estimate
Urban live birthsUrban deathsUrban natural changeUrban crude birth rate Urban crude death rate Urban natural change Rural live birthsRural deathsRural natural changeRural crude birth rate Rural crude death rate Rural natural change
1990442,869357,11485,75512.710.22.5214,333272,488−58,15512.716.1−3.4
1991419,205380,98838,91711.910.81.1211,608288,972−77,36412.617.2−4.6
1992387,696401,849−14,15311.011.4−0.4209,089295,261−86,17212.517.6−5.1
1993356,833432,462−75,62910.112.2−2.1200,634309,200−108,56612.018.5−6.5
1994328,522450,823−122,3019.312.8−3.5193,023313,846−120,82311.618.8−7.2
1995308,408476,434−168,0268.813.6−4.8184,453316,153−131,70011.119.1−8.0
1996291,121460,805−169,6848.413.3−4.9176,090315,912−139,82210.719.2−8.5
1997274,961444,446−169,4858.013.0−5.0167,620309,705−142,80510.218.9−8.7
1998258,724425,521−166,7977.612.6−5.0160,514294,433−133,9199.918.1−8.2
1999239,408439,986−200,5787.113.1−6.0149,800299,184−149,3849.318.5−9.2
2000238,014457,069−219,0557.213.8−6.6147,112301,013−153,9019.218.8−9.6
2001237,228450,329−213,1017.213.8−6.6139,250295,623−156,3738.718.6−9.9
2002248,877454,406−205,5297.714.0−6.3141,811300,505−158,6949.019.1−10.1
2003266,415459,965−193,5508.314.3−6.0142,174305,443−163,2699.119.6−10.5
2004284,361460,492−176,1318.914.4−5.5142,898300,769−157,8719.319.6−10.3
2005284,257471,561−187,3048.914.8−5.9141,829310,400−168,5719.420.5−11.1
2006306,635461,774−155,1399.614.5−4.9153,733296,318−142,58510.319.8−9.5
2007314,065466,253−152,1889.914.7−4.8158,592296,624−138,03210.720.1−9.4
2008340,594462,897−122,30310.814.6−3.8169,995291,563−121,56811.619.9−8.3
2009339,497432,294−92,79710.813.7−2.9173,028274,445−101,41711.918.9−7.0
2010326,587431,130−104,54310.413.7−3.3171,102267,105−96,00311.918.6−6.7
2011328,934411,025−82,09110.513.1−2.3173,661253,563−79,90212.117.7−5.6
2012341,599411,787−70,78810.913.1−2.2179,106251,352−72,24612.617.7−5.1
2013330,284412,552−82,26810.513.1−2.6173,372249,816−76,44412.317.7−5.4
2014304,190391,739−87,54910.213.2−3.0161,692240,557−78,86512.218.1−5.9
2015266,082358,749−92,66710.413.2−2.8145,699236,047−90,34811.318.0−6.7
2016258,688354,634−95,94610.013.2−3.2138,349228,997−90,64810.817.6−6.8

Note: Data excludes Crimea starting in 2014.

Life expectancy at birth

Average life expectancy at age 0 of the total population.
PeriodLife expectancy in
Years
1950–195561.83
1955–1960 67.11
1960–1965 69.69
1965–1970 70.66
1970–1975 70.57
1975–1980 69.65
1980–1985 69.15
1985–1990 70.55
1990–1995 68.72
1995–2000 67.36
2000–2005 67.46
2005–2010 67.89
2010–2015 71.12

Total fertility rate

In 2001 Ukraine recorded the lowest fertility rate ever recorded in Europe for an independent country: 1.08 child/woman. During this year the number of children born was less than half of that born in 1987 and less than a quarter of that born in 1937. Lower rates were recorded only in former East Germany, which registered 0.77 child/woman in 1994, as well as Taiwan, South Korea in 2018 and both Hong Kong and Macau. After neglect by the Kuchma administration, both the Yushchenko and the Yanukovych governments have made increasing the birth rate a priority.

