National composition of Ukraine. History of Ukraine

Ukraine is the state that occupies the fifth place in Europe in terms of population. The number of people living in the territory of this country, according to the 2001 census, was 42.8 million. The figure, which is placed below, shows the national composition of Ukraine in percent.

A bit of history

The ancestors of the Ukrainians were Trypillians, who inhabited the territories between the Dniester, Dnieper and the Southern Bug for another 3.5-2 thousand years BC, as well as the early Slavs who came here and in the Carpathian region a little later. They were engaged in farming and led a settled life. It is these people that formed the basis of the future Ukrainian nation.

Several centuries in a row, numerous invasions of various nomadic tribes were made to the Slavic lands. But, despite borrowing some features of their culture, Ukrainians were able to preserve their national identity. It manifests itself not only in language, but also in spiritual culture.

Now Ukrainians are one of the great nations of the world, compactly settled in the heart of Europe and partly scattered around the world.

general information

The most densely populated places are the northern, eastern and central parts. Less people live in the western and southern regions. Most of the inhabitants are Ukrainians (approximately 78%), who are one of the most ancient ethnoses on the planet. The national composition of Ukraine also includes Crimean Tatars, Russians, Byelorussians, Poles, Jews, Romanians, Moldovans and others.

The modern state

In Ukrainian identity documents (except for the birth certificate), the nationality of the person is not indicated. Therefore, people born in the territory of Ukraine automatically become its citizens. In addition, they are an integral part of the indigenous people, despite their religion, nationality, language and political views.

Ethnic minorities, which include people who are not originally Ukrainians, but consciously following the rules and regulations of the current legislation, collectively represent the national composition of Ukraine and are protected by the state, as well as the ancestral inhabitants.

The Kiev International Institute of Sociology conducted research in the field of determining the ethnic belonging of citizens of the country by the method of their free self-identification. Their analysis showed that the national composition of Ukraine is extremely diverse. According to the information received, 62% of the mono-ethnic Ukrainian people live on the territory of the state, 23% are bi-ethnic Russian-Ukrainians, 10% are mono-ethnic Russians, and 5% of people belonging to other groups.

The population of the central regions

Consider the national composition of Ukraine by regions, and start with the Kiev. Its cities, rural settlements and villages are inhabited by representatives of non-title ethnic groups.

Here, mostly Ukrainians live (about 90%). The remaining 10% are Belarusians and other nationalities. As of 2001, there were 2,607,400 people living in the capital. It is worth noting that, in fact, this figure is much larger, since a huge number of foreigners and people coming from other cities work and study here.

The territory of Zhytomyr region is multinational. Here live people of 85 nationalities! More than 80% of them are Ukrainians. The share of Russians in comparison with other areas is small - only 8%. A distinctive feature of Zhytomyr is the large number of Poles living here, especially in the western part of the region. People with Belarusian roots are very few, despite the fact that the border with Belarus is close by.

Kirovograd region is inhabited by over 85% of Ukrainians. And in the northeast their number is approaching 100%. Residents with Russian roots are only 11% of the total number of citizens. Apart from them, the region is inhabited by Bulgarians, Moldovans and Byelorussians.

Left Bank

We will continue to explore the national composition of Ukraine by regions and move to the eastern part of the state. About eighty ethnic groups live in the Kharkiv region. Ukrainians make up more than 60% of the total population. They are followed by Russians (30%). The rest of the society is represented by Byelorussians, Tatars, Armenians and others.

The first large Ukrainian community lives in the Dnepropetrovsk region. The indigenous population here is 70%. The second largest ethnic group is the Russians (25%). They concentrate mainly in industrial centers. Among other nationalities, Jews and Byelorussians are distinguished.

Donetsk region is the leader in terms of population. There are 4.5 million inhabitants. The main part is made up of Ukrainians (50%), Belarusians and Russians (42%), as well as Jews, Germans, etc. The most populated cities are the largest cities - Donetsk, Mariupol, Kramatorsk and Makeyevka.

