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Ukraine is the largest country in Europe and is situated in eastern Europe.

Ukraine has a coastline along the Black Sea. The Crimean peninsula, shown in grey on our map and a part of Ukraine until 2014, is joined to Ukraine by a narrow strip of land about 5 kms wide. In 2014 Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula. This is disputed by Ukraine because in 1954 the Soviet leader Nikita Krushchev transferred the Crimean peninsula to Ukraine as a "gift". On February 24 2022, Russian troops invaded Ukraine. Fighting is continuing as of March 2022.

The land is mostly flat plains and plateaus with the Carpathian mountains in the west.

The geographical coordinates for the centre of Ukraine, also known as lines of latitude and longitude, are:-
Latitude - 49 00N
Longitude - 32 00E

The capital of Ukraine is Kyiv.

Ukraine is a semi-presidential republic with a president as head of state.

In elections everyone over the age of 18 can vote.

The currency in Ukraine is the Ukrainian hryvnia. Ukraine is not a member of the European Union but has been building closer ties with a view to applying for membership by 2020.

Ukranian is the official language.

Check the weather in Kyiv now.

This is the time in Kyiv now

The Ukrainian flag is 2 equal horizontal stripes of blue and golden yellow representing the grain fields under a blue sky.


Hear the National Anthem



These are the anthem words

The words ×

These are the words to the Ukrainian National Anthem called Ukraine's Glory Hasn't Perished. It was adopted in 1991. This is a translation of the words.

If anthem fails to play click here

Ukraine’s glory hasn’t perished, nor her freedom
Upon us, fellow compatriots, fate shall smile once more.
Our enemies will vanish, like dew in the morning sun,
And we too shall rule, brothers, in a free land of our own.

We’ll lay down our souls and bodies to attain our freedom,
And we’ll show that we, brothers, are of the Kozak nation.
We’ll lay down our souls and bodies to attain our freedom,
And we’ll show that we, brothers, are of the Kozak nation.

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The Land
The People
Life and Death
Health, Energy and the Environment
Education and Work
Travel, Communication and the Media

The total land area of Ukraine is 579,330 sq kms which is the largest in Europe.

Ukraine has lakes, rivers and canals which total 24,220 sq kms.

Ukraine has boundaries with 7 countries

• Russia 1,944 kms
• Moldova 1,202 kms
• Belarus 1,111 kms
• Romania 601 kms
• Poland 535 kms
• Hungary 128 kms
• Slovakia 97 kms

Ukraine has a coastline of 2,782 kms which is the 12th longest in Europe.

The highest point in Ukraine is Hora Hoverla at 2,061 kms.

The pie chart below shows how the land is split between agricultural land (crops and pastures), forests and other, which can be towns, villages, desert or frozen waste called tundra.

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The total population of Ukraine is 44.21 million people, making it the 6th largest country in Europe by population.

Of this number 23.74 million are females and 20.47 million are males.

A person from Ukraine is called a Ukrainian.

To be a citizen of Ukraine, one of your parents must be a citizen of Ukraine. It is not sufficient to be born in Ukraine. You have to live in Ukraine for 5 years before you can begin to apply for citizenship.

The largest five cities in Ukraine, by population are:-

• Kiev 664,946 people
• Kharkiv 315,196
• Dnipro 168,034
• Donetsk 163,688
• Odessa 144,651

For each country we will give you a diagram showing the population density. This is the average number of people for each square kilometre. Each little Owlbut is 1 person and the big yellow rectangle is 1 sq km. After a while you can compare countries and see which ones are the most crowded. Remember it is only an average as more people live closer together in towns and cities than in villages out in the country.



69.7% of the people live in cities or towns.

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The birth rate in Ukraine is 10.5 births per 1,000 of population

The death rate in Ukraine is 14.4 deaths per 1,000 people.

Check this against the birth rate. If the death rate is higher than the birth rate then the population will decrease unless immigrants arrive in the country.

There are 7.0 deaths of girls under 1 year per 1,000 of births and 8.9 deaths of boys.

The median age for females is 43.5 and for males is 37.2. The median age is that age which divides the population exactly in half so there are the same number of people above the median age as below it.

The average age of a woman when she has her first child is 25.8.

The elderly dependency ratio is 23.0. This is the number of elderly people (ages 65+) per 100 people of working age (ages 15-64).

The potential support ratio is 4.3. This is the number of working-age people (ages 15-64) per one elderly person (ages 65+). As a population ages, the potential support ratio tends to fall, meaning there are fewer potential workers to support the elderly.

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Ukraine spends 7.1% of its total income on health care.

There are 3.54 doctors per 1,000 people.

There are 9.0 hospital beds per 1,000 people.

24.1% of the population are estimated as obese.

95.5% of the urban population and 97.8% of the rural population have drinking water that is either piped into their home or they have access to a public tap, a protected borehole, well, spring or protected rainwater collection facility.

97.4% of the urban population and 92.6% of the rural population have access to a flushing toilet that is connected to a sewer, a pit latrine (that is a permanent hole in the ground that is looked after) or a composting toilet.

Ukraine releases 291.0 million metric tons of carbon dioxide by burning fossil fuels in the process of producing and consuming energy. This puts it as the 6th highest in Europe. In 1986 a reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power station exploded, sending a radioactive plume across Europe. Desperate efforts were made to contain the damaged reactor within a huge concrete cover. Many armed forces personnel died of radiation sickness.

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Ukraine spends 6.0% of its total income on education.

Children usually start school at age 6 in Ukraine. Primary education is for four years until age 10 and secondary education must continue till 15 but can go on to 18/19. This may be followed by further education at a university or college.

Generally the school year consists of 3 terms and starts in the middle of September and finishes in the middle May. There is usually a 1 week break at Christmas and Easter.

99.7% of females and 99.8% of males are able to read and write by the age of 15.

23/0% of all people aged between 16 and 24 are not in work. Among females 21.5% are unemployed while with males 24.0% can't find work.

The total number of people available for work in Ukraine is 17.99 million.

They work in the following sectors.

• Agriculture includes farming, fishing and forestry work
• Industry includes mining, manufacturing, construction and energy workers
• Services is everything else

9.5% of the workforce are unemployed.

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There are 108 paved in Ukraine, which is the 5th highest number in Europe.


There are 21,733 kilometres of railways in Ukraine, which is the 3rd longest in Europe.


There are 166,095 kilometres of roads in Ukraine, which means Ukraine is in 7th place for the most kilometres of roads in Europe.

There are 4 major national newspapers in Ukraine.

There are 60.72 million mobile phone users.

21% of the people have a fixed landline.



21.90 million people have access to the internet at home via any device (computer or mobile).

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