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Flag Coat of arms

 ɓɟ ɧɟ ɜɦɟɪɥɚ ɍɤɪɚʀɧɢ ɿ ɫɥɚɜɚ, ɿ

ɜɨɥɹ (Ukrainian)
Π


   (transliteration)


 
 



 

Location of c
 (orange)

on the European continent ( white)

Kiev (ÿ)
 
(and largest city) 50°27ƍN 30°30ƍE50.45°N
30.5°E

å  
Ukrainian
 
Ukrainian
Unitary semi-presidential


republic


Viktor Yushchenko
- President
(NUNS)
Yulia Tymoshenko
- Prime Minister
(BYuT)
Speaker of the
- Volodymyr Lytvyn (BL)
Parliament
 
 
Verkhovna Rada

  

- Kievan Rus 8821

- Cossack Republics 1550
 Ukrainian People's
- March 17, 1917
Republic
- Ukrainian SSR December 30, 1922
Independence from
- August 24, 19912
the Soviet Union

 

603,628 km2 (44th)

- Total
233,090 sq mi
- Water (%) 7%
  

- 2008 estimate 46,179,226[1] (27th)

- 2001 census 48,457,102
77/km2 (115th)
- Density
199/sq mi
 (PPP) 2008 estimate
- Total $336.851 billion[2]
- Per capita $7,347[2]
 (nominal) 2008 estimate
- Total $179.725 billion[2]
- Per capita $3,920[2]
 (2006) 31[3] (medium)
! (2005) Ÿ 0.788 (medium) (76th)


  Hryvnia (c
)
" 
EET (UTC+2)
- Summer (DST) EEST (UTC+3)

  
right
! 
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.ua
# 
380
1
The ancient state of Kievan Rus' was formed in 882 on the
territory of modern Ukraine. From the historiographical point of
view, Rus' polity is considered by some historians as an early
predecessor of the Ukrainian nation.[4]
2
An independence referendum was held on December 1 after
which Ukrainian independence was finalized on December 26.
The current constitution was adopted on June 28, 1996.
c
 ±
± 
  (Ukrainian: ɍɤɪɚʀɧɚ, transliterated:

 , ƒ
 ) is
a country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east; Belarus to the north; Poland,
Slovakia, and Hungary to the west; Romania and Moldova to the southwest; and the Black Sea
and Sea of Azov to the south. The city of Kiev (ÿ) is both the capital and the largest city of
Ukraine.

Ukraine's modern history began with the East Slavs. From at least the 9th century, Ukraine was a
center of the medieval living area of the East Slavs. This state, known as Kievan Rus' became the
largest and most powerful nation in Europe, but disintegrated in the 12th century. Ukraine was
the home of the first modern democracy, which exhibited republican form, during the
Khmelnytsky uprising in the 17th century.[5] After the Great Northern War, Ukraine was divided
among a number of regional powers, and by the 19th century, the largest part of Ukraine was
integrated into the Russian Empire, with the rest under Austro-Hungarian control. After a chaotic
period of incessant warfare and several attempts at independence (1917±21) following World
War I and the Russian Civil War, Ukraine emerged in 1922 as one of the founding republics of
the Soviet Union. The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic's territory was enlarged westward
shortly before and after World War II, and again in 1954 with the Crimea transfer. In 1945, the
Ukrainian SSR became one of the co-founding members of the United Nations.[6] Ukraine
became independent again after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. This began a period
of transition to a market economy, in which Ukraine was stricken with an eight year recession.[7]
But since then, the economy has been experiencing a stable increase with GDP growth averaging
24 percent annually.

Ukraine is a unitary state composed of 24 oblasts (provinces), one autonomous republic

(Crimea), and two cities with special status: Kiev, its capital, and Sevastopol, which houses the
Russian Black Sea Fleet under a leasing agreement. Ukraine is a republic under a semi-
presidential system with separate legislative, executive, and judicial branches. Since the collapse
of the USSR, Ukraine continues to maintain the second largest military in Europe, after that of
Russia. The country is home to 46.2 million people, 77.8 percent of whom are ethnic Ukrainians,
with sizable minorities of Russians, Belarusians and Romanians. The Ukrainian language is the
only official language in Ukraine, while Russian is also widely spoken. The dominant religion in
the country is Eastern Orthodox Christianity, which has heavily influenced Ukrainian
architecture, literature and music.

  
[hide]

O 1 History
m 1.1 Early history
m 1.2 Golden Age of Kiev
m 1.3 Foreign domination
m 1.4 World War I and revolution
m 1.5 Inter-war Soviet Ukraine
m 1.6 World War II
m 1.7 Post-World War II
 m 1.8 Independence
O 2 Government and politics
m 2.1 Military
O 3 Administrative divisions
O 4 Geography
O 5 Economy
O 6 Tourism
O 7 Culture
m 7.1 Language
m 7.2 Literature
m 7.3 Sport
O 8 Demographics
O 9 Religion
O 10 Education
O 11 Infrastructure
O 12 See also
O 13 References
O 14 Notes
O 15 Print sources
O 16 External links

 

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Human settlement in the territory of Ukraine dates back to at least 4500 BC, when the Neolithic
Cucuteni culture flourished in a wide area that covered parts of modern Ukraine including
Trypillia and the entire Dnieper-Dniester region. During the Iron Age, the land was inhabited by
Cimmerians, Scythians, and Sarmatians.[8] Between 700 BC and 200 BC it was part of the
Scythian Kingdom, or Scythia. Later, colonies of Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, and the
Byzantine Empire, such as Tyras, Olbia, and Hermonassa, were founded, beginning in the
6th century BC, on the northeastern shore of the Black Sea, and thrived well into the 6th century
AD. The Goths stayed in the area but came under the sway of the Huns from the 370s AD. In the
7th century AD, the territory of eastern Ukraine was the center of Old Great Bulgaria. At the end
of the century, the majority of Bulgar tribes migrated in different directions and the land fell into
the Khazars' hands.

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Map of the Kievan Rus' in the 11th century. During the Golden Age of Kiev, the lands of Rus'
covered much of present day Ukraine, Belarus, and western Russia.

In the 9th century, much of modern-day Ukraine was populated by the Rus' people who formed
the Kievan Rus'. Kievan Rus' included nearly all territory of modern Ukraine, Belarus, with
larger part of it situated on the territory of modern Russia. During the 10th and 11th centuries, it
became the largest and most powerful state in Europe.[3] In the following centuries, it laid the
foundation for the national identity of Ukrainians and Russians.[9] Kiev, the capital of modern
Ukraine, became the most important city of the Rus'. According to the A


, the
Rus' elite initially consisted of Varangians from Scandinavia. The Varangians later became
assimilated into the local Slavic population and became part of the Rus' first dynasty, the Rurik
Dynasty.[9] Kievan Rus' was composed of several principalities ruled by the interrelated Rurikid
Princes. The seat of Kiev, the most prestigious and influential of all principalities, became the
subject of many rivalries among Rurikids as the most valuable prize in their quest for power.

The Golden Age of Kievan Rus' began with the reign of Vladimir the Great (980±1015), who
turned Rus' toward Byzantine Christianity. During the reign of his son, Yaroslav the Wise
(1019±1054), Kievan Rus' reached the zenith of its cultural development and military power.[9]
This was followed by the state's increasing fragmentation as the relative importance of regional
powers rose again. After a final resurgence under the rule of Vladimir Monomakh (1113±1125)
and his son Mstislav (1125±1132), Kievan Rus' finally disintegrated into separate principalities
following Mstislav's death.

In the 11th and 12th centuries, constant incursions by nomadic Turkic tribes, such as the
Pechenegs and the Kipchaks, caused a massive migration of Slavic populations to the safer,
heavily forested regions of the north.[10] The 13th century Mongol invasion devastated Kievan
Rus'. Kiev was totally destroyed in 1240.[11] On the Ukrainian territory, the state of Kievan Rus'
was succeeded by the principalities of Galich (Halych) and Volodymyr-Volynskyi, which were
merged into the state of Galicia-Volhynia.


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In the centuries following the Mongol invasion, much of Ukraine was controlled by Lithuania
(from the 14th century on) and since the Union of Lublin (1569) by Poland, as seen at this
outline of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth as of 1619.

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] Painted by
Ilya Repin from 1880 to 1891.

In the mid-14th century, Galicia-Volhynia was subjugated by Casimir the Great of Poland, while
the heartland of Rus', including Kiev, fell under the Gediminas of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania
after the Battle on the Irpen' River. Following the 1386 Union of Krevo, a dynastic union
between Poland and Lithuania, most of Ukraine's territory was controlled by the increasingly
Ruthenized local Lithuanian nobles as part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. At this time, the
term Ruthenia and Ruthenians as the Latinized versions of "Rus'", became widely applied to the
land and the people of Ukraine, respectively.[12]

By 1569, the Union of Lublin formed the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and a significant
part of Ukrainian territory was moved from largely Ruthenized Lithuanian rule to the Polish
administration, as it was transferred to the Polish Crown. Under the cultural and political
pressure of Polonisation much of the Ruthenian upper class converted to Catholicism and
became indistinguishable from the Polish nobility.[13] Thus, the Ukrainian commoners, deprived
of their native protectors among Ruthenian nobility, turned for protection to the Cossacks, who
remained fiercely orthodox at all times and tended to turn to violence against those they
perceived as enemies, particularly the Polish state and its representatives.[14]

The Khanate of Crimea was one of the strongest powers in Eastern Europe until the end of the
17th century.

