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According to 2001 Ukrainian Census ethnic Ukrainians make up 77.8% of the population. The minorities include significant groups of ethnic Russians (17.3%), Belarusians (0.6%), Moldavians (0.5%), Crimean Tatar's (0.5%), Bulgarians (0.4%), Hungarians (0.3%), Romanians (0.3%), Poles (0.3%), Jews (0.2%), Armenians (0.2%), Greeks (0.2%) and Tatar's (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 largely used by many people, 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 Ukrainian-Russian mix where the mixed 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 (e.g. 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, people are free to use whatever language they want to. 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 and Crimean Tatar speakers comprise 10.1% and 11.4%, respectively. Romanians and Moldavians are another significant minority in Ukraine concentrated mainly in Chernivtsi Oblast. After independence, a significant change in the language of instruction in educational institutions took place. According to the Razumkov center, while in 1991/92 49% of high school students were receiving their education in Ukrainian, and 50% in Russian, in 2000/01 70% of students attended Ukrainian schools (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 80s 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. 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, most of them illegally, in construction, service, housekeeping, and agriculture industries. Moreover, many Ukrainian women have been dragged into prostitution in foreign lands, mainly Western Europe and Turkey. Ukrainian embassies report that 300,000 Ukrainian citizens are 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, and 20,000 in the US. The largest number of Ukrainian workers abroad, about one million, are in the Russian Federation. |
Ukraine Information: Inside
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