"Ukraine: the cradle of the Kievan-Rus(sian) Civilization"

Area: total: 603,700 sq km (slightly smaller than Texas), strategicly positioned at the crossroads between Europe and Asia; second-largest country in Europe.
Land boundaries: total: 4,663 km
Coastline: 2,782 km
Climate: temperate continental; Mediterranean only on the southern Crimean coast; precipitation disproportionately distributed, highest in west and north, lesser in east and southeast; winters vary from cool along the Black Sea to cold farther inland; summers are warm across the greater part of the country, hot in the south.
Terrain: most of Ukraine consists of fertile plains (steppes) and plateaus, mountains being found only in the west (the Carpathians), and in the Crimean Peninsula in the extreme south.
Elevation extremes: lowest point: Black Sea 0 m, highest point: Hora Hoverla 2,061 m
Natural resources: iron ore, coal, manganese, natural gas, oil, salt, sulfur, graphite, titanium, magnesium, kaolin, nickel, mercury, timber, arable land
Land use: arable land: 53.8%; permanent crops: 1.5%; other: 44.7% (2005). Irrigated land: 22,080 sq km (2003).
Environment - current issues: inadequate supplies of potable water; air and water pollution; deforestation; radiation contamination in the northeast from 1986 accident at Chornobyl' Nuclear Power Plant
Population: 46,299,862 (July 2007 est.)
Age structure: 0-14 years: 14% (male 3,334,428/female 3,163,378); 15-64 years: 69.6% (male 15,465,544/female 16,769,495); 65 years and over: 16.3% (male 2,564,512/female 5,002,505) (2007 est.). Median age: total: 39.2 years; male: 36 years, female: 42.3 years (2007 est.)
Population growth rate: -0.675% (2007 est.)
Birth rate: 9.45 births/1,000 population (2007 est.)
Death rate: 16.07 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.). Infant mortality rate: total: 9.5 deaths/1,000 live births
Net migration rate: -0.13 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.)
Sex ratio: 0.857 male(s)/female (2007 est.)
Life expectancy at birth: total population: 67.88 years, male: 62.16 years, female: 73.96 years (2007 est.)
Total fertility rate: 1.24 children born/woman (2007 est.)
HIV/AIDS: 1.4% (2003 est.), or 360,000 (2001 est.), HIV/AIDS - deaths: 20,000 (2003 est.)
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% (2001 census)
Religions: Ukrainian Orthodox - Kyiv Patriarchate 19%, Orthodox (no particular jurisdiction) 16%, Ukrainian Orthodox - Moscow Patriarchate 9%, Ukrainian Greek Catholic 6%, Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox 1.7%, Protestant, Jewish, none 38% (2004 est.)
Languages: Ukrainian (official) 67%, Russian 24%, other 9% (Romanian, Polish, Hungarian)
Literacy: 99.4%, male: 99.7% , female: 99.2% (2001 census)
Government type: Republic
Capital: Kyiv (Kiev)
Time difference: UTC+2 (7 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time), daylight saving time: +1hr, begins last Sunday in March; ends last Sunday in October
Independence: 24 August 1991 (from the Soviet Union)
Constitution: adopted 28 June 1996
Legal system: based on civil law system; judicial review of legislative acts; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal
Economy overview: After Russia, the Ukrainian republic was far and away the most important economic component of the former Soviet Union, producing about four times the output of the next-ranking republic. Its fertile black soil generated more than one-fourth of Soviet agricultural output, and its farms provided substantial quantities of meat, milk, grain, and vegetables to other republics. Likewise, its diversified heavy industry supplied the unique equipment (for example, large diameter pipes) and raw materials to industrial and mining sites (vertical drilling apparatus) in other regions of the former USSR. Shortly after independence was ratified in December 1991, the Ukrainian Government liberalized most prices and erected a legal framework for privatization, but widespread resistance to reform within the government and the legislature soon stalled reform efforts and led to some backtracking. Output by 1999 had fallen to less than 40% of the 1991 level. Loose monetary policies pushed inflation to hyperinflationary levels in late 1993. Ukraine's dependence on Russia for energy supplies and the lack of significant structural reform have made the Ukrainian economy vulnerable to external shocks. Ukraine depends on imports to meet about three-fourths of its annual oil and natural gas requirements. A dispute with Russia over pricing in late 2005 and early 2006 led to a temporary gas cut-off; Ukraine concluded a deal with Russia in January 2006 that almost doubled the price Ukraine pays for Russian gas, and could cost the Ukrainian economy $1.4-2.2 billion. Ukrainian Government officials eliminated most tax and customs privileges in a March 2005 budget law, bringing more economic activity out of Ukraine's large shadow economy, but more improvements are needed, including fighting corruption, developing capital markets, and improving the legislative framework for businesses. Reforms in the more politically sensitive areas of structural reform and land privatization are still lagging. Outside institutions - particularly the IMF - have encouraged Ukraine to quicken the pace and scope of reforms. In its efforts to accede to the World Trade Organization (WTO), Ukraine passed more than 20 laws in 2006 to bring its trading regime into consistency with WTO standards. GDP growth was 7% in 2006, up from 2.4% in 2005 thanks to rising steel prices worldwide and growing consumption domestically. Although the economy is likely to expand in 2007, long-term growth could be threatened by the government's plans to reinstate tax, trade, and customs privileges and to maintain restrictive grain export quotas.
GDP (purchasing power parity): $364.3 billion (2006 est.)
GDP (official exchange rate): $82.36 billion (2006 est.)
GDP - real growth rate: 7.1% (2006 est.)
GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 10.2%, industry: 32.9%, services: 57% (2006 est.)
Labor force: 21.52 million (2006 est.)
Unemployment rate: 2.7% officially registered; large number of unregistered or underemployed workers; the International Labor Organization calculates that Ukraine's real unemployment level is 6.7% (2006 est.)
Population below poverty line: 37.7% (2003)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 9.1% (2006 est.)
Budget: revenues: $34.02 billion, expenditures: $34.71 billion; note - this is the planned, consolidated budget (2006 est.)
Public debt: 14.1% of GDP (2006 est.)
Agriculture - products: grain, sugar beets, sunflower seeds, vegetables; beef, milk
Industries: coal, electric power, ferrous and nonferrous metals, machinery and transport equipment, chemicals, food processing (especially sugar)
Industrial production growth rate: 6.3% (2006 est.)
Current account balance: $-1.617 billion (2006 est.)
Exports: $38.95 billion (2006 est.)
Exports - commodities: ferrous and nonferrous metals, fuel and petroleum products, chemicals, machinery and transport equipment, food products
Exports - partners: Russia 21.4%, Turkey 7.1%, Italy 6.4%, US 4.1% (2006)
Imports: $44.14 billion (2006 est.)
Imports - commodities: energy, machinery and equipment, chemicals
Imports - partners: Russia 28.2%, Germany 11.7%, Poland 7.6%, China 7%, Turkmenistan 5.7% (2006)
Economic aid - recipient: $409.6 million (1995); IMF Extended Funds Facility $2.2 billion (2005)
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: $22.36 billion (2006 est.)
Debt - external: $39.19 billion (2006 est.)
Currency Exchange rates: hryvnia (UAH) per US dollar ($) - 5.05 (2006),
Telephone system: general assessment: Ukraine's telecommunication development plan, running through 2005, emphasizes improving domestic trunk lines, international connections, and the mobile cellular system. Domestic: at independence in December 1991, Ukraine inherited a telephone system that was antiquated, inefficient, and in disrepair; more than 3.5 million applications for telephones could not be satisfied; telephone density is rising slowly and the domestic trunk system is being improved; the mobile cellular telephone system is expanding at a high rate. International: country code - 380; 2 new domestic trunk lines are a part of the fiber-optic Trans-Asia-Europe (TAE) system and 3 Ukrainian links have been installed in the fiber-optic Trans-European Lines (TEL) project that connects 18 countries; additional international service is provided by the Italy-Turkey-Ukraine-Russia (ITUR) fiber-optic submarine cable and by earth stations in the Intelsat, Inmarsat, and Intersputnik satellite systems.
Internet country code: .ua
Internet hosts: 234,349 (2007)
Internet users: 5.545 million (2006)
Transportation
Airports: 437 (2007). Airports - with paved runways: total: 193. Airports - with unpaved runways: total: 244
Railways:total: 22,473 km. Broad gauge: 22,473 km 1.524-m gauge (9,250 km electrified) (2006)
Roadways:total: 169,477 km, paved: 164,732 km (includes 15 km of expressways), unpaved: 4,745 km (2004)
Waterways:2,253 km (most on Dnieper River) (2006). Merchant marine: total: 193 ships (1000 GRT or over) 763,293 GRT/899,859 DWT, by type: bulk carrier 6, cargo 145, container 3, passenger 6, passenger/cargo 4, petroleum tanker 9, refrigerated cargo 11, roll on/roll off 7, specialized tanker 2. Ports and terminals: Feodosiya, Kerch, Kherson, Mariupol', Mykolayiv, Odesa, Reni, Yuzhnyy
Military branches: Ground Forces, Naval Forces, Air Forces (Viyskovo-Povitryani Syly), Air Defense Forces (2002)
Military service age and obligation:18-25 years of age for compulsory and voluntary military service; conscript service obligation - 18 months for Army and Air Force, 24 months for Navy (2004)
Manpower available for military service:males age 18-49: 11,020,222, females age 18-49: 11,370,687 (2005 est.). Manpower fit for military service: males age 18-49: 7,376,050, females age 18-49: 9,313,385 (2005 est.)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP: 1.4% (2005 est.)
Disputes - international:
1997 boundary delimitation treaty with Belarus remains un-ratified due to unresolved financial claims, stalling demarcation and reducing border security; delimitation of land boundary with Russia is complete with preparations for demarcation underway; the dispute over the boundary between Russia and Ukraine through the Kerch Strait and Sea of Azov remains unresolved despite a December 2003 framework agreement and ongoing expert-level discussions; Moldova and Ukraine operate joint customs posts to monitor transit of people and commodities through Moldova's break-away Transnistria Region, which remains under OSCE supervision; the ICJ gave Ukraine until December 2006 to reply, and Romania until June 2007 to rejoin, in their dispute submitted in 2004 over Ukrainian-administered Zmiyinyy/Serpilor (Snake) Island and Black Sea maritime boundary; Romania opposes Ukraine's reopening of a navigation canal from the Danube border through Ukraine to the Black Sea
Illicit drugs:
limited cultivation of cannabis and opium poppy, mostly for CIS consumption; some synthetic drug production for export to the West; limited government eradication program; used as transshipment point for opiates and other illicit drugs from Africa, Latin America, and Turkey to Europe and Russia; Ukraine has improved anti-money-laundering controls, resulting in its removal from the Financial Action Task Force's (FATF's) Noncooperative Countries and Territories List in February 2004; Ukraine's anti-money-laundering regime continues to be monitored by FATF.

Information source: CIA: The World Fact Book. For more detailed and up-to-date information visit https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/up.html