In the mid-17th century, a Cossack military quasi-state, the Zaporozhian Host, was established
by the Dnieper Cossacks and the Ruthenian peasants fleeing Polish serfdom.[15] Poland had little
real control of this land, yet they found the Cossacks to be a useful fighting force against the
Turks and Tatars,[16] and at times the two allied in military campaigns.[17] However, the
continued enserfment of peasantry by the Polish nobility emphasized by the Commonwealth's
fierce exploitation of the workforce, and most importantly, the suppression of the Orthodox
Church pushed the allegiances of Cossacks away from Poland.[16] Their aspiration was to have
representation in Polish Sejm, recognition of Orthodox traditions and the gradual expansion of
the Cossack Registry. These were all vehemently denied by the Polish nobility. The Cossacks
eventually turned for protection to Orthodox Russia, a decision which would later lead towards
the downfall of the Polish-Lithuanian state,[15] and the preservation of the Orthodox Church and
in Ukraine.[18]

In 1648, Bohdan Khmelnytsky led the largest of the Cossack uprisings against the
Commonwealth and the Polish king John II Casimir.[19] Left-bank Ukraine was eventually
integrated into Russia as the Cossack Hetmanate, following the 1654 Treaty of Pereyaslav and
the ensuing Russo-Polish War. After the partitions of Poland at the end of the 18th century by
Prussia, Habsburg Austria, and Russia, Western Ukrainian Galicia was taken over by Austria,
while the rest of Ukraine was progressively incorporated into the Russian Empire. From the
beginning of the 16th century until the end of 17th century the Crimean Tatar raider bands made
almost annual forays into agricultural Slavic lands searching for captives to sell as slaves.[20]
After the annexation of the Crimean Khanate in 1783, the region was settled by migrants from
other parts of Ukraine.[21] Despite the promises of Ukrainian autonomy given by the Treaty of
Pereyaslav, the Ukrainian elite and the Cossacks never received the freedoms and the autonomy
they were expecting from Imperial Russia. However, within the Empire, Ukrainians rose to the
highest offices of Russian state, and the Russian Orthodox Church.[a] At a later period, the tsarist
regime carried the policy of Russification of Ukrainian lands, suppressing the use of the
Ukrainian language in print, and in public.[22]

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Ukraine entered World War I on the side of both the Central Powers, under Austria, and the
Triple Entente, under Russia. 3.5 million Ukrainians fought with the Imperial Russian Army,
while 250,000 fought for the Austro-Hungarian Army.[23] During the war, Austro-Hungarian
authorities established the Ukrainian Legion to fight against the Russian Empire. This legion was
the foundation of the Ukrainian Galician Army that fought against the Bolsheviks and Poles in
the post World War I period (1919±23). Those suspected of the Russophile sentiments in Austria
were treated harshly. Up to 5,000 supporters of the Russian Empire from Galicia were detained
and placed in Austrian internment camps in Talerhof, Styria, and in a fortress at Terezín (now in
the Czech Republic).[24]

Soldiers of the Ukrainian People's Army

With the collapse of the Russian and Austrian empires following World War I and the Russian
Revolution of 1917, a Ukrainian national movement for self-determination reemerged. During
1917±20, several separate Ukrainian states briefly emerged: the Ukrainian People's Republic, the
Hetmanate, the Directorate and the pro-Bolshevik Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (or Soviet
Ukraine) successively established territories in the former Russian Empire; while the West
Ukrainian People's Republic emerged briefly in the former Austro-Hungarian territory. In the
midst of Civil War, an anarchist movement called the Black Army led by Nestor Makhno also
developed in Southern Ukraine.[25] However with Western Ukraine's defeat in the Polish-
Ukrainian War followed by the failure of the further Polish offensive that was repelled by the
Bolsheviks. According to the Peace of Riga concluded between the Soviets and Poland, western
Ukraine was officially incorporated into Poland who in turn recognised the Ukrainian Soviet
Socialist Republic in March 1919, that later became a founding member of the Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics or the Soviet Union in December, 1922.[26]

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Soviet recruitment poster featuring the Ukrainisation theme. The text reads: "Son! Enroll in the
school of Red commanders, and the defence of Soviet Ukraine will be ensured."

The revolution that brought the Soviet government to power devastated Ukraine. It left over
1.5 million people dead and hundreds of thousands homeless. The Soviet Ukraine had to face the
famine of 1921.[27] Seeing the exhausted society, the Soviet government remained very flexible
during the 1920s.[28] Thus, the Ukrainian culture and language enjoyed a revival, as
Ukrainisation became a local implementation of the Soviet-wide Korenisation (literally
   ) policy.[26] The Bolsheviks were also committed to introducing universal health
care, education and social-security benefits, as well as the right to work and housing.[29]
Women's rights were greatly increased through new laws aimed to wipe away centuries-old
inequalities.[30] Most of these policies were sharply reversed by the early-1930s after Joseph
Stalin gradually consolidated power to become the de facto communist party leader and a
dictator of the Soviet Union.

DniproGES hydroelectric power plant under construction circa 1930

Starting from the late 1920s, Ukraine was involved in the Soviet industrialisation and the
republic's industrial output quadrupled in the 1930s.[26] However, the industrialisation had a
heavy cost for the peasantry, demographically a backbone of the Ukrainian nation. To satisfy the
state's need for increased food supplies and to finance industrialisation, Stalin instituted a
program of collectivisation of agriculture as the state combined the peasants' lands and animals
into collective farms and enforcing the policies by the regular troops and secret police.[26] Those
who resisted were arrested and deported and the increased production quotas were placed on the
peasantry. The collectivisation had a devastating effect on agricultural productivity. As the
members of the collective farms were not allowed to receive any grain until the unachievable
quotas were met, starvation in the Soviet Union became widespread. In 1932±33, millions
starved to death in a man-made famine known as Holodomor.[c] Scholars are divided as to
whether this famine fits the definition of genocide, but the Ukrainian parliament and more than a
dozen other countries recognise it as such.[c]

The times of industrialisation and Holodomor also coincided with the Soviet assault on the
national political and cultural elite often accused in "nationalist deviations". Two waves of
Stalinist political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union (1929±34 and 1936±38)
resulted in the killing of some 681,692 people; this included four-fifths of the Ukrainian cultural
elite and three quarters of all the Red Army's higher-ranking officers.[26][b]

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Soviet soldiers preparing rafts to cross the Dnieper (the sign reads "To Kiev!") in the 1943 Battle
of the Dnieper

Following the Invasion of Poland in September 1939, German and Soviet troops divided the
territory of Poland. Thus, Eastern Galicia and Volhynia with their Ukrainian population became
reunited with the rest of Ukraine. The unification that Ukraine achieved for the first time in its
history was a decisive event in the history of the nation.[31][32]

After France surrendered to Germany, Romania ceded Bessarabia and northern Bukovina to
Soviet demands. The Ukrainian SSR incorporated northern and southern districts of Bessarabia,
the northern Bukovina, and the Soviet-occupied Hertsa region. But it ceded the western part of
the Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic to the newly created Moldavian Soviet
Socialist Republic. All these territorial gains were internationally recognised by the Paris peace
treaties of 1947.
German armies invaded the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, thereby initiating four straight years
of incessant total war. The Axis allies initially advanced against desperate but unsuccessful
efforts of the Red Army. In the encirclement battle of Kiev, the city was acclaimed as a "Hero
City", for the fierce resistance by the Red Army and by the local population. More than 600,000
Soviet soldiers (or one quarter of the Western Front) were killed or taken captive there.[33][34]
Although the wide majority of Ukrainians fought alongside the Red Army and Soviet
resistance,[35] some elements of the Ukrainian nationalist underground created an anti-Soviet
nationalist formation in Galicia, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (1942) that at times engaged the
Nazi forces and continued to fight the USSR in the years after the war. Using guerilla war
tactics, the insurgents targeted for assassination and terror those who they perceived as
representing, or cooperating at any level with, the Soviet state.[36][37] At the same time another
nationalist movement fought alongside the Nazis. In total, the number of ethnic Ukrainians that
fought in the ranks of the Soviet Army is estimated from 4.5 million[35] to 7 million.[38][d] The
pro-Soviet partisan guerilla resistance in Ukraine is estimated to number at 47,800 from the start
of occupation to 500,000 at its peak in 1944; with about 50 percent of them being ethnic
Ukrainians.[39] Generally, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army's figures are very undependable, ranging
anywhere from 15,000 to as much as 100,000 fighters.[40][41]

Museum of the Great Patriotic War, Kiev

Initially, the Germans were even received as liberators by some western Ukrainians, who had
only joined the Soviet Union in 1939. However, brutal German rule in the occupied territories
eventually turned its supporters against the occupation. Nazi administrators of conquered Soviet
territories made little attempt to exploit the population of Ukrainian territories' dissatisfaction
with Stalinist political and economic policies.[42] Instead, the Nazis preserved the collective-farm
system, systematically carried out genocidal policies against Jews, deported others to work in
Germany, and began a systematic depopulation of Ukraine to prepare it for German
colonisation,[42] which included a food blockade on Kiev[  ].

The vast majority of the fighting in World War II took place on the Eastern Front,[43] and Nazi
Germany suffered 93 percent of all casualties there.[44] The total losses inflicted upon the
Ukrainian population during the war are estimated between five and eight million,[45][46]
including over half a million Jews killed by the Einsatzgruppen, sometimes with the help of local
collaborators. Of the estimated 8.7 million Soviet troops who fell in battle against the
Nazis,[47][48][49] 1.4 million were ethnic Ukrainians.[47][49][d][e] So to this day, Victory Day is
celebrated as one of ten Ukrainian national holidays.[50]

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Sergey Korolyov, the head Soviet rocket engineer and designer during the Space Race

The republic was heavily damaged by the war, and it required significant efforts to recover.
More than 700 cities and towns and 28,000 villages were destroyed.[51] The situation was
worsened by a famine in 1946±47 caused by the drought and the infrastructure breakdown that
took away tens of thousands of lives.[52]

In 1945 Ukraine was one of the founding members of the United Nations organization. First
Soviet computer MESM was built in Kiev Institute of Electrotechnology and became operational
in 1950.