On the territory of Luhansk region, the national composition of Ukraine is more diverse than in the areas adjacent to it. Numerous people remain with a purely Ukrainian nationality (more than 50%). They are followed by Russians (less than 40%), Byelorussians, Tatars and representatives of more than one hundred other ethnic groups. Lugansk region has the fifth largest population density in Ukraine.

Southern regions

In the Zaporozhye region, the Ukrainian nation (60%) prevails. This region of the country belongs to those few territories where a large number of people with Russian roots live (30%). Among other national minorities, Belarusians and Bulgarians can be singled out. The latter, as a rule, live in Primorye.

In the Kherson region in 1989 Ukrainians lived 82%. Later this figure increased to 84.6%. The second place in the population was occupied by Russians, but the 2001 census showed that in this region there were less by 33.8%. Among other national minorities, Crimean Tatars, Byelorussians and Poles are distinguished.

In the Mykolayiv region the share of Ukrainians exceeded 75%. In the north-western regions, their number reaches 90%. Russian residents have about 20%. Also numerous remain Moldovans and Belarusians living in the northern part of the region.

Odessa region has 55% of the Ukrainian population and 25% - Russian. Among other small national minorities, it is necessary to single out Bulgarians, Gagauzians and Moldovans. Also in the Odessa region there are Czechs, Greeks, Albanians and Poles. The indigenous population occupies almost all of its central and northern territories.

Crimea and the city of Sevastopol: 74.4% of Russians and 20.6% of Ukrainians fall out on the ethnic composition of these lands, the remaining 5% are Crimean Tatars, Armenians, Germans, Jews, Latvians, Poles, Koreans, Estonians, etc. Also live here People with mixed nationalities, Tatars and Gypsies.

Right Bank

The Volyn region is Western Ukraine. The ethnic composition of the population of this territory is practically homogeneous due to its geographical location. Ukrainians represent the main part of the population (more than 95%). Also here live Russians (4%), Poles (0.5%), etc. The same situation is in Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Rivne, Khmelnitsky, Vinnytsia, Chernigov, Poltava, Sumy, Ternopil and Cherkasy regions.

The data of the population census in 2001 indicate that the territory of the Chernivtsi region is populated by representatives of 80 nationalities. Here, almost all the population consists of Ukrainians (75%). They predominate in the north-eastern and western parts of the region. It should be said that among the indigenous population there are sub-ethnic groups such as Bessarabians, Hutsuls and Rusyns. The former live predominantly in the northeastern part, the latter - in the western region, and the third - between the rivers Prut and Dniester.

The second largest nationality of the Chernivtsi region is the Romanians (10%). They are followed by Moldovans (about 9%), and only 7% of residents have Russian roots.

The Transcarpathian region replenishes the nationalities of Ukraine with the various nationalities living in it. This, for example, Hungarians (12.5%) and Slovaks (0.6%). The indigenous people are Ukrainians, of course. And of the total number of their population there are more than 80%. In addition to them, Russians (4%), Romanians, Gypsies, Germans, Byelorussians, Italians and representatives of other peoples live here.

Population of regions

Ukraine consists of an impressive number of ethnographic lands. Each of them is characterized by individual culture, traditions and ethnos. Many of them have one land included in others (for example, Pokutje is located in Galicia). All this has divided the modern national composition of Ukraine into regions, which still affects their structure and dynamics. It should be noted that there are eight major national minorities in the state:

- Russian (8 334.1 thousand);
- Byelorussians (275.8 thousand);
- Moldovans (258.6 thousand);
- Crimean Tatars (248.2 thousand);
- Bulgarians (204.6 thousand);
- Hungarians (156.6 thousand);
- Romanians (151.0 thousand);
- Poles (144.1 thousand).

The above-mentioned ethnic minorities live mostly in the border areas of the country, while in the central regions Ukrainians predominate.