Population distribution

The population of Ukraine at the beginning of 2004 was 47.6 million. At the time of the most recent census, held in December 2001, it was 48.5 million. In 1989, when the previous census was held, it was 52 million. The decrease is mainly due to a low birth rate and economic migration to other countries.

The population density and degree of urbanisation are greater in eastern Ukraine than in the western and central areas. In the five most easterly administrative regions (see Administrative structure) the average population density (based on the 2001 census) is 110 inhabitants per sq. km., whereas in the remainder of the country it is 71 per sq. km. Similarly, the proportion of inhabitants living in urban, as distinct from rural, areas is 84% in the five most easterly regions and 49% in the ten most westerly regions.

Ukraine has five cities with populations of over 1 million (in 2001): Kyiv (2.61m), Kharkiv (1.47m), Dnipropetrovsk (1.07m), Odesa (1.03m) and Donetsk (1.02m). A further four cities have populations over 500,000: Zaporizhia (815,000), Lviv (733,000), Kryvyi Rih (669,000) and Mykolaiv (514,000). 37 cities have populations between 100,000 and 500,000. Of this group of 46 largest cities, 20 lie in the five most easterly regions.