Following the death of Stalin in 1953, Nikita Khrushchev became the new leader of the USSR.
Being the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Ukrainian SSR in 1938-49, Khrushchev was
intimately familiar with the republic and after taking power union-wide, he began to emphasize
the friendship between the Ukrainian and Russian nations. In 1954, the 300th anniversary of the
Treaty of Pereyaslav was widely celebrated, and in particular, Crimea was transferred from the
Russian SFSR to the Ukrainian SSR.[53]

Already by 1950, the republic fully surpassed pre-war levels of industry and production.[54]
During the 1946-1950 five year plan nearly 20 percent of the Soviet budget was invested in
Soviet Ukraine, a five percent increase from prewar plans. As a result the Ukrainian workforce
rose 33.2 percent from 1940 to 1955 while industrial output grew 2.2 times in that same period.
Soviet Ukraine soon became a European leader in industrial production.[55] It also became an
important center of the Soviet arms industry and high-tech research. Such an important role
resulted in a major influence of the local elite. Many members of the Soviet leadership came
from Ukraine, most notably Leonid Brezhnev, who would later oust Khrushchev and become the
Soviet leader from 1964 to 1982, as well as many prominent Soviet sportspeople, scientists and
artists. On April 26, 1986, a reactor in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant exploded, resulting in
the Chernobyl disaster, the worst nuclear reactor accident in history.[56] At the time of the
accident seven million people lived in the contaminated territories, including 2.2 million in
Ukraine.[57] After the accident, a new city, Slavutych, was built outside the exclusion zone to
house and support the employees of the plant which was decommissioned in 2000. A report
prepared by the International Atomic Energy Agency and World Health Organization attributed
56 direct deaths to the accident and estimated that there may have been 4,000 extra cancer
deaths.[58]
!##

The first launch of a Ukrainian rocket at the Sea Launch complex

On July 16, 1990, the new parliament adopted the Declaration of State Sovereignty of
Ukraine.[59] The declaration established the principles of the self-determination of the Ukrainian
nation, its democracy, political and economic independence, and the priority of Ukrainian law on
the Ukrainian territory over Soviet law. A month earlier, a similar declaration was adopted by the
parliament of the Russian SFSR. This started a period of confrontation between the central
Soviet, and new republican authorities. In August 1991, a conservative faction among the
Communist leaders of the Soviet Union attempted a coup to remove Mikhail Gorbachev and to
restore the Communist party's power. After the attempt failed, on August 24, 1991 the Ukrainian
parliament adopted the Act of Independence in which the parliament declared Ukraine as an
independent democratic state.[60] A referendum and the first presidential elections took place on
December 1, 1991. That day, more than 90 percent of the Ukrainian people expressed their
support for the Act of Independence, and they elected the chairman of the parliament, Leonid
Kravchuk to serve as the first President of the country. At the meeting in Brest, Belarus on
December 8, followed by Alma Ata meeting on December 21, the leaders of Belarus, Russia, and
Ukraine, formally dissolved the Soviet Union and formed the Commonwealth of Independent
States (CIS).[61]

Orange-clad demonstrators gather in the Independence Square in Kiev on November 22, 2004

Ukraine was initially viewed as a republic with favorable economic conditions in comparison to
the other regions of the Soviet Union.[62] However, the country experienced deeper economic
slowdown than some of the other former Soviet Republics. During the recession, Ukraine lost
60 percent of its GDP from 1991 to 1999,[63][64] and suffered five-digit inflation rates.[65]
Dissatisfied with the economic conditions, as well as crime and corruption, Ukrainians protested
and organised strikes.[66]

The Ukrainian economy stabilized by the end of the 1990s. A new currency, the hryvnia, was
introduced in 1996. Since 2000, the country has enjoyed steady real economic growth averaging
about seven percent annually.[7][67] A new Constitution of Ukraine was adopted in 1996, which
turned Ukraine into a semi-presidential republic and established a stable political system.
Kuchma was, however, criticized by opponents for concentrating too much of power in his
office, corruption, transferring public property into hands of loyal oligarchs, discouraging free
speech, and electoral fraud.[68] In 2004, Viktor Yanukovych, then Prime Minister, was declared
the winner of the presidential elections, which had been largely rigged, as the Supreme Court of
Ukraine later ruled.[69] The results caused a public outcry in support of the opposition candidate,
Viktor Yushchenko, who challenged the results and led the peaceful Orange Revolution. The
revolution brought Viktor Yushchenko and Yulia Tymoshenko to power, while casting Viktor
Yanukovych in opposition.[70] However Yanukovych did became Prime Minister again in
2006[71] until snap elections in September 2007 made Tymoshenko Prime Minister again.[72]

Confilicts with Russia over the price of natural gas (briefly) stopped all gas supplies to Ukraine
in 2006 and 2009, with led to gas shortages in several other European countries (both
times).[73][74]


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Verkhovna Rada, the Parliament of Ukraine

Ukraine is a republic under a mixed semi-parliamentary semi-presidential system with separate

legislative, executive, and judicial branches. The President is elected by popular vote for a five-
year term and is the formal head of state.[75]

Ukraine's legislative branch includes the 450-seat unicameral parliament, the Verkhovna
Rada.[76] The parliament is primarily responsible for the formation of the executive branch and
the Cabinet of Ministers, which is headed by the Prime Minister.[77]

Laws, acts of the parliament and the cabinet, presidential decrees, and acts of the Crimean
parliament may be abrogated by the Constitutional Court, should they be found to violate the
Constitution of Ukraine. Other normative acts are subject to judicial review. The Supreme Court
is the main body in the system of courts of general jurisdiction. Local self-government is
officially guaranteed. Local councils and city mayors are popularly elected and exercise control
over local budgets. The heads of regional and district administrations are appointed by the
president.
Ukraine has a large number of political parties, many of which have tiny memberships and are
unknown to the general public. Small parties often join in multi-party coalitions (electoral blocs)
for the purpose of participating in parliamentary elections.

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Ukrainian army soldiers aboard a BTR-80 in Iraq

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine inherited a 780,000 man military force on its
territory, equipped with the third-largest nuclear weapons arsenal in the world.[78][79] In May
1992, Ukraine signed the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) in which the country
agreed to give up all nuclear weapons to Russia for "disposal" and to join the Nuclear Non-
Proliferation Treaty as a non-nuclear weapon state. Ukraine ratified the treaty in 1994, and by
1996 the country became free of nuclear weapons.[78] Currently Ukraine's military is the second
largest in Europe, after that of Russia.[80]

Ukraine took consistent steps toward reduction of conventional weapons. It signed the Treaty on
Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, which called for reduction of tanks, artillery, and
armoured vehicles (army forces were reduced to 300,000). The country plans to convert the
current conscript-based military into a professional volunteer military not later than in 2011.[81]

A Ukrainian peacekeeper in Kosovo

Ukraine has been playing an increasingly larger role in peacekeeping operations. Ukrainian
troops are deployed in Kosovo as part of the Ukrainian-Polish Battalion.[82] A Ukrainian unit was
deployed in Lebanon, as part of UN Interim Force enforcing the mandated ceasefire agreement.
There was also a maintenance and training battalion deployed in Sierra Leone. In 2003±05, a
Ukrainian unit was deployed in Iraq, as part of the Multinational force in Iraq under Polish
command. The total Ukrainian military deployment around the world is 562 servicemen.[83]
Following independence, Ukraine declared itself a neutral state.[84] The country has had a limited
military partnership with Russia, other CIS countries and a partnership with NATO since 1994.
In the 2000s, the government was leaning towards the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, and a
deeper cooperation with the alliance was set by the NATO-Ukraine Action Plan signed in 2002.
It was later agreed that the question of joining NATO should be answered by a national
referendum at some point in the future.[81]

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The system of Ukrainian subdivisions reflects the country's status as a unitary state (as stated in
the country's constitution) with unified legal and administrative regimes for each unit.

Ukraine is subdivided into twenty-four oblasts (provinces) and one autonomous republic
(  

), Crimea. Additionally, the cities of Kiev, the capital, and Sevastopol,
both have a special legal status. The 24 oblasts and Crimea are subdivided into 490
 
(districts), or second-level administrative units. The average area of a Ukrainian raion is
1,200 square kilometres (460 sq mi); the average population of a raion is 52,000 people.[85]

Urban areas (cities) can either be subordinated to the state (as in the case of Kiev and
Sevastopol), the oblast or
 administrations, depending on their population and socio-
economic importance. Lower administrative units include urban-type settlements, which are
similar to rural communities, but are more urbanized, including industrial enterprises,
educational facilities, and transport connections, and villages.

In total, Ukraine has 457 cities, 176 of them are labeled oblast-class, 279 smaller
 -class
cities, and two special legal status cities. These are followed by 886 urban-type settlements and
28,552 villages.[85]

#

 
å
 
#


 c
 

O Ivano- O Poltava O Volyn

O Cherkasy O Kirovohra
Frankivsk O Rivne O Zakarpat
O Chernihiv d
O Kharkiv O Sumy tia
O Chernivtsi O Luhansk
O Kherson O Ternop O Zaporizh
O Dnipropetrov O Lviv
O Khmelnyts il ia
sk O Mykolaiv
kyi O Vinnyt O Zhytom
O Donetsk O Odessa
O Kiev sia yr

 

  † 

O Autonomous Republic of Crimea O City of Kiev

 O City of Sevastopol



† 
  
 

 

A topographic map of Ukraine

At 603,700 square kilometres (233,100 sq mi) and with a coastline of 2,782 square kilometres
(1,074 sq mi), Ukraine is the world's 44th-largest country (after the Central African Republic,
before Madagascar). It is the second largest country in Europe (after the European part of Russia,
before metropolitan France).[3]

The Ukrainian landscape consists mostly of fertile plains (or steppes) and plateaus, crossed by
rivers such as the Dnieper (! 
), Seversky Donets, Dniester and the Southern Buh as they
flow south into the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. To the southwest, the delta of the
Danube forms the border with Romania. The country's only mountains are the Carpathian
Mountains in the west, of which the highest is the Hora Hoverla at 2,061 metres (6,760 ft), and
those on the Crimean peninsula, in the extreme south along the coast.[86]

Ukraine has a mostly temperate continental climate, although a more Mediterranean climate is
found on the southern Crimean coast. Precipitation is disproportionately distributed; it is highest
in the west and north and lowest in the east and southeast. Western Ukraine, receives around
1,200 millimetres (47 in) of precipitation annually, while Crimea receives around
400 millimetres (16 in). Winters vary from cool along the Black Sea to cold farther inland.
Average annual temperatures range from 5.5±7 °C (42±45 °F) in the north, to 11±13 °C (52±
55.4 °F) in the south.[87]

$
† 
%  

 

Dnipropetrovsk skyscrapers
Kiev, the economic heart of the city

The building of the National Bank of Ukraine

A Ukrainian-made Antonov An-148.