Demographic statistics

Birth data by oblast

Note: Recent data for Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts has been affected by the War in Donbass, and may only include births within the government-held parts of the oblasts.
Number of births by oblast for January–NovemberBirth/2016Birth/2015Death/2016Death/2015
Kyiv City33416 32382 27772 27767
28473 30620 47934 49258
25708 25007 29247 30010
24246 25182 30479 31512
21992 22864 38502 38965
17772 15608 33464 36883
17559 18485 25623 26046
14862 15525 13880 14164
14454 14809 13261 13426
14430 15140 25533 25657
14153 15126 22521 23237
13547 14412 15616 16144
12047 12307 12311 12602
11958 12526 18301 19085
11793 12768 18097 18702
11503 12381 22084 22440
9904 10626 15834 16316
9877 10476 14891 15055
9721 10560 18437 18315
9461 9851 10399 10738
9177 9912 13584 13962
8189 8662 14810 14809
8169 8959 16982 17322
7816 8359 17515 18199
5960 4978 12689 13401

Number of births by oblastBirth/2014Birth/2013Birth/2012Birth/2011Death/2014Death/2013Death/2012Death/2011
36497 36134 37087 36116 52722 51134 51486 52106
35595 41034 42839 41720 71799 69345 70496 71042
Kyiv City34821 33305 33887 32068 29992 28003 27840 27050
30270 29542 30220 28904 32450 31666 31667 31162
29465 29075 30384 29225 34155 33523 33648 33688
27690 26700 27244 26317 41891 39465 40130 40079
20900 20511 20966 20083 28264 27198 27161 26847
18713 18134 18882 18198 27773 26498 26406 27033
18377 18490 18968 18460 14808 14801 14813 14588
17547 17437 18339 17894 25567 25453 25158 25376
17169 17445 18316 17697 14714 14556 14302 14168
16886 16716 17101 16497 17670 17358 16801 16657
15115 15001 15486 15154 21185 20859 20685 20417
14668 14700 15346 14620 13748 13666 13710 13842
14631 14548 14881 14492 20408 20581 20362 20116
14504 14296 14635 14167 24784 24358 24223 24384
13076 13043 13515 13029 17750 17353 17277 17441
12351 12100 12798 12473 20800 20477 20667 20848
12308 12300 12643 12085 16141 16048 15904 15828
11717 11807 12202 11964 15180 14682 14838 14829
11679 11465 11592 11281 11619 11520 11321 11192
11442 20531 21743 21320 22755 35822 36316 37256
10576 10562 11029 10578 16716 16513 16521 16697
10344 10411 11093 10473 19452 19219 19002 18833
9552 9852 10222 10134 20324 19909 20208 20179

Birth rate by oblastBirth/2014Birth/2013Birth/2012Birth/2011Death/2014Death/2013Death/2012Death/2011
14.8 15.1 15.9 15.3 12.7 12.6 12.4 12.3
14.6 14.7 15.1 14.8 11.8 11.8 11.8 11.7
14.1 14.1 14.8 14.1 13.2 13.1 13.2 13.3
12.9 12.6 12.8 12.5 12.8 12.7 12.5 12.4
12.3 12.1 12.7 12.2 14.3 14.0 14.1 14.1
12.2 12.1 12.4 12.0 12.8 12.6 12.2 12.1
12.1 11.9 12.2 11.7 16.4 15.8 15.8 15.6
Kyiv City12.1 11.7 12.0 11.4 10.4 9.8 9.8 9.6
12.0 11.9 12.2 11.9 16.8 16.5 16.3 16.0
11.9 11.6 11.9 11.4 12.8 12.4 12.5 12.3
11.5 11.4 11.7 11.1 15.1 14.9 14.7 14.6
11.2 11.1 11.5 11.0 15.2 14.8 14.7 14.8
11.2 11.1 11.3 11.0 15.6 15.7 15.5 15.2
11.1 11.0 11.2 10.9 16.0 15.5 15.5 15.7
10.9 10.8 11.2 10.9 15.9 15.7 15.4 15.5
10.9 11.0 11.3 11.1 14.2 13.7 13.8 13.7
10.8 10.7 11.0 10.5 17.0 16.7 16.5 16.6
10.6 10.2 10.6 10.1 15.7 14.9 14.8 15.0
10.1 9.8 9.9 9.6 15.3 14.4 14.6 14.6
10.0 9.8 9.9 9.5 17.1 16.7 16.5 16.4
9.8 9.6 10.1 9.8 16.5 16.2 16.2 16.3
9.2 9.2 9.7 9.1 17.2 16.9 16.6 16.3
9.0 9.2 9.4 9.3 19.2 18.6 18.7 18.5
8.2 9.4 9.8 9.5 16.6 15.9 16.1 16.1
5.1 9.1 9.6 9.3 10.2 15.9 16.0 16.3

