By The Numbers

By Walter Kish

I do a lot of the research for my weekly articles over the Internet and I am constantly amazed by how much information can be had by the application of a few mouse clicks.  This is in huge contrast to even a decade or two ago when trying to find any kind of up-to-date data on Ukraine was a difficult and challenging task.  Credible sources were few and far between.  Official Soviet sources were obviously suspect and hardly anyone took them seriously as being anything but propaganda.  Outside of Ukraine, most information was based mostly on speculative analysis or best guesses by a handful of experts studying the country through a distorted lens, one kept that way purposely by the Communist authorities.

Nowadays, all kinds of detailed data and information are just a quick Internet search away.  If you crave the latest news, go to the Google News site, enter Ukraine and you will be rewarded with thousands of news articles gathered from virtually every news agency and newspaper in the world who make their content available for free over the internet.  Today for instance, there were articles on the latest Ukraine-Russia natural gas agreement from sources as diverse as The Moscow Times, Kyiv Post, India Express, The Financial Times, Business Week, Reuters, Deutsche Welle, The New York Times, The Singapore Straits Times, Taiwan News, ABC (Australia), Sofia Echo and even The Canadian Press.  It is particularly useful in gauging the wide variety of slants given to a news story depending on the source’s perspective and political leanings.  If you can read Ukrainian, virtually all the major papers in Ukraine from all the various cities have web sites providing their latest news stories.

Do you want to know the latest economic statistics on Ukraine? The Internet will drown you in numbers.  The World Bank site contains monthly reports on the economic well-being of any country on earth including Ukraine.  The report for Ukraine for December 2008 for example, tells us that the annual inflation rate in Ukraine in 2008 was approximately 22.8%, and that real GDP growth for 2009 is forecasted to be minus 4%.  Further, it states that unsurprisingly “the Ukrainian economy entered into a recession in Q4” of 2008.

Various other sources such as the World Economic Factbook, European Marketing Data and Statistics, World Consumer Lifestyles Databook, CIA World Factbook, Consumer Eastern Europe and the National Bank of Ukraine will provide you with such interesting facts about Ukraine as:

 - there are some 49 million cell phones

- there are some 5.5 million Internet users

- there are 7.5 million people aged 65+

- the annual market for soft drinks is 3.8 billion litres

- there are 14.5 billion Hryvnias spent on tobacco products annually

- tourism brings in some $4 billion US each year

 If you are interested in military affairs, various open sources, including NATO, the CIA and various institutes and think tanks, will tell you that the Ukrainian military consists of some 304,000 personnel, and has about 800 aircraft, 200 helicopters and 3,800 tanks.

If you are looking for basic statistics, then the CIA World Factbook is one of the best sources for general data.  The current listing on Ukraine for instance will tell you that the current population of Ukraine is just under 46 million, that the size of the GDP is approximately$140.5 billion US or $6,900 per capita, and that the labour force is broken down into 25% in agriculture, 20% in industry and 55% in services.  Further, it will tell you that in 2007 total exports amounted to some $50 billion while total imports were about $60 billion. Particularly interesting in view of current events are the estimates that Ukraine produces some 21 billion cubic metres of natural gas every year while consuming some 74 billion cubic metres.  Another especially interesting statistic is that the average lifespan for males in Ukraine is currently 62 years, while for females it is 74.

If you are interested in virtually any aspect of Ukrainian history, geography, culture, folklore or whatever, an Internet search usually will surprise you with what can be found.  The well known Wikipedia.org site for instance is quite rich in Ukrainian material.  Believe it or not, it even has an entry for Pidkamin.

So, if you have a question or are curious about things Ukrainian, fire up your favourite Internet search engine – these days it’s a particularly intellectually enriching experience.