In Soviet times, the economy of Ukraine was the second largest in the Soviet Union, being an
important industrial and agricultural component of the country's planned economy.[3] With the
collapse of the Soviet system, the country moved from a planned economy to a market economy.
The transition process was difficult for the majority of the population which plunged into
poverty.[88] Ukraine's economy contracted severely following the years after the Soviet collapse.
Day to day life for the average person living in Ukraine was a struggle. A significant number of
citizens in rural Ukraine survived by growing their own food, often working two or more jobs
and buying the basic necessities through the barter economy.[89]

In 1991, the government liberalized most prices to combat widespread product shortages, and
was successful in overcoming the problem. At the same time, the government continued to
subsidize government-owned industries and agriculture by uncovered monetary emission. The
loose monetary policies of the early 1990s pushed inflation to hyperinflationary levels. For the
year 1993, Ukraine holds the world record for inflation in one calendar year.[90] Those living on
fixed incomes suffered the most.[26] Prices stabilized only after the introduction of new currency,
the hryvnia, in 1996. The country was also slow in implementing structural reforms. Following
independence, the government formed a legal framework for privatisation. However, widespread
resistance to reforms within the government and from a significant part of the population soon
stalled the reform efforts. A large number of government-owned enterprises were exempt from
the privatisation process. In the meantime, by 1999, the GDP had fallen to less than 40 percent of
the 1991 level,[91] but recovered to slightly above the 100 percent mark by the end of 2006.[63] In
the early 2000s, the economy showed strong export-based growth of 5 to 10 percent, with
industrial production growing more than 10 percent per year.[92] Ukraine was hit by the economic
crisis of 2008 and in November 2008, the IMF approved a stand-by loan of $16.5 billion for the
country.[93]

Ukraine's 2007 GDP (PPP), as calculated by the CIA, is ranked 29th in the world and estimated
at $359.9 billion.[3] Its GDP per capita in 2008 according to the CIA was $7,800 (in PPP terms),
ranked 83rd in the world.[3] Nominal GDP (in U.S. dollars, calculated at market exchange rate)
was $198 billion, ranked 41st in the world.[3] By July 2008 the average nominal salary in Ukraine
reached 1,930 hryvnias per month.[94] Despite remaining lower than in neighbouring central
European countries, the salary income growth in 2008 stood at 36.8 percent[95] According to the
UNDP in 2003 4.9 percent of the Ukrainian population lived under 2 US dollar a day[96] and 19.5
percent of the population lived below the national poverty line that same year.[97]

Ukrainian administrative divisions by monthly salary

Ukraine produces nearly all types of transportation vehicles and spacecraft. Antonov airplanes
and KrAZ trucks are exported to many countries. The majority of Ukrainian exports are
marketed to the European Union and CIS.[98] Since independence, Ukraine has maintained its
own space agency, the National Space Agency of Ukraine (NSAU). Ukraine became an active
participant in scientific space exploration and remote sensing missions. Between 1991 and 2007,
Ukraine has launched six self made satellites and 101 launch vehicles, and continues to design
spacecraft.[99] So to this day, Ukraine is recognised as a world leader in producing missiles and
missile related technology.[100][101]

The country imports most energy supplies, especially oil and natural gas, and to a large extent
depends on Russia as its energy supplier. While 25 percent of the natural gas in Ukraine comes
from internal sources, about 35 percent comes from Russia and the remaining 40 percent from
Central Asia through transit routes that Russia controls. At the same time, 85 percent of the
Russian gas is delivered to Western Europe through Ukraine.[102]

The World Bank classifies Ukraine as a middle-income state.[103] Significant issues include
underdeveloped infrastructure and transportation, corruption and bureaucracy. In 2007 the
Ukrainian stock market recorded the second highest growth in the world of 130 percent.[104]
According to the CIA, in 2006 the market capitalisation of the Ukrainian stock market was
$111.8 billion.[3] Growing sectors of the Ukrainian economy include the information technology
(IT) market, which topped all other Central and Eastern European countries in 2007, growing
some 40 percent.[105]



Ukraine occupies 8th place in the world by the number of tourists visiting, according to the
World Tourism Organisation rankings.[106]
 

Π
 

 

A collection of traditional pysanky from Volyn

Ukrainian customs are heavily influenced by Christianity, which is the dominant religion in the
country.[107] Gender roles also tend to be more traditional, and grandparents play a greater role in
raising children than in the West.[108] The culture of Ukraine has been also influenced by its
eastern and western neighbours, which is reflected in its architecture, music and art.

The Communist era had quite a strong effect on the art and writing of Ukraine.[109] In 1932,
Stalin made socialist realism state policy in the Soviet Union when he promulgated the decree
"On the Reconstruction of Literary and Art Organisations". This greatly stifled creativity. During
the 1980s glasnost (openness) was introduced and Soviet artists and writers again became free to
express themselves as they wanted.[110]

St. Michael's Golden-Domed Cathedral in Kiev, an example of Ukrainian architecture.

The tradition of the Easter egg, known as pysanky, has long roots in Ukraine. These eggs were
drawn on with wax to create a pattern; then, the dye was applied to give the eggs their pleasant
colours, the dye did not affect the previously wax-coated parts of the egg. After the entire egg
was dyed, the wax was removed leaving only the colourful pattern. This tradition is thousands of
years old, and precedes the arrival of Christianity to Ukraine.[111] In the city of Kolomya near the
foothills of the Carpathian mountains in 2000 was built the museum of Pysanka which won a
nomination as the monument of modern Ukraine in 2007, part of the Seven Wonders of Ukraine
action.

The traditional Ukrainian diet includes chicken, pork, beef, fish and mushrooms. Ukrainians also
tend to eat a lot of potatoes, grains, fresh and pickled vegetables. Popular traditional dishes
include 
 
 (boiled dumplings with mushrooms, potatoes, sauerkraut, cottage cheese or
cherries), borscht (soup made of beets, cabbage and mushrooms or meat) and   (stuffed
cabbage rolls filled with rice, carrots and meat). Ukrainian specialties also include Chicken Kiev
and Kiev Cake. Ukrainians drink stewed fruit, juices, milk, buttermilk (they make cottage cheese
from this), mineral water, tea and coffee, beer, wine and horilka.[112]



† 


    "  

 
Percentage of native Ukrainian speakers by subdivision.
Percentage of native Russian speakers by subdivision.[f]

According to the Constitution, the state language of Ukraine is Ukrainian. Russian, which was
the  official language of the Soviet Union, is widely spoken, especially in eastern and
southern Ukraine. According to the 2001 census, 67.5 percent of the population declared
Ukrainian as their native language and 29.6 percent declared Russian.[113] Most native Ukrainian
speakers know Russian as a second language.

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.[f] 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,[f] while Ukrainian is the dominant
language in rural communities. In eastern and southern Ukraine, Russian is primarily used in
cities, and Ukrainian is used in rural areas.

For a large part of the Soviet era, the number of Ukrainian speakers was declining from
generation to generation, and by the mid-1980s, the usage of the Ukrainian language in public
life had decreased significantly.[114] Following independence, the government of Ukraine began
following a policy of Ukrainisation,[115] to increase the use of Ukrainian, while discouraging
Russian, which has been banned or restricted in the media and films.[116][117] This means that
Russian-language programmes need a Ukrainian translation or subtitles, but this excludes
Russian language media made during the Soviet era.

According to the Constitution of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, Ukrainian is the only
state language of the republic. However, the republic's constitution specifically recognises
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 12 percent of population
of Crimea[118]) is guaranteed a special state protection as well as the 'languages of other
ethnicities'. Russian speakers constitute an overwhelming majority of the Crimean population
(77 percent), with Ukrainian speakers comprising just 10.1 percent, and Crimean Tatar speakers
11.4 percent.[119] But in everyday life the majority of Crimean Tatars and Ukrainians in Crimea
use Russian.[120]

 
 


Π

  


The history of Ukrainian literature dates back to the 11th century, following the Christianisation
of the Kievan Rus¶.[121] The writings of the time were mainly liturgical and were written in Old
Church Slavonic. Historical accounts of the time were referred to as 
, the most
significant of which was the Primary Chronicle.[122][g] Literary activity faced a sudden decline
during the Mongol invasion of Rus'.[121]

Taras Shevchenko (1814±1861)

Ukrainian literature again began to develop in the 14th century, and was advanced significantly
in the 16th century with the introduction of print and with the beginning of the Cossack era,
under both Russian and Polish dominance.[121] The Cossacks established an independent society
and popularized a new kind of epic poems, which marked a high point of Ukrainian oral
literature.[122] These advances were then set back in the 17th and early 18th centuries, when
publishing in the Ukrainian language was outlawed and prohibited. Nonetheless, by the late
18th century modern literary Ukrainian finally emerged.[121]

The 19th century initiated a vernacular period in Ukraine, lead by Ivan Kotliarevsky¶s work
% , the first publication written in modern Ukrainian. By the 1830s, Ukrainian romanticism
began to develop, and the nation¶s most renowned cultural figure, romanticist poet-painter Taras
Shevchenko emerged. Where Ivan Kotliarevsky is considered to be the father of literature in the
Ukrainian vernacular; Shevchenko is the father of a national revival.[123] Then, in 1863, use of
the Ukrainian language in print was effectively prohibited by the Russian Empire.[22] This
severely curtained literary activity in the area, and Ukrainian writers were forced to either
publish their works in Russian or release them in Austrian controlled Galicia. The ban was never
officially lifted, but it became obsolete after the revolution and the Bolsheviks¶ coming to
power.[122]

Ukrainian literature continued to flourish in the early Soviet years, when nearly all literary trends
were approved. These policies faced a steep decline in the 1930s, when Stalin implemented his
policy of socialist realism. The doctrine did not necessarily repress the Ukrainian language, but it
required writers to follow a certain style in their works. Literary activities continued to be
somewhat limited under the communist party, and it was not until Ukraine gained its
independence in 1991 when writers were free the express themselves as they wished.[121]

(

Œ Œ
 

 

Olimpiysky National Sports Complex in Kiev.

Ukraine greatly benefited from the Soviet emphasis on physical education. Such policies left
Ukraine with hundreds of stadia, swimming pools, gymnasia, and many other athletic
facilities.[124] The most popular sport is football. The top professional league is the Vyscha Liha,
also known as the Ukrainian Premier League. The two most successful teams in the Vyscha Liha
are rivals FC Dynamo Kyiv and FC Shakhtar Donetsk. Although Shakhtar is the reigning
champion of the Vyscha Liha, Dynamo Kyiv has been much more successful historically,
winning two UEFA Cup Winners' Cups, one UEFA Super Cup, a record 13 USSR
Championships and a record 12 Ukrainian Championships; while Shakhtar only won four
Ukrainian championships.[125] Many Ukrainians also played for the Soviet national football team,
most notably Igor Belanov and Oleg Blokhin, winners of the prestigious Golden Ball Award for
the best football player of the year. This award was only presented to one Ukrainian after the
collapse of the Soviet Union, Andriy Shevchenko, the current captain of the Ukrainian national
football team. The national team made its debut in the 2006 FIFA World Cup, and reached the
quarterfinals before losing to eventual champions, Italy. Ukrainians also fared well in boxing,
where the brothers Vitali Klitschko and Wladimir Klitschko have held world heavyweight
championships.