Year in review 2013

Compared to 2012, amount of attrition increased by 16,278 persons, or 3.1 to 3.5 persons per 1,000 inhabitants real. Natural decrease was observed in 23 oblasts of the country, while natural increases were recorded only in the capital Kiev, Zakarpattya, Rivne and Volyn oblast.
Some regions registered a low natural decline, such as Chernivtsi, Ivano-Frankivsk, Sevastopol, Lviv, Ternopil, Crimea, Kherson and Odessa. The largest declines were recorded in Donetsk, Luhansk, Dnipro, Kharkiv, Poltava and Chernihiv, regions which have in common a low birth rate and high mortality of a large urban population and a strong rural population aging.

Net migration rate

−5.4 migrant/1,000 population.

Infant mortality rate

Infant mortality by oblastDeath/2012Death/2011Death/2010Death/2009
540 473 497 533
370 343 347 329
267 268 263 280
Kyiv City262 255 233 244
233 272 266 238
203 234 243 252
168 195 199 238
166 186 148 149
165 188 199 252
154 169 182 174
147 156 158 164
134 89 109 174
124 134 135 127
122 101 125 132
119 143 140 146
109 145 170 157
106 116 123 118
103 139 112 119
100 120 116 136
97 97 104 112
97 96 98 93
94 80 82 103
92 96 90 91
85 86 87 105
76 78 97 91

Infant mortality per 1,000 by OblastDeath/2012Death/2011Death/2010Death/2009
12.7 11.4 12.0 12.3
10.0 9.5 9.7 8.8
9.6 8.1 10.0 10.5
9.4 13.2 10.6 10.9
9.2 7.9 8.1 9.9
9.1 10.4 8.4 8.3
9.0 6.2 7.5 11.8
8.9 10.6 10.9 13.1
8.8 9.2 9.2 9.7
8.2 9.3 10.1 9.4
8.1 8.9 9.2 9.4
8.0 9.9 9.4 11.0
8.0 8.9 9.1 8.5
8.0 8.5 8.2 8.2
8.0 8.0 8.2 7.5
7.8 9.4 9.2 8.0
Kyiv City7.8 8.0 7.3 7.5
7.6 8.8 9.4 11.6
7.5 8.9 9.2 9.3
7.3 7.5 8.1 8.5
7.0 7.9 8.2 7.7
6.9 7.5 9.3 8.5
6.4 8.8 10.3 9.1
5.8 6.1 6.1 7.1
5.7 7.2 7.0 7.1

Total fertility rate by oblast

Although none of the oblasts in 2013 has recorded a higher fertility rate 2.10 children per woman. However, the rate has been in rural areas in the Rivne Oblast and the Volyn Oblast. While a very close generational renewal rate was achieved in the Odessa Oblast, Zakarpattia Oblast, Mykolaiv Oblast, Chernivtsi Oblast and Zhytomyr Oblast weaker when they have been recorded in the Luhansk oblast, Sumy oblast and Cherkasy Oblast.
The fertility rate of the highest urban areas were recorded in the Zakarpattia Oblast, the city of Sevastopol, Volyn Oblast, Kiev Oblast and the Rivne Oblast. The lowest rates were recorded in the Sumy Oblast, Kharkiv Oblast, Cherkasy Oblast, Chernihiv Oblast, Chernivtsi Oblast, Luhansk oblast, Poltava oblast, Donetsk oblast and Zaporizhia Oblast.
Children born per woman by oblastTotal fertility rate/2013Total fertility rate/2012Total fertility rate/2011Total fertility rate/2010
2.00 2.08 1.99 1.93
1.93 1.95 1.90 1.83
1.86 1.92 1.81 1.85
1.68 1.71 1.65 1.61
1.65 1.71 1.62 1.58
1.64 1.67 1.58 1.58
1.63 1.64 1.58 1.53
1.61 1.62 1.56 1.55
1.60 1.63 1.55 1.58
1.60 1.61 1.51 1.51
1.57 1.61 1.51 1.50
1.55 1.58 1.49 1.50
1.55 1.57 1.47 1.44
1.53 1.59 1.53 1.50
1.51 1.53 1.46 1.45
1.51 1.52 1.44 1.43
1.48 1.50 1.45 1.46
1.43 1.46 1.37 1.34
1.40 1.41 1.33 1.34
1.38 1.43 1.37 1.36
1.37 1.40 1.36 1.36
Kyiv City1.36 1.38 1.29 1.30
1.32 1.34 1.27 1.26
1.32 1.32 1.25 1.24
1.30 1.36 1.25 1.23
1.30 1.33 1.27 1.23

