formerly: Carpathian Ukraine, Ukrainian Socialists Soviet Republic.
Other Cities:
Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Lviv, Odesa
Government:
Type: Presidential-parliamentary.
Independence: August 24, 1991.
Constitution: First post-Soviet constitution adopted June 28, 1996.
Transparency: Rank 117 (out of 180 countries); Score 33, on a scale from 100 (very clean) to 0 (highly corrupt). Ukraine is ranked in the Corruption Perceptions Index 2020 between
Sierra Leone and
Zambia.
Geography:
Location: Eastern Europe north of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, bordered by Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Moldova, Russia, and Belarus.
Area: 603,000 km² (233,100 sq mi)
Terrain: mostly flat; 95% of lands are plains and 5% are mountainous.
Climate: two climatic zones: moderate and subtropical at the southern shore of Crimea.
People:
Nationality: Ukrainian(s)
Population: 41.3 million (2021)
Ethnic Groups: Ukrainians (77.5%), Russians (17%), Belarusians, Moldovans, Hungarians, Bulgarians, Jews, Poles, Crimean Tatars, and other groups.
Religions: Ukrainian Orthodoxy, Ukrainian Greek Catholicism, Judaism, Roman Catholicism,
Islam
Languages: Ukrainian (official), Russian, others
Literacy: 98%
Agriculture products: grain, sugar beets, sunflower seeds, vegetables, beef, and milk.
Natural resources: oil, natural gas, manganese, coal, iron ore, mercury, nickel, kaolin, magnesium, titanium, graphite, sulfur, and salt.
Industries: coal, electric power, ferrous and nonferrous metals, machinery and transport equipment, chemicals, and food processing.
Exports - commodities: ferrous and nonferrous metals, fuel and petroleum products, chemicals, machinery, and transport equipment, foodstuffs.
Exports - partners: Russia 9%,
China 8%,
Germany 6%,
Poland 6%,
Italy 5%,
Turkey 5% (2019)
Imports - commodities: energy, machinery and equipment, chemicals.
Imports - partners: China 13%, Russia 12%, Germany 10%, Poland 9%,
Belarus 7% (2019)
Currency: Ukrainian Hryvnia (UAH)
(Source: Embassy of Ukraine and others)