Ukraine by the Numbers

By Volodymyr Kish

If you are reading this column, then you probably have at least a passing knowledge of Ukraine in terms of size, population, geography and economy.  However, I would hazard a guess that few would be able to compare Ukraine relative to other countries, such as Canada, where we live.

For example, most of you know that Ukraine is one of the largest countries in Europe, larger than France, Spain or Germany.  But how big is Ukraine compared to Canada?  I recently asked this question to a bunch of Ukrainians at a party and got answers ranging from Canada being twice as big as Ukraine to ten times as big.  In fact, Canada is more than sixteen times as big as Ukraine.  Ukraine is 603,700 square kilometres in area, while Canada is 9,970,610 square kilometres.  The Province of Ontario alone could accommodate one and a half Ukraine’s within its territory.  Ukraine is slightly smaller than our Province of Manitoba or in American terms, the State of Texas.

When we look at current population statistics, Ukraine’s population of approximately 45 million ranks it as 29^th in the world, slightly less than Spain and Colombia and a little more than Tanzania and Kenya.  Canada is 36^th in the world with a population of some 34 million.  The most interesting fact about Ukraine’s population, though, is that twenty years ago, at the time it gained its independence from the Soviet Union, Ukraine had a population of 52 million people. This decline of 7 million or 13.4% of its population is both dramatic and ominous.  Part of this decline is no doubt due to the current discrepancy between birth rate (8.8 per 1,000 pop.) and death rate (14.4 per 1,000 pop.), a telling symptom of the significant decline in the quality of life and deteriorating health care environment. However, the biggest reason for this decline is the fact that young people are leaving the country in droves to find work, primarily in Europe, where most of them disappear into the underground economy. The employment situation in Ukraine is abysmal despite the officially claimed low unemployment statistics.

More telling still are the economic statistics.  Ukraine’s official annual GDP stands at the equivalent of 327 Billion (US$), or 39^th in the world.  This puts it in between Switzerland ($340 Billion) and Singapore ($315 Billion).  Imagine that, an island city state like Singapore with virtually no natural resources has an economic output almost as big as Ukraine’s.  But there is another more personal element that paints an even grimmer picture, and that is when you look at per capita productivity.  When you factor in Ukraine’s population, this GDP output translates into a per capita GDP of $7,200 per person, ranking Ukraine at 131^st in the world, worse than countries such as Albania, Namibia and Cuba, and slightly better than Egypt, Samoa and Angola.  Canada, by comparison, ranks 21^st in the world, with a per capita GDP of some $40,300.  Despite the fact that Ukraine is virtually self-sufficient in almost all natural resources and has one of the highest educated populations in the world, political and economic mismanagement, first by the Soviet regime, and more recently by the oligarchic kleptocracy, has made Ukraine into a beggarly third world country.

Needless to say, the current sad state of affairs in Ukraine has had a significant effect on the health and well-being of the country’s population, and especially mortality rates and life expectancies.  Currently, if you are Ukrainian you can expect to live 68.7 years (63.1 for males and 74.8 for females).  This ranks Ukraine as 153^rd in the world, worse than such countries as Iraq and North Korea and just slightly better than Mongolia, Bolivia and India. In Canada, by comparison, men can expect to live to the age of 79 on average, and women to almost 85.

Sadly, Ukraine ranks near the top in probably at least one category – as one the worst managed and governed countries in the world.  Let us hope and pray that it is not for much longer.  The Ukrainian people deserve better.