Other demographics statistics

Demographic statistics according to the World Population Review in 2019.
Demographic statistics according to the CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated.
;Population:
;Age structure:
;Median age:
;Birth rate:
;Death rate:
;Total fertility rate:
;Net migration rate:
;Mother's mean age at first birth:
;Population growth rate:
;Life expectancy at birth:
;Ethnic groups:
Ukrainian 77.8%, Russian 17.3%, Belarusian 0.6%, Moldovan 0.5%, Crimean Tatar 0.5%, Bulgarian 0.4%, Hungarian 0.3%, Romanian 0.3%, Polish 0.3%, Jewish 0.2%, other 1.8%
;Languages:
Ukrainian 67.5%, Russian 29.6%, other 2.9%

Note: in February 2018, the Constitutional Court ruled that 2012 language legislation entitling a language spoken by at least 10% of an oblast's population to be given the status of "regional language" - allowing for its use in courts, schools, and other government institutions - was unconstitutional, thus making the law invalid; Ukrainian remains the country's only official nationwide
;Religions:
Orthodox, Ukrainian Orthodox - Kyiv Patriarchate, Ukrainian Orthodox - Moscow Patriarchate ), Ukrainian Greek Catholic, Roman Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, Jewish

Note: Ukraine's population is overwhelmingly Christian; the vast majority - up to two-thirds - identify themselves as Orthodox, but many do not specify a particular branch; the UOC-KP and the UOC-MP each represent less than a quarter of the country's population, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church accounts for 8-10%, and the UAOC accounts for 1-2%; Muslim and Jewish adherents each compose less than 1% of the total population
;Dependency ratios
;Urbanization:
;Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
;School life expectancy :
;Unemployment, youth ages 15–24:

Statistic rate of regional capitals

Birth rate in
regional centers
Birth/2012Birth/2011Birth/2010Birth/2009Birth/2007Birth/2005Birth/2003
Simferopol13.6 12.8 11.8 11.8 11.0 9.5 9.2
Lutsk12.6 12.3 12.6 13.9 12.6 11.7 10.0
Rivne12.6 12.0 11.8 12.3 10.9 10.1 9.4
Uzhhorod12.1 11.9 12.0 12.4 12.8 12.6 10.8
Kiev12.0 11.4 11.5 11.7 10.4 9.8 8.8
Khmelnytskyi12.0 11.2 11.8 11.5 10.4 10.2 9.2
Sevastopol12.0 11.1 11.0 11.2 10.5 9.6 8.7
Kherson11.9 11.1 10.1 10.5 9.6 8.6 8.5
Ternopil11.8 12.2 11.7 12.3 11.9 11.6 10.4
Ivano-Frankivsk11.6 11.6 10.1 10.8 11.3 10.7 9.3
Vinnytsia11.5 11.2 10.9 11.1 10.1 9.4 9.1
Kropyvnytskyi11.5 11.1 10.5 11.3 10.5 8.9 8.4
Zhytomyr11.4 11.5 10.8 11.7 10.6 9.5 8.7
Sumy11.3 10.3 10.0 10.3 9.6 8.2 7.8
Lviv11.0 10.4 10.0 10.5 9.7 9.3 9.0
Ukraine Urban10.9 10.5 10.4 10.8 9.9 8.9 8.3
Dnipro10.5 10.2 10.0 10.5 9.4 8.5 7.9
Luhansk10.5 9.8 8.8 9.2 8.2 7.4 6.8
Chernivtsi10.2 10.3 10.1 10.2 9.2 9.6 8.3
Odessa10.1 9.8 9.6 9.9 9.0 8.3 7.5
Cherkasy9.9 9.4 9.4 9.4 8.7 7.8 7.4
Poltava9.9 9.1 8.8 9.7 8.4 7.8 7.3
Zaporizhia9.5 9.2 9.2 9.3 8.9 8.2 7.5
Mykolaiv9.4 9.3 9.1 9.4 8.7 8.0 7.9
Chernihiv9.3 9.2 9.1 9.6 8.4 8.0 7.6
Kharkiv9.2 8.9 8.8 9.2 8.4 7.6 7.1
Donetsk9.1 8.7 8.6 9.0 8.2 7.5 6.6