Ukraine made its Olympic debut at the 1994 Winter Olympics. So far, Ukraine has been much
more successful in Summer Olympics (96 medals in four appearances) than in the Winter
Olympics (five medals in four appearances). Ukraine is currently ranked 35th by number of gold
medals won in the All-time Olympic Games medal count, with every country above it, except for
Russia, having more appearances. The new step of Ukraine in the world sport is to place a bid to
host 2018 Winter Olympic Games. Ukrainian government bid Bukovel - the youngest Ukrainian
ski resort[126] to be the host in 2018. The winning bid will be announced in 2011 at the 123rd IOC
Session in Durban, South Africa.




$   c


Ukrainians ë 77.8%

Russians ë 17.3%
Moldovans
& ë 0.8%
Romanians

Belarusians ë 0.6%

Crimean
ë 0.5%
Tatars

Bulgarians ë 0.4%

Hungarians ë 0.3%

Poles ë 0.3%

Jews ë 0.2%

Armenians ë 0.2%

Source: Ethnic composition of the population

of Ukraine, 2001 Census

† 
! 
 

 
Ethnic Ukrainians in Ukraine (2001)

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%).[127] The industrial
regions in the east and southeast are the most heavily populated, and about 67.2 percent of the
population lives in urban areas.[128]

Ukraine is considered to be in a demographic crisis due to its high death rate and a low birth rate.
The current Ukrainian birth rate is 9.55 births/1,000 population, and the death rate is 15.93
deaths/1,000 population. A factor contributing to the relatively high death is a high mortality rate
among working-age males from preventable causes such as alcohol poisoning and smoking.[129]
In 2007, the country's population was declining at the fourth fastest rate in the world.[130]

Number of inhabitants in millions (1990±2008)

To help mitigate these trends, the government continues to increase child support payments.
Thus it provides one-time payments of 12,250 Hryvnias for the first child, 25,000 Hryvnias for
the second and 50,000 Hryvnias for the third and fourth, along with monthly payments of 154
Hryvnias per child.[95][131] The demographic trend is showing signs of improvement, as the birth
rate has been steadily growing since 2001.[1] Net population growth over the first nine months of
2007 was registered in five provinces of the country (out of 24), and population shrinkage was
showing signs of stabilising nationwide. In 2007 the highest birth rates were in the Western
Oblasts.[132]

Significant migration took place in the first years of Ukrainian independence. More than
one million people moved into Ukraine in 1991±2, mostly from the other former Soviet
republics. In total, between 1991 and 2004, 2.2 million immigrated to Ukraine (among them,
2 million came from the other former Soviet Union states), and 2.5 million emigrated from
Ukraine (among them, 1.9 million moved to other former Soviet Union republics).[133] Currently,
immigrants constitute an estimated 14.7 % of the total population, or 6.9 million people; this is
the fourth largest figure in the world.[134] In 2006, there were an estimated 1.2 million Canadians
of Ukrainian ancestry,[135] giving Canada the world's third-largest Ukrainian population behind
Ukraine itself and Russia.

Ë      )  Ë      ) 

view ‡ talk ‡ edit

 

1 % Kiev 2,611,3 11  Luhansk 463,0

27 97
2 %
 Kharkiv 1,470,9 12 †  Donetsk 389,5
02  89

3 

 Dnipropetro 1,065,0 13 ( 
 Crimea 358,1
%
 vsk 08  08
4 å# Odessa 1,029,0 14 *  Vinnytsi 356,6
49  a 65
5   Donetsk 1,016,1 15 (  Sevastop 342,4
94  ol 51

6 +
" Zaporizhia 815,256 16 %
 Kherson 328,3 %

60
7  Lviv 732,818 17   Poltava 317,9
98
8 %
Ë Dnipropetro 668,980 18 
 Chernihi 304,9
[h]
vsk  v 94
9 †  Mykolaiv 514,136 19 
 Cherkas 295,4
 y 14
10 †
 Donetsk 492,176 20 ( Sumy 293,1
41
2001 Census[136]

Ë
Π
 
  

 

The Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev, a UNESCO World Heritage Site[137]

"What religious group do you belong to?". Sociology poll by Razumkov Centre about the
religious situation in Ukraine (2006) Atheist or do not belong to any church UOC - Kiev
Patriarchate UOC (Moscow Patriarchate) UAOC Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church Roman
Catholic Church

The dominant religion in Ukraine is Eastern Orthodox Christianity, which is currently split
between three Church bodies: the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kiev Patriarchate, the Ukrainian
Orthodox Church autonomous church body under the Patriarch of Moscow, and the Ukrainian
Autocephalous Orthodox Church.[107]

A distant second by the number of the followers is the Eastern Rite Ukrainian Greek Catholic
Church, which practices a similar liturgical and spiritual tradition as Eastern Orthodoxy, but is in
communion with the Holy See of the Roman Catholic Church and recognises the primacy of the
Pope as head of the Church.[138]

Additionally, there are 863 Roman Catholic communities, and 474 clergy members serving some
one million Roman Catholics in Ukraine.[107] The group forms some 2.19 percent of the
population and consists mainly of ethnic Poles and Hungarians, who live predominantly in the
western regions of the country.

Protestant Christians also form around 2.19 percent of the population. Protestant numbers have
grown greatly since Ukrainian independence. The Evangelical Baptist Union of Ukraine is the
largest group, with more than 150,000 members and about 3000 clergy. The second largest
Protestant church is the Ukrainian Church of Evangelical faith (Pentecostals) with 110000
members and over 1500 local churches and over 2000 clergy, but there also exist other
Pentecostal groups and unions and together all Pentecostals are over 300,000, with over 3000
local churches. Also there are many Pentecostal high education schools such as the Lviv
Theological Seminary and the Kiev Bible Institute. Other groups include Calvinists, Jehovah's
Witnesses, Lutherans, Methodists and Seventh-day Adventists. The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church) is also present.[107]

There are an estimated 500,000 Muslims in Ukraine, and about 300,000 of them are Crimean
Tatars. There are 487 registered Muslim communities, 368 of them on the Crimean peninsula. In
addition, some 50,000 Muslims live in Kiev; mostly foreign-born.[139] The Jewish community is
a tiny fraction of what it was before World War II. The cities with the largest populations of
Jews in 1926 were Odessa, 154,000 or 36.5% of the total population; and Kiev, 140,500 or
27.3%.[140] The 2001 census indicated that there are 103,600 Jews in Ukraine, although
community leaders claimed that the population could be as large as 300,000. There are no
statistics on what share of the Ukrainian Jews are observant, but Orthodox Judaism has the
strongest presence in Ukraine. Smaller Reform and Conservative Jewish (Masorti) communities
exist as well.[107]

$# 
Π%  

  "  
 

 

Ukraine produces the fourth largest number of post-secondary graduates in Europe, while being
ranked seventh in population.

According to the Ukrainian constitution, access to free education is granted to all citizens.
Complete general secondary education is compulsory in the state schools which constitute the
overwhelming majority. Free higher education in state and communal educational establishments
is provided on a competitive basis.[141] There is also a small number of accredited private
secondary and higher education institutions.

Due to the Soviet Union's emphasis on total access of education for all citizens, which continues
today, the literacy rate is an estimated 99.4 percent.[3] Since 2005, an eleven-year school program
has been replaced with a twelve-year one: primary education takes four years to complete
(starting at age six), middle education (secondary) takes five years to complete; upper secondary
then takes three years.[142] In the 12th grade, students take Government Tests, which are also
referred to as school-leaving exams. These tests are later used for university admissions.

The Ukrainian higher education system comprises higher educational establishments, scientific
and methodological facilities under federal, municipal and self-governing bodies in charge of
education.[143] The organisation of higher education in Ukraine is built up in accordance with the
structure of education of the world's higher developed countries, as is defined by UNESCO and
the UN.[144]

!

 


Π3
 
 

  4
 #
 

 
Ukraine's road network

Most of the Ukrainian road system has not been upgraded since the Soviet era, and is now
outdated. The Ukrainian government has pledged to build some 4,500 km (2,800 mi) of
motorways by 2012.[145] In total, Ukrainian paved roads stretch for 164,732 kilometres
(102,360 mi).[3] Rail transport in Ukraine plays the role of connecting all major urban areas, port
facilities and industrial centers with neighbouring countries. The heaviest concentration of
railroad track is located in the Donbas region of Ukraine. Although the amount of freight
transported by rail fell by 7.4 percent in 1995 in comparison with 1994, Ukraine is still one of the
world's highest rail users.[146] The total amount of railroad track in Ukraine extends for
22,473 kilometres (13,964 mi), of which 9,250 kilometres (5,750 mi) is electrified.[3]

Ukraine is one of Europe¶s largest energy consumers; it consumes almost double the energy of
Germany, per unit of GDP.[147] A great share of energy supply in Ukraine comes from nuclear
power, with the country receiving most of its nuclear fuel from Russia. The remaining oil and
gas, is also imported from the former Soviet Union. Ukraine is heavily dependent on its nuclear
energy. The largest nuclear power plant in Europe, the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, is
located in Ukraine. In 2006, the government planned to build 11 new reactors by the year 2030,
in effect, almost doubling the current amount of nuclear power capacity.[148] Ukraine's power
sector is the twelfth-largest in the world in terms of installed capacity, with 54 gigawatts
(GW).[147] Renewable energy still plays a very modest role in electrical output, and in 2005
energy production was met by the following sources: nuclear (47 percent), thermal (45 percent),
hydro and other (8 percent).[148]

p
 
%
, officially the 
 ,Ë
 %
 (Ë%) (Hangul:
, Hanja: ᦺ㞲᳃ਥਥ⟵ੱ᳃౒๺࿡ Chosŏn Minjujuŭi Inmin
Konghwaguk), is a state in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its
capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer area
between North Korea and South Korea. The Amnok River and the Tumen River form the border
between North Korea and China. A section of the Tumen River in the extreme north-east is the
border with Russia.

The peninsula was governed by the Korean Empire until it was annexed by Japan following the
Russo-Japanese War of 1905. It was divided into Soviet and American occupied zones in 1945,
following the end of World War II. North Korea refused to participate in a United Nations-
supervised election held in the south in 1948, which led to the creation of separate Korean
governments for the two occupation zones. Both North and South Korea claimed sovereignty
over the peninsula as a whole, which led to the Korean War of 1950. A 1953 armistice
temporarily ended the fighting; however, the two countries are officially still at war with each
other, as a peace treaty was never signed.[7] Both states were accepted into the United Nations in
1991.[8] On May 26, 2009, North Korea unilaterally withdrew from the armistice.[9]

North Korea is a single-party state under a united front led by the Korean Workers'
Party.[10][11][12][13] The country's government styles itself as following the ` ideology of self-
reliance, developed by Kim Il-sung, the country's former leader. Juche became the official state
ideology when the country adopted a new constitution in 1972,[14] though Kim Il-sung had been
using it to form policy since at least as early as 1955.[15] North Korea claims to be a socialist
republic, but is widely considered by the outside world to be a  totalitarian Stalinist
dictatorship.[11][12][16][17][18] The current leader is Kim Jong-il, son of the late Eternal President
Kim Il-sung.

