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Demographics

According to the Ukrainian Census of 2001, ethnic Ukrainians make up 77.8% of the population. Other significant ethnic groups are Russians (17.3%), Belarusians (0.6%), Moldovans (0.5%), Crimean Tatars (0.5%), Bulgarians (0.4%), Hungarians (0.3%), Romanians (0.3%), Poles (0.3%), Jews (0.2%), Armenians (0.2%), Greeks (0.2%) and Tatars (0.2%).

The industrial regions in the east and south-east are the most heavily populated, and about 67.2% of the population lives in urban areas.

Ukrainian is the only official state language. Russian, which was a de facto official language in the Soviet Union, is widely spoken, especially in eastern and southern Ukraine. According to the census, 67.5% of the population declared Ukrainian as their native language and 29.6% declared Russian. It is sometimes difficult to determine the extent of the two languages, since many people use a Surzhyk (a mixture of Ukrainian and Russian where the vocabulary is often combined with Ukrainian grammar and pronunciation) while claiming in surveys that they speak Russian or Ukrainian (most of them are able to speak both literary languages though). Besides, some ethnic Ukrainians, while calling Ukrainian their 'native' language, use Russian more frequently in their daily lives. These details result in a significant difference across different survey results, as even a small restating of a question switches responses of a significant group of people. Standard literary Ukrainian is mainly spoken in western and central Ukraine. In western Ukraine, Ukrainian is also the dominant language in cities (such as Lviv). In central Ukraine, Ukrainian and Russian are both equally used in cities, with Russian being more common in Kiev, while Ukrainian is the dominant language in rural communities. In eastern and southern Ukraine, mainly Russian is used in cities, and Surzhyk is used in rural areas.

The Government follows a policy of Ukrainization — the increase of Ukrainian language, generally at the expense of Russian. This takes the form of use of Ukrainian in various spheres that are under Government control, such as schools, Government offices, and some media. This is even done in areas which are largely Russian-speaking. However, in non-Government areas of life, the language of convenience (usually Russian) is used.

According to the Autonomous Republic of Crimea constitution, Ukrainian is the only state language of the republic. However, the republic's constitution specifically recognizes Russian as the language of the majority of its population and guarantees its usage 'in all spheres of public life'. Similarly, the Crimean Tatar language (the language of a sizeable 12% minority of the republic is guaranteed a special state protection as well as the 'languages of other nationalities'. Russian speakers constitute an overwhelming majority of the Crimean population (77%), with Ukrainian speakers comprising 10.1%, and Crimean Tatar speakers 11.4%. But in everyday life the majority of Cimean Tatars and Ukrainians in Crimea use Russian.

Romanians and Moldavians are another significant minority in Ukraine, concentrated mainly in Chernivtsi Oblast.

Jews played a very important role in cultural life especially in the 19th and early 20th century. Nowadays Yiddish, the Ukrainian Jews' traditional language, is only used by a few older people.

After independence, a significant change in the language of instruction in educational institutions took place. According to the Razumkov centre, while 49% of high school students in 1991/92 were receiving their education in Ukrainian, and 50% in Russian, 70% of students in 2000/01 attended Ukrainian schools (where Ukrainian is the primary language of instruction) while 29% were studying in Russian schools (both languages are studied in all schools in Ukraine, as part of the curriculum). This trend is opposite to the changes in the 1970s and 1980s, when the number of Russian schools was constantly being increased. The transition toward Ukrainian-language usage is taking a long time, and in some schools that had switched to Ukrainian from Russian, part or most of the instruction is still given in Russian.

In general, most of the population is bilingual, at least to some degree. Most of the Ukrainophone population is also fluent in Russian and many Russian native speakers in Ukraine are fluent in Ukrainian as well. An overwhelming majority has at least a reasonable command in Ukrainian even in primarily Russophone southern and eastern parts of the country.

Significant migration took place in the first years of Ukrainian independance. More than 1 million people moved into Ukraine in 1991-1992, mostly from the other former Soviet republics. In total, between 1991 and 2004, 2.2 millions immigrated to Ukraine (among them, 2.0 mln came from the other former Soviet Union states), and 2.5 millions immigrated from Ukraine (among them, 1.9 mln moved to the rest of former Soviet Union republics).

In the context of low salaries and unemployment within Ukraine, labor emigration became a mass phenomenon at the end of the 1990s. Although estimates vary, approximately two to three million Ukrainian citizens are currently working abroad, many illegally, in construction, service, housekeeping, and agriculture industries. Moreover, a significant number of women from Ukraine had been dragged into prostitution and sex slavery in foreign lands, mainly Western Europe and Turkey.

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For investors: new entry

Novokahovskyi Lime-Sand Brick Plant Purposes of company: Investments Company description: Market Overview:  Construction volume is increasing 20-25% annually, creating an increased demand for high quality façade bricks. The industrial capacity of façade bricks is estimated at 200 million bricks per year. In 2006, a construction boom is expected in southern Ukraine, where the plant is located. The product is used mainly by construction companies and private companies. Project Overview: Using KSE-400 (Germany) Equipment supplier offers trainings for the buyer’s staff Can produce 30 million bricks per year including high quality hollow façade bricks, ordinary bricks, molded bricks, white and colored bricks Competitive Advantages: Production of lime-sand bricks is considerably more energy efficient than the production of ceramic bricks. Moreover, the project envisions the reconstruction of one of the two pit-type 50-ton lime-burning kilns; using coal, automatic blending, loading, and burning will save on gas Plant produces its own lime; a sand-pit is located close to the plant No high quality lime-sand hollow bricks are produced in southern Ukraine Due to the considerable decrease in the weight of the bricks, delivery and transportation becomes much easier; bricks can be transported by auto, railway (via the plant’s rail track), or by water (a river port is 8 km away) Investment Project Progress:  Market research has been conducted Key Financials: Total Investment - € 1.5 mln Investment Needed - € 1.5 mln Payoff period - 5 years Branch: Construction materials see more Purposes of company: Investments Company description:    Branch: Construction materials see more

For Buyers: new entry

Purposes of company: Export Company description:   Branch: Construction materials see more «Венбест» Purposes of company: Distribution Branch: Furniture see more