Death rate in
regional centers
Death/2012Death/2011Death/2010Death/2009Death/2007Death/2005Death/2003
Kherson15.2 15.6 14.0 14.2 14.9 14.8 14.5
Luhansk14.2 14.3 13.6 13.4 13.8 14.2 14.1
Simferopol14.0 14.8 13.6 13.8 15.3 15.3 15.2
Sevastopol13.7 14.1 14.7 14.5 15.5 15.4 14.1
Kropyvnytskyi13.7 13.7 13.8 14.0 14.4 14.1 14.1
Dnipro13.5 13.7 14.1 13.8 15.1 15.1 16.0
Donetsk13.4 13.5 14.0 13.9 15.2 15.4 14.7
Zaporizhia13.2 13.4 14.2 13.8 15.0 14.7 14.2
Ukraine Urban13.1 13.1 13.7 13.7 14.7 14.8 14.3
Mykolaiv12.8 12.8 13.8 13.8 14.5 14.5 14.9
Poltava12.8 12.6 13.2 13.0 13.7 13.6 13.6
Sumy12.1 11.9 12.4 12.6 13.0 13.1 11.9
Kharkiv12.0 11.8 12.4 12.2 13.1 13.1 13.0
Odessa11.9 12.2 13.0 12.5 13.9 14.1 14.0
Cherkasy11.2 10.7 11.3 11.2 11.7 11.7 11.0
Chernihiv11.4 11.1 12.0 11.8 12.5 12.4 12.0
Lviv11.0 10.8 10.5 10.8 11.5 11.4 11.5
Zhytomyr10.7 10.9 11.2 11.1 12.0 12.2 11.4
Uzhhorod10.3 10.2 10.5 11.3 12.0 12.4 10.3
Kiev9.8 9.6 10.3 10.2 11.4 11.2 10.7
Lutsk9.6 9.4 9.6 9.1 10.4 10.2 10.5
Chernivtsi9.5 9.4 9.9 10.3 11.0 11.0 10.8
Khmelnytskyi9.4 8.8 9.0 9.5 9.8 9.8 9.2
Vinnytsia9.1 9.0 9.2 9.2 10.2 10.2 10.0
Ivano-Frankivsk9.1 8.7 8.2 8.5 9.1 9.3 9.3
Ternopil8.1 7.6 8.1 7.7 8.5 8.5 7.7
Rivne7.9 7.8 8.7 8.6 9.0 9.2 8.8

Ethnic groups

In 2001, the ethnic composition was: Ukrainians 77.8%, Russian 17.3%, Romanian 1.1%, Belarusian 0.6%, Crimean Tatar 0.5%, Bulgarian 0.4%, Hungarian 0.3%, Polish 0.3%, Jewish 1.0%, Pontic Greeks 0.2% and other 1.6%. It is also estimated that there are about 49,817 ethnic Koreans in Ukraine that belong to the Koryo-saram group. Their number may be as high as 100.000 as many ethnic Koreans were assimilated into the majority population.

Before World War II

After World War II

Languages

According to the latest census that took place, the following languages are common in Ukraine Ukrainian 67.5%, Russian 29.6%, Crimean Tatar, Urum, Bulgarian, Moldovan/Romanian, Polish, Hungarian.
The below table gives the total population of various ethnic groups in Ukraine and the primary language, according to the 2001 census.

Religion

A 2016 survey conducted by the Razumkov Centre found that 70% of the population declared themselves believers in any religion, while 6.3% declared themselves non-believers, and 2.7% declared to be atheists. Of the total Ukrainian population, 81.9% declared to be Christians, comprising a 63.4% who declared to be Orthodox, 8.5% Greek Rite Catholics, 7.1% simply Christians, 1.9% Protestants, and 1.0% Latin Rite Catholics. Islam comprises 1.1% of the population, while Judaism and Hinduism were the religions of 0.2% of the population each. A further 16.3% of the population believed in some other religion not identifying in one of those listed hitherto; it may comprise Rodnovery and other faiths.
Among those Ukrainians who declared to believe in Orthodoxy, 38.1% declared to be members of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kievan Patriarchate, while 23.0% declared to be members of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscovian Patriarchate. A further 2.7% were members of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, which, like the Kievan Patriarchate, is not recognized by the Eastern Orthodox Church. Among the remaining Orthodox Ukrainians, 32.3% declared to be "simply Orthodox", without affiliation to any patriarchate, while a further 3.1% declared that they "did not know" which patriarchate or Orthodox church they belonged to.