  
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In the aftermath of the Japanese occupation of Korea which ended with Japan's defeat in World
War II in 1945, Korea was divided at the 38th parallel in accordance with a United Nations
arrangement, to be administered by the Soviet Union in the north and the United States in the
south. The history of North Korea formally begins with the establishment of the democratic
People's Republic in 1948.

ƒ# -# %


†
 
 


 

In August 1945 the Soviet Army established a Soviet Civil Authority to rule the country until a
domestic regime, friendly to the USSR, could be established. After the Soviet forces' departure in
1948, the main agenda in the following years was unification of Korea from both sides until the
consolidation of Syngman Rhee regime in the South with American military support and the
suppression of the October 1948 insurrection ended hopes that the country could be reunified by
way of Stalinist revolution in the South. In 1949 a military intervention into South Korea was
considered by the Northern regime but failed to receive support from the Soviet Union which
had early played a key role in the establishment of the country.[19] The withdrawal of most
United States forces from the South in June dramatically weakened the Southern regime and
encouraged Kim Il-sung to re-think an invasion plan against the South.[19] The idea itself was
first rejected by Joseph Stalin but the development of Soviet nuclear weapons, Mao Zedong's
victory in China and the Chinese indication that it would send troops and other support to North
Korea, Stalin approved an invasion which led to the Korean War.[20]

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The Korean War was a military conflict between North Korea and South Korea with major
hostilities beginning on June 25, 1950, pausing with an armistice signed on July 27, 1953. The
conflict arose from the attempts of the two Korean powers to re-unify Korea under their
respective governments and lead to full scale war with a cost of more than 2 million civilians and
soldiers from both sides. The period immediately before the war was marked by escalating
border conflicts at the 38th Parallel and attempts to negotiate elections for the entirety of
Korea.[21] These negotiations ended when the military of North Korea invaded the South on June
25, 1950. Under the aegis of the United Nations, nations allied with the United States intervened
on behalf of South Korea. After rapid advances in a South Korean counterattack, North-allied
Chinese forces intervened on behalf of North Korea, shifting the balance of the war and
ultimately leading to an armistice that approximately restored the original boundaries between
North and South Korea.

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While some have referred to the conflict as a civil war, many other factors were at play.[22] The
Korean War was also the first armed confrontation of the Cold War and set the standard for
many later conflicts. It created the idea of a proxy war, where the two superpowers would fight
in another country, forcing the people in that nation to suffer the bulk of the destruction and
death involved in a war between such large nations. The superpowers avoided descending into an
all-out war with one another, as well as the mutual use of nuclear weapons. It also expanded the
Cold War, which to that point had mostly been concerned with Europe. A heavily guarded
demilitarized zone on the 38th parallel continues to divide the peninsula today with anti-
Communist and anti-North Korea sentiment still remaining in South Korea.

Since the ceasefire of the Korean War in 1953 the relations between the North Korean
government and South Korea, European Union, Canada, the United States, and Japan have
remained tense. Fighting was halted in the ceasefire, but both Koreas are still technically at war.
Both North and South Korea signed the June 15th North-South Joint Declaration in 2000, in
which both sides made promises to seek out a peaceful reunification.[23] Additionally, on October
4, 2007, the leaders of North and South Korea pledged to hold summit talks to officially declare
the war over and reaffirmed the principle of mutual non-aggression.[24]

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North and South Korea have never signed a formal peace treaty and thus are still officially at
war; only a ceasefire was declared. South Korea's government came to be dominated by its
military and a relative peace was punctuated by border skirmishes and assassination attempts.
The North failed in several assassination attempts on South Korean leaders, most notably in
1968, 1974 and 1983; tunnels were frequently found under the DMZ and war nearly broke out
over the axe murder incident at Panmunjeom in 1976. In 1973, extremely secret, high-level
contacts began to be conducted through the offices of the Red Cross, but ended after the
Panmunjeom incident with little progress having been made.

In the late 1990s, with the South having transitioned to democracy, the success of the
Nordpolitik policy, and power in the North having been taken up by Kim Il-sung's son Kim
Jong-il, the two nations began to engage publicly for the first time, with the South declaring its
Sunshine Policy.

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In 2002, United States president George W. Bush labeled North Korea part of an "axis of evil"
and an "outpost of tyranny". The highest-level contact the government has had with the United
States was with U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who made a visit to Pyongyang in
2000,[25] but the two countries do not have formal diplomatic relations.[4] By 2006,
approximately 37,000 American soldiers remained in South Korea, although by June 2009 this
number had fallen to around 30,000.[26][27] Kim Jong-il has privately stated his acceptance of U.S.
troops on the peninsula, even after a possible reunification.[28] Publicly, North Korea strongly
demands the removal of American troops from Korea.[28]

On June 13, 2009, the Associated Press reported that in response to new U.N. sanctions, North
Korea declared it would progress with its uranium enrichment program. This marked the first
time the DPRK has publicly acknowledged that it is conducting a uranium enrichment program.
[29]
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North Korea occupies the northern portion of the Korean Peninsula, covering an area of
120,540 square kilometres (46,541 sq mi). North Korea shares land borders with People's
Republic of China and Russia to the north, and borders South Korea along the Korean
Demilitarized Zone. To its west are the Yellow Sea and Korea Bay, and to its east lies Japan
across the Sea of Japan (East Sea of Korea). The highest point in North Korea is Paektu-san
Mountain at 2,744 metres (9,003 ft). The longest river is the Amnok River which flows for
790 kilometres (491 mi).[30]

North Korea's climate is relatively temperate, with precipitation heavier in summer during a
short rainy season called  , and winters that can be bitterly cold.[31] On August 7, 2007,
the most devastating floods in 40 years caused the North Korean Government to ask for
international help. NGOs, such as the Red Cross, asked people to raise funds because they feared
a humanitarian catastrophe.[32]

The capital and largest city is Pyongyang; other major cities include Kaesong in the south,
Sinuiju in the northwest, Wonsan and Hamhung in the east and Chongjin in the northeast.

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Already early European visitors to Korea remarked that the country resembled " 
" because of the many successive mountain ranges that crisscross the peninsula. Some 80%
of North Korea is composed of mountains and uplands, separated by deep and narrow valleys,
with all of the peninsula's mountains with elevations of 2000 meters or more located in North
Korea. The coastal plains are wide in the west and discontinuous in the east. The great majority
of the population lives in the plains and lowlands.
The highest point in North Korea is Baekdu Mountain which is a volcanic mountain near the
Chinese border with basalt lava plateau with elevations between 1400 and 2000 meters above sea
level. The Hamgyeong Range, located in the extreme northeastern part of the peninsula, has
many high peaks including Mt. Gwanmosan at approximately 1756 m. Other major ranges
include the Rangrim Mountains, which are located in the north-central part of North Korea and
run in a north-south direction, making communication between the eastern and western parts of
the country rather difficult; and the Kangnam Range, which runs along the North Korea-China
border. Geumgangsan, often written Mt Kumgang, or Diamond Mountain, (approximately 1,638
meters) in the Taebaek Range, which extends into South Korea, is famous for its scenic beauty.

For the most part, the plains are small. The most extensive are the Pyeongyang and Chaeryŏng
plains, each covering about 500 square kilometers. Because the mountains on the east coast drop
abruptly to the sea, the plains are even smaller there than on the west coast. Unlike neighboring
Japan or northern China, North Korea experiences few severe earthquakes.

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North Korea has a continental climate with four distinct seasons. Long winters bring bitter cold
and clear weather interspersed with snow storms as a result of northern and northwestern winds
that blow from Siberia. Average snowfall is 37 days during the winter. The weather is likely to
be particularly harsh in the northern, mountainous regions. Summer tends to be short, hot,
humid, and rainy because of the southern and southeastern monsoon winds that bring moist air
from the Pacific Ocean. Typhoons affect the peninsula on an average of at least once every
summer. Spring and autumn are transitional seasons marked by mild temperatures and variable
winds and bring the most pleasant weather. Natural hazards include late spring droughts which
often are followed by severe flooding. There are occasional typhoons during the early fall.

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Culture is actively suppressed by the North Korean government. On the surface, large buildings
committed to culture have been built, such as the People's Palace of Culture or the Grand
People's Palace of Studies, both in Pyongyang. However, culture in North Korea largely remains
under strict government surveillance.

Korean culture came under attack during the Japanese rule from 1910-1945. Japan enforced a
cultural assimilation policy. During the Japanese rule, Koreans were encouraged to learn and
speak Japanese, adopt the Japanese family name system and Shinto religion, and forbidden to
write or speak the Korean language in schools, businesses, or public places.[33] In addition, the
Japanese altered or destroyed various Korean monuments including Gyeongbok Palace and
documents which portrayed the Japanese in a negative light were revised.

In July 2004, the Complex of Goguryeo Tombs became the first site in the country to be included
in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites.

In February 2008, The New York Philharmonic Orchestra became the first US musical group
ever to perform in North Korea,[34] albeit for a handpicked "invited audience."[35] The concert
was broadcast on national television.[36]

A popular event in North Korea is the Mass Games. The most recent and largest Mass Games
was called "Arirang". It was performed six nights a week for two months, and involved over
100,000 performers. Attendees to this event in recent years report that the anti-West sentiments
have been toned down compared to previous performances. The Mass Games involve
performances of dance, gymnastic, and choreographic routines which celebrate the history of
North Korea and the Workers' Party Revolution. The Mass Games are held in Pyongyang at
various venues (varying according to the scale of the Games in a particular year) including the
Rungrado May Day Stadium, which is the largest stadium in the world with a capacity of
150,000 people.

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North Korea is a self-described ` (self-reliant) state[37] with a pronounced cult of personality
organized around Kim Il-sung (the founder of North Korea and the country's first and only
president) and his son and heir, Kim Jong-il. Following Kim Il-sung's death in 1994, he was not
replaced but instead received the designation of "Eternal President", and was entombed in the
vast Kumsusan Memorial Palace in central Pyongyang.

Although the active position of president has been abolished in deference to the memory of Kim
Il-sung,[38] the de facto head of state is Kim Jong-il, who is Chairman of the National Defence
Commission of North Korea. The legislature of North Korea is the Supreme People's Assembly,
currently led by President Kim Yong-nam. The other senior government figure is Premier Kim
Yong-il.