Regional differences

Regional differences in population change

Between the Soviet census of 1989 and the Ukrainian census of 2001, Ukraine's population declined from 51,706,600 to 48,457,020, a loss of 2,926,700 people or 5.7% of the 1989 population. However, this trend has been quite uneven and varied regionally. Two regions in western Ukraine — Rivne and Zakarpattia, saw slight population increases of 0.3% and 0.5% respectively. A third western Ukrainian region, Volyn, lost less than 0.1% of its population between 1989 and 2001. Collectively, between 1989 and 2001 the seven westernmost regions of Ukraine lost 167,500 people or 1.7% of their 1989 population. The total population of these regions in 2001 was 9,593,800.
Between 1989 and 2001, the population of Kiev City increased by 0.3% due to positive net-migration. Outside the capital, the central, southern and eastern regions experienced a severe decline in population. Between 1989 and 2001, the Donetsk region lost 491,300 people or 9.2% of its 1989 population, and neighbouring Luhansk region lost 11% of its population. Chernihiv region, in central Ukraine northeast of Kiev, lost 170,600 people or 12% of its 1989 population, the highest percentage loss in of any region in Ukraine. In southern Ukraine, Odessa region lost 173,600 people, or 6.6% of its 1989 population. By 2001, Crimea's population declined by 29,900 people, representing only 1.4% loss of the 1989 population.
However, this was due to the influx of approximately 200,000 Crimean Tatars - a number equivalent to approximately 10% of Crimea's 1989 population – who arrived in Crimea after 1989 and whose population in that region increased by a factor of 6.4 from 38,000 to 243,400 between 1989 and 2001. Collectively, the net population loss in the regions of Ukraine outside the westernmost regions was 2,759,200 people or 6.6% of the 1989 population. The total population of these regions in 2001 was 39,186,100.
Thus, from 1989-2001 the pattern of population change was one of slight growth in Kiev, slight declines in western Ukraine, large declines in eastern, central and southern Ukraine and slight decline in Crimea due to a large influx of Crimean Tatars.

Regional differences in birth and fertility rates

Ukraine's total fertility rate is one of the lowest in Europe. However, significant regional differences in birth rates may account for some of the demographic differences. In the third quarter of 2007, for instance, the highest birth rate among Ukrainian regions occurred in Volyn Oblast, with a birth rate of 13.4/1,000 people, compared to the Ukrainian country-wide average of 9.6/1,000 people. Volyn's birthrate is higher than the average birth rate of any European country with the exceptions of Iceland and Albania.
In 2007, for the first time since 1990, five Ukrainian regions experienced more births than deaths. This demonstrates a positive trend of increasing birthrates in the last couple of years throughout Ukraine. The ratio of births to deaths in those regions in 2007 was 119%, 117%, 110%, 100.7%, and 108%, respectively.
With the exception of Kiev region, all of the regions with more births than deaths were in the less industrially developed regions of western Ukraine. According to a spokesperson for Ukraine's Ministry of Justice, the overall ratio of births to deaths in Ukraine had improved from 1 to 1.7 in 2004–2005 to 1 to 1.4 in 2008. However, the worst birth to death ratios in the country were in the eastern and central oblasts of Donetsk, Luhansk, Cherkasy and Poltava. In these regions, for every birth there were 2.1 deaths.
Notably, western Ukraine never experienced the Holodomor, as Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Romania ruled it at the time, helping to explain the better demographics there, as the rural population was never devastated. Specifically, during the time of the Holodomor, Poland ruled Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv, Rivne, Ternopil, and Volyn Oblasts, whereas Zakarpattia Oblast was under Czechoslovak rule, and Romania controlled Chernivtsi Oblast and the Budjak section of Odessa Oblast.
Abortion behavior in the North, South, East and Center regions of Ukraine are relatively homogeneous while the Western region differs greatly. Overall, the abortion rate in western Ukraine is three times lower than in other regions; however this is not due to an increased use of modern contraceptive methods in the West, but simply due to the fact that pregnant women in the Western regions are more likely to keep their babies. Donetsk and Dniproptrovsk oblasts in eastern and central Ukraine have the country's highest rate of abortions.