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North Korea is a single-party state. The governing party is the Democratic Front for the
Reunification of the Fatherland, a coalition of the Workers' Party of Korea and two other smaller
parties, the Korean Social Democratic Party and the Chondoist Chongu Party. These parties
nominate all candidates for office and hold all seats in the Supreme People's Assembly.

In June 2009, it was reported in South Korean media that intelligence indicates the country's next
leader will be Kim Jong-un, the youngest of Kim Jong-il's three sons.[39]

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North Korea has long maintained close relations with the People's Republic of China and Russia.
The fall of communism in eastern Europe in 1989, and the disintegration of the Soviet Union in
1991, resulted in a devastating drop in aid to North Korea from Russia, although China continues
to provide substantial assistance. North Korea continues to have strong ties with its socialist
southeast Asian allies in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia.[40] North Korea has started installing a
concrete and barbed wire fence on its northern border, in response to China's wish to curb
refugees fleeing from North Korea. Previously the border between China and North Korea had
only been lightly patrolled.[41]

As a result of the North Korean nuclear weapons program, the Six-party talks were established to
find a peaceful solution to the growing unrest between the two Korean governments, the Russian
Federation, the People's Republic of China, Japan, and the United States.

On July 17, 2007, United Nations inspectors verified the shutdown of five North Korean nuclear
facilities, according to the February 2007 agreement.[42]

On October 4, 2007, South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun and North Korean leader Kim
Jong-il signed an 8-point peace agreement, on issues of permanent peace, high-level talks,
economic cooperation, renewal of train, highway and air travel, and a joint Olympic cheering
squad.[24]

The United States and South Korea previously designated the North as a state sponsor of
terrorism.[43] The 1983 bombing that killed members of the South Korean government and the
destruction of a South Korean airliner have been attributed to North Korea.[44] North Korea has
also admitted responsibility for the kidnapping of 13 Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 1980s,
five of whom were returned to Japan in 2002.[45] On October 11, 2008, the United States
removed North Korea from its list of states that sponsor terrorism.[46]

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Kim Jong-il is the Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army and Chairman of the
National Defence Commission of North Korea. The Korean People's Army (KPA) is the name
for the collective armed personnel of the North Korean military. The army has four branches:
Ground Force, Naval Force, Air Force, and the State Security Department. According to the U.S.
Department of State, North Korea has the fifth-largest army in the world, at an estimated 1.21
million armed personnel, with about 20% of men aged 17±54 in the regular armed forces.[47]
North Korea has the highest percentage of military personnel per capita of any nation in the
world, with approximately 1 enlisted soldier for every 25 citizens.[48] Military strategy is
designed for insertion of agents and sabotage behind enemy lines in wartime,[47] with much of
the KPA's forces deployed along the heavily fortified Korean Demilitarized Zone. According to
official North Korean media, planned military expenditures for 2009 are 15.8% of GDP.[49]

North Korea has active nuclear and ballistic missile weapons programs and has been subject to
United Nations Security Council resolutions 1695 of July 2006, 1718 of October 2006, and 1874
of June 2009, for carrying out both missile and nuclear tests.

North Korea also sells its missiles and military equipment overseas and in April 2009 the United
Nations named the Korea Mining and Development Trading Corporation (aka KOMID) as North
Korea's primary arms dealer and main exporter of equipment related to ballistic missiles and
conventional weapons. It also named Korea Ryonbong as a supporter of North Korea's military
related sales.[50]

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North Korea has an industrialised, autarkic and highly centralized command economy. Of the
five remaining self-styled "communist" states in the world, North Korea is one of only two
(along with Cuba) with an entirely government-planned, state-owned economy.
North Korea's isolation policy means that international trade is highly restricted, hampering a
significant potential for economic growth. Nonetheless, due to its strategic location in East Asia
connecting four major economies and having a cheap, young, and skilled workforce, it is
projected that the North Korean economy could grow to 6-7% annually "with the right incentives
and reform measures".[53]

Until 1998, the United Nations published HDI and GDP per capita figures for North Korea,
which stood at a medium level of human development at 0.766 (ranked 75th) and a GDP per
capita of $4,058.[54] The average salary is about $47 per month.[55] Despite chronic economic
problems, quality of life is improving and wages are rising.[56] Small-scale private markets,
known as i  , exist throughout the country and provide the population with food and
certain commodities.[  ]

In 2008, the CIA World Fact Book estimated North Korea's GDP per capita (based on
Purchasing Power Parity (PPP)) to be $1,700 (ranked 192nd out of 230 countries), a level similar
to that of Chad and Cote d'Ivoire.[57] North Korea's economy is completely nationalized, which
means that food rations, housing, healthcare, and education is offered from the state for free.[58]
The payment of taxes has been abolished since April 1, 1974.[59] North Korea's GDP growth is
slow, but somewhat steady, floating around 1-2% per annum.

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Based on estimates in 2002, the dominant sector in the North Korean economy is industry
(43.1%), followed by services (33.6%) and agriculture (23.3%). In 2004, it was estimated that
agriculture employed 37% of the workforce while industry and services employed the remaining
63%.[4] Major industries include military products, machine building, electric power, chemicals,
mining, metallurgy, textiles, food processing and tourism.

In 2005, North Korea was ranked by the FAO as an estimated 10th in the production of fresh
fruit[61] and as an estimated 19th in the production of apples.[62] It has substantial natural
resources and is the world's 18th largest producer of iron and zinc,[63][64] having the 22nd largest
coal reserves in the world.[65] It is also the 15th largest fluorite producer[66] and 12th largest
producer of copper and salt in Asia.[67][68] Other major natural resources in production include
lead, tungsten, graphite, magnesite, gold, pyrites, fluorspar, and hydropower.[4]

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China and South Korea remain the largest donors of food aid to North Korea. The U.S. objects to
this manner of donating food due to lack of supervision.[69] In 2005, China and South Korea
combined to provide 1 million tons of food aid, each contributing half.[70] In addition to food aid,
China reportedly provides an estimated 80 to 90 percent of North Korea's oil imports at "friendly
prices" that are sharply lower than the world market price.[71]

On September 19, 2005, North Korea was promised fuel aid and various other non-food
incentives from South Korea, the U.S., Japan, Russia, and China in exchange for abandoning its
nuclear weapons program and rejoining the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Providing food in
exchange for abandoning weapons programs has historically been avoided by the U.S. so as not
to be perceived as "using food as a weapon".[72] Humanitarian aid from North Korea's neighbors
has been cut off at times to provoke North Korea to resume boycotted talks. For example, South
Korea's had the "postponed consideration" of 500,000 tons of rice for the North in 2006 but the
idea of providing food as a clear incentive (as opposed to resuming "general humanitarian aid")
has been avoided.[73] There have also been aid disruptions due to widespread theft of railroad
cars used by mainland China to deliver food relief.[74]

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In July 2002, North Korea started experimenting with private capitalism in the Kaesong
Industrial Region.[75] A small number of other areas have been designated as Special
Administrative Regions, including Sinŭiju along the China-North Korea border. China and South
Korea are the biggest trade partners of North Korea, with trade with China increasing 15% to
US$1.6 billion in 2005, and trade with South Korea increasing 50% to over 1 billion for the first
time in 2005.[72] It is reported that the number of mobile phones in Pyongyang rose from only
3,000 in 2002 to approximately 20,000 during 2004.[76] As of June 2004, however, mobile
phones became forbidden again.[77] A small number of capitalistic elements are gradually
spreading from the trial area, including a number of advertising billboards along certain
highways. Recent visitors have reported that the number of open-air farmers' markets has
increased in Kaesong and Pyongyang, as well as along the China-North Korea border, bypassing
the food rationing system.

In a 2003 event dubbed the "Pong Su incident", a North Korean cargo ship allegedly attempting
to smuggle heroin into Australia was seized by Australian officials, strengthening Australian and
United States' suspicions that Pyongyang engages in international drug smuggling. The North
Korean government denied any involvement.[78]

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Tourism in North Korea is organized by the state owned Tourism Organisation ("Ryohaengsa").
Every group of travelers as well as individual tourist/visitors are permanently accompanied by
one or two "guides" who normally speak the mother language of the tourist. While tourism has
increased over the last few years, tourists from Western countries remain few. The majority of
the tourists who visit come from China, Russia and Japan. Russian citizens from the Asian part
of Russia prefer North Korea as a tourist destination due to the relatively low prices, lack of
pollution and the warmer climate. For citizens of the US and South Korea it is practically
impossible to obtain a visa for North Korea. Exceptions for US citizens are made for the yearly
Arirang Festival.

In the area of the Kŭmgangsan-mountains, the company Hyundai established and operates a
special Tourist area. Traveling to this area is also possible for South Koreans and US citizens,
but only in organized groups from South Korea. A special administrative region known as the
Kŭmgangsan Tourist Region exists for this purpose. Trips to the region have been temporarily
suspended due to the death of a South Korean woman in late 2008.

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In the 1990s North Korea faced significant economic disruptions, including a series of natural
disasters, economic mismanagement and serious resource shortages after the collapse of the
Eastern Bloc. These resulted in a shortfall of staple grain output of more than 1 million tons from
what the country needs to meet internationally-accepted minimum dietary requirements.[80] The
North Korean famine known as "Arduous March" resulted in the deaths of between 300,000 and
800,000 North Koreans per year during the three year famine, peaking in 1997, with 2.0 million
total being "the highest possible estimate."[81] The deaths were most likely caused by famine-
related illnesses such as pneumonia, tuberculosis, and diarrhea rather than starvation.[81]

In 2006, Amnesty International reported that a national nutrition "survey" conducted by the
North Korean government, the World Food Programme, and UNICEF found that 7 percent of
children were severely malnourished; 37 percent were chronically malnourished; 23.4 percent
were underweight; and one in three mothers was malnourished and anaemic as the result of the
lingering effect of the famine. The inflation caused by some of the 2002 economic reforms,
including the Songun or "Military-first" policy, was cited for creating the increased price of basic
foods.[82]

The history of Japanese assistance to North Korea has been marked with unrest; from a large
pro-Pyongyang community of Koreans in Japan to public outrage over the 1998 North Korean
missile launch and revelations regarding the abduction of Japanese citizens.[83] In June 1995 an
agreement was reached that the two countries would act jointly.[83] South Korea would provide
150,000 MT of grain in unmarked bags, and Japan would provide 150,000 MT gratis and another
150,000 MT on concessional terms.[83] In October 1995 and January 1996, North Korea again
approached Japan for assistance. On these two occasions, both of which came at crucial moments
in the evolution of the famine, opposition from both South Korea and domestic political sources
quashed the deals.[83] Beginning in 1997, the U.S. began shipping food aid to North Korea
through the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) to combat the famine. Shipments
peaked in 1999 at nearly 700,000 tons making the U.S. the largest foreign aid donor to the
country at the time. Under the Bush Administration, aid was drastically reduced year after year
from 350,000 tons in 2001 to 40,000 in 2004.[84] The Bush Administration took criticism for
using "food as a weapon" during talks over the North's nuclear weapons program, but insisted the
U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) criteria were the same for all countries and
the situation in North Korea had "improved significantly since its collapse in the mid-1990s."
Agricultural production had increased from about 2.7 million metric tons in 1997 to 4.2 million
metric tons in 2004.[69]

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The media of North Korea is one of the most strictly controlled in the world. As a result,
information is tightly controlled both into and out of North Korea. The constitution provides for
freedom of speech and the press; however, the government prohibits the exercise of these rights
in practice. In its 2008 report, Reporters Without Borders classified the media environment in
North Korea as 172 out of 173, only above that of Eritrea.[85]

Only news that favors the regime is permitted, whilst news that covers the economic and political
problems in the country, or criticisms of the regime from abroad is not allowed.[86] The media
upholds the personality cult of Kim Jong-il, regularly reporting on his daily activities. The sole
news provider to media in the DPRK is the Korean Central News Agency.[  ]

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There is a mix of local built and imported trolleybuses and trams in urban centers in North
Korea. Earlier fleets were obtained in Europe and China, but trade embargo has forced North
Korea to build their own vehicles. Railways of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea,
Choson Cul Minzuzui Inmingonghoagug, is the only rail operator in North Korea. It has a
network of 5,200 km of track with 4,500 km in Standard gauge.[87] There is a small narrow gauge
railway in operation in Haeju peninsula.[87] The railway fleet consists of a mix of electric and
steam locomotives. Cars are mostly made in North Korea using Soviet designs. There are some
locomotives from Imperial Japan, the United States, and Europe remaining in use. Second-hand
Chinese locomotives (early DF4Bs, BJ Hydraulics, etc.) have also been spotted in active service.

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Water transport on the major rivers and along the coasts plays a growing role in freight and
passenger traffic. Except for the Yalu and Taedong rivers, most of the inland waterways, totaling
2,253 kilometers, are navigable only by small boats. Coastal traffic is heaviest on the eastern
seaboard, whose deeper waters can accommodate larger vessels. The major ports are Nampho on
the west coast and Rajin, Chongjin, Wonsan, and Hamhung on the east coast. The country's
harbor loading capacity in the 1990s was estimated at almost 35 million tons a year. In the early
1990s, North Korea possessed an oceangoing merchant fleet, largely domestically produced, of
sixty-eight ships (of at least 1,000 gross-registered tons), totaling 465,801 gross-registered tons
(709,442 metric tons deadweight (DWT)), which includes fifty-eight cargo ships and two
tankers. There is a continuing investment in upgrading and expanding port facilities, developing
transportation--particularly on the Taedong River--and increasing the share of international cargo
by domestic vessels.

North Korea's international air connections are limited. There are regularly scheduled flights
from the Sunan International Airport - 24 kilometers north of Pyongyang - to Moscow,
Khabarovsk, Beijing, Macau, Vladivostok, Bangkok, Shenyang, Shenzhen and charter flights
from Sunan to Tokyo as well as to East European countries, the Middle East, and Africa. An
agreement to initiate a service between Pyongyang and Tokyo was signed in 1990. Internal
flights are available between Pyongyang, Hamhung, Wonsan, and Chongjin. All civil aircraft
operated by Air Koryo are 34 aircraft in 2008, these were purchased from the Soviet Union and
Russia. From 1976 to 1978, four Tu-154 jets were added to the small fleet of propeller-driven
An-24s afterwards adding four long range Ilyushin Il-62M, three Ilyushin Il-76MD large cargo
aircraft and 2 long range Tupolev Tu-204-300's purchased in 2008.
One of the few ways to enter North Korea is over the Sino-Korea Friendship Bridge or via
Panmunjeom, the former crossing Amnok River and the latter crossing Demilitarized Zone.

Private cars in North Korea are a rare sight, but as of 2008 some 70% of households used
bicycles, which also play an increasingly important role in small-scale private trade.[88]

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North Korea's population of roughly 23 million is one of the most ethnically and linguistically
homogeneous in the world, with very small numbers of Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, South
Korean, and European expatriate minorities.

According to the CIA World Factbook, North Korea's life expectancy was 63.8 years in 2009, a
figure roughly equivalent to that of Pakistan and Burma and slightly lower than Russia.[89] Infant
mortality stood at a high level of 51.34, which is 2.5 times higher than that of China, 5 times that
of Russia, 12 times that of South Korea.[90] According to the UNICEF "The State of the world's
Children 2003" North Korea appears ranked at the 73rd place (with first place having the highest
mortality rate), between Guatemala (72nd) and Tuvalu (74th).[90][91] North Korea's Total fertility
rate is relatively low and stood at 1.96 in 2009, comparable to those of the United States and
France.[92]

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North Korea shares the Korean language with South Korea. There are dialect differences within
both Koreas, but the border between North and South does not represent a major linguistic
boundary. While prevalent in the South, the adoption of modern terms from foreign languages
has been limited in North Korea. Hanja (Chinese characters) are no longer used in North Korea,
although still occasionally used in South Korea. Both Koreas share the phonetic writing system
called Chosongul in the north and Hangul south of the DMZ. The official Romanization differs
in the two countries, with North Korea using a slightly modified McCune-Reischauer system,
and the South using the Revised Romanization of Korean.

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Both Koreas share a Buddhist and Confucian heritage and a recent history of Christian and
Cheondoism ("religion of the Heavenly Way") movements. The North Korean constitution states
that freedom of religion is permitted.[93] According to the Western standards of religion, the
majority of the North Korean population could be characterized as irreligious. However the
majority are defined as religious from a sociological viewpoint[94] and the cultural influence of
such traditional religions as Buddhism and Confucianism still have an effect on North Korean
spiritual life.[95][96][97]

Nevertheless, Buddhists in North Korea reportedly fare better than other religious groups;
particularly Christians, who are said to face persecution by the authorities. Buddhists are given
limited funding by the government to promote the religion, because Buddhism played an integral
role in traditional Korean culture.[98]

According to Human Rights Watch, free religious activities no longer exist in North Korea as the
government sponsors religious groups only to create an illusion of religious freedom.[99]
According to Religious Intelligence the situation of religion in North Korea is the following:[100]

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Pyongyang was the center of Christian activity in Korea before the Korean War. Today, four
state-sanctioned churches exist, which freedom of religion advocates say are showcases for
foreigners.[101][102] Official government statistics report that there are 10,000 Protestants and
4,000 Roman Catholics in North Korea.[103]

According to a ranking published by Open Doors, an organization that supports persecuted

Christians, North Korea is currently the country with the most severe persecution of Christians in
the world.[104] Human rights groups such as Amnesty International also have expressed concerns
about religious persecution in North Korea.[105]

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Education in North Korea is controlled by the government and is compulsory until the secondary
level. Compulsory education lasts eleven years, and encompasses one year of preschool, four
years of primary education and six years of secondary education. The North Korean School
curricula consist of both academic and political subject matter.
Primary schools are known as people's schools and children attend this school from the age of
six to nine. They are later enrolled in either a regular secondary school or a special secondary
school, depending on their specialities. They enter secondary school at the age of ten and leave
when they are sixteen.

Higher education is not compulsory in North Korea. It is composed of two systems: academic
higher education and higher education for continuing education. The academic higher education
system includes three kinds of institutions: universities, professional schools, and technical
schools. Graduate schools for master and doctoral level studies are attached to universities, and
are for students who want to continue their education. There are several universities in North
Korea, of which the most famous one is the Kim Il-sung University.[  ]

North Korea is said to be one of the most literate countries in the world, with an alleged literacy
rate of 99% for adults, but due to the current political climate, this cannot be independently
verified.[4]

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Health care and medical treatment is free in North Korea. North Korea spends 3% of its gross
domestic product on health care. Since the 1950s, the DPRK has put great emphasis on
healthcare, and between 1955 and 1986, the number of hospitals grew from 285 to 2,401, and the
number of clinics - from 1,020 to to 5,644.[106] There are hospitals attached to factories and
mines. Since 1979 more emphasis was put on traditional Korean medicine, based on treatment
with herbs and accupuncture.

North Korea's healthcare system has been in a steep decline since the 1990s due to natural
disasters, economic problems, and food and energy shortages. Many hospitals and clinics in
North Korea now lack essential medicines and equipment, running water and electricity.[107]

Almost 100% of the population has access to water and sanitation, but it is not completely
potable. Infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, malaria, and hepatitis B are considered to be
endemic to the country.[108]
According to 2008 estimates, North Korea had the 117th highest life expectancy of any country
in the world, with an average life expectancy of 72.2 years at birth. North Korea has a death rate
of 7.29 deaths per 1,000 people.[4]

Among other health problems, many North Korean citizens suffer from the after effects of
malnutrition, caused by famines related to the failure of its food distribution program and
military first policy. A 1998 United Nations (UN) World Food Program report revealed that 60%
of children suffered from malnutrition, and 16% were acutely malnourished. As a result, those
who suffered during the disaster have ongoing health problems.

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Multiple international human rights organizations, including Amnesty International and Human
Rights Watch, accuse North Korea of having one of the worst human rights records of any
nation.[109] North Koreans have been referred to as "some of the world's most brutalized people",
due to the severe restrictions placed on their political and economic freedoms.[110] North Korean
defectors have testified to the existence of prison and detention camps with an estimated 150,000
to 200,000 inmates (about 0.85% of the population), and have reported torture, starvation, rape,
murder, medical experimentation, forced labour, and forced abortions.[111] There is a national
mandated work dress code.[111]

The system changed slightly at the end of 1990s, when population growth became very low. In
many cases, where capital punishment was  [  ], it was replaced by less severe
punishments. Bribery became prevalent throughout the country[  ]. For example, years
ago[] just listening to South Korean radio could result in capital punishment[  ].
However, many North Koreans now illegally wear clothes of South Korean origin, listen to
Southern music, watch South Korean videotapes and even receive Southern broadcasts.[112][113]