Regional differences and death rates and health

Death rates also vary widely by region; Eastern and southern Ukraine have the highest death rates in the country, and the life expectancy for children born in Chernihiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Kherson, Kropyvnytskyi, Luhansk, Mikolaiv, and Odessa regions is 1.5 years lower than the national average.
Ukraine had a suicide rate of 16.5 per 100,000 population in 2017, a significant decrease from the suicide rate of 29.6 per 100,000 in 1998. Suicides are more frequent in the central part of the country (the highest suicide rates was in Kirovohrad Oblast; In western Ukraine, the suicide rate was lower than the national average. Lviv Oblast has the lowest suicide rate - 5.3
The Southern and eastern Ukrainian regions also suffer from the highest rates of HIV and AIDS, which impacts life expectancy. In late 2000, 60% of all AIDS cases in Ukraine were concentrated in the Odessa, Dnipropetrovsk, and Donetsk regions. A major reason for this is the fact that the urbanized and industrialized regions in the East and South of Ukraine suffered most from the economic crisis in the 1990s, which in turn led to the spread of unemployment, alcoholism, and drug abuse, thus setting the conditions for wider spread of the epidemic.

Regional differences in income

The western and central regions of Ukraine had lower GDP per capita than Kiev and the industrialized eastern regions of Ukraine. In December 2019 the average monthly salary in Ukraine was 12,264 hryvnias. Chernihiv oblast and Kirovohrad Oblast, had the lowest monthly salary of 8,851 and 9,450 hryvnias, respectively. In contrast, the monthly wage in the city of Kiev was 18,869 hryvnias per month, and in Kiev oblast – 13,259 per month. In 2013, outside of the capital city of Kiev, the wealthiest region was Donetsk Oblast with annual income 31,048 hryvnias. But as of 2017, Donetsk Oblast ranks as the second poorest after Luhansk Oblast with annual incomes 25,278 hryvnias and 16,416 hryvnias respectively. Both are in the eastern Ukraine and have sustained direct losses as a consequence of military actions.
Ukraine recorded one of the sharpest declines in poverty of any transition economy in 2001-2016 years. The poverty rate, measured against an absolute poverty line fell from a high of 32 percent in 2001 to 8 percent in 2005. In terms of poverty rates, the central and northern regions have the country's highest poverty rates - 10.0%. The western and southern regions - 9.1% and 9% respectively. Kyiv City had the lowest poverty rate - 1.4%.
Percent of population living under $5.50 a day was 19% in 2005 and dropped to 4.0 percent in 2018..

Urbanization

Migration

Ukraine is the major source of migrants in Russia and many of the member states of the European Union. During the 1990s and early 2000s, Ukraine's sputtering economy and political instability contributed to rising emigration, especially to nearby Russia, Poland and Hungary, but also to other States such as Italy, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, Israel and Canada. Although estimates vary, approximately two to three million Ukrainian citizens are currently working abroad, most of them illegally, in construction, service, housekeeping, and agriculture industries. Eastern Ukrainians are likely to immigrate to Russia while western Ukrainians are likely to move to the E.U.
Between 1991 and 2004, the government counted 2,537,400 individuals who emigrated; 1,897,500 moved to other post-Soviet states, and 639,900 moved to other, mainly Western, states.
By the early 2000s, Ukrainian embassies reported that 300,000 Ukrainian citizens were working in Poland, 200,000 in Italy, approximately 200,000 in the Czech Republic, 150,000 in Portugal, 100,000 in Spain, 35,000 in Turkey, 20,000 in the United States and small significant numbers in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK. The largest number of Ukrainian workers abroad, about one million, are in the Russian Federation. Since 1992, 232,072 persons born in Ukraine have emigrated to the US.
From the point of view of the economic impact on natives, more appropriate than the absolute numbers is the volume of immigration as a proportion of the native population. Italy has the highest rate of Ukrainian emigrants as a proportion of the native population, while the much larger Russia has the largest absolute confirmed number of Ukrainian emigrants.