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Overview of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast
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According to the archeologists, the settlement of the area started about 100 thousand years ago. Along the banks of the Dnipro and Samara rivers (within the current territory of Verkhnodniprovsk, Dnipropetrovsk, Solone, Pavlograd and Petropavlivka Districts) there are about 80 spots where stone tools were found pertaining to the settlements of the Paleolithic era.
The region's territory became densely populated during copper-and-bronze period (3rd – early 1st millenium BC). In the 8th century BC, Scythian tribes came to the steppe areas of today's Dnipropetrovsk region from the East. First iron mines of the Kryvyy Rih basin appeared at that time. In the 6- 8th centuries, first Slavic settlements registered in chronicles started appearing on the Dnipro banks. During the Kyivska Rus period (9th-12th centuries AD) the Orel river served the border separating the Rus from the lands occupied by nomadic tribes. It was here that Russian warriors had numerous severe combats with the Polovtsi. The Mongol-Tatar invasion and subsequent yoke devastated Prydniprov'ya1). The area was named "The Wild Field". It was settled anew in 15th-16th centuries, when the Cossack community emerged and developed. The territory of the present Dnipropetrovsk region became part of the Viysko Zaporizke2) lands hosting five out of eight Zaporizka Siches3). Dnipropetrovsk people take pride in the fact that their homeland witnessed the rise of one of the first democratic republics in Europe, as democracy was the essence of the Zaporizka Sich.
In 1783, pursuant to the decree of Catherine II about the Zaporizka Sich liquidation, the region was made part of the Katerynoslav Governorship of the Russian Empire. Due to the policy of granting different privileges, the population of the region started growing fast and in 1793 amounted to 819,000. In October 1802, the territory of the present-day Dnipropetrovsk region was included into the newly created Katerynoslav Province.
In the second half of the 18th through the 19th century a steady growth of the industry and trade was observed. While in 1825 there were 38 enterprises in the Katerynoslav Province, their number reached 54 in 1832, 120 in 1854 and 288 in 1860.
After the reform of 18614) the Province was transformed into the industrial center of the country’s South. The population of the Province rapidly increased, amounting to 1,400,000 in 1884 and 2,800,000 in 1901. Railroads and new mining, processing and metallurgical enterprises were built. In the early 20th century, the Katerynoslav Province had the highest rate of industrial concentration in Ukraine. By January 1, 1900, 8 giant metallurgical plants operated here. In 1923-1925 within the administrative reform the Katerynoslav Province was divided into 7 districts, including among others the Katerynoslav, Pavlograd, and Kryvyi Rih districts. In 1926 the Katerynoslav district was united with the Pavlograd district and renamed into the Dnipropetrovsk district. On February 27, 1932 the Dnipropetrovsk region was established incorporating 5 districts. Later on, in 1938 and 1939, parts of its territory were added to the newly created Zaporizhzhya, Mykolayiv and Kirovohrad regions. The Dnipropetrovsk region finally acquired its present-day shape.
1) Prydniprov'ya - geographical area alongside the banks of the Dnipro associated with the territory of today's Dnipropetrovsk Region
2) Viysko Zaporizke - armed forces of Zaporizhzhya Cossacks;
since the Cossack movement was predominantly organized as the movement of "free people" (Cossacks) to protect their liberty and independence, the whole of the Zaporizhzhya Cossacks state is sometimes called that name.
3) Zaporizka Sich - the state of the Zaporizhzhya Cossacks, "Cossack Republic"
Abolition of the serfdom
NATURAL RESOURCESThe Dnipropetrovsk region has a unique variety of mineral resources. 302 deposits and about 950 ore manifestations have been discovered in its bowels. 39 types of mineral raw materials are extracted in the region.
The Kryvyy Rig iron ore basin with the prospected resources of iron ore exceeding 15 billion tons, where over 87 million tons are extracted annually, is the largest in Ukraine. The resources available will provide raw materials for the ferrous metallurgy long into the third millenium.
Two ore mining and processing enterprises operate on the basis of the Nikopol manganese deposit whose resources are expected to suffice till 2025-2026.
The region’s future is development of non-ferrous metallurgy, gold extraction and processing industry. The potential resources of gold, molybdenum, and tungsten within the Surska, Chortomlynska, Verkhivtsevska structures and Kryvbas (Kryvyi Rih basin) are such that after the prospecting is completed the region will have several large deposits of gold (Sergiyivske and others) and middle-sized deposits of molybdenum and tungsten. The potential gold resources of the region are the most significant in Ukraine.
Within the region's boundaries, numerous deposits of non-metallic mineral resources are prospected.
The region has the only in Ukraine talc-magnesite deposit. Putting it into operation will allow to satisfy 60-70% of Ukraine’s need for refractory raw materials and significantly reduce their import from other countries. The Prosyanivske deposit of primary kaolins is considered the best in the world as to the amount and quality of its kaolin.
Significant deposits of facing stones in a wide range of colors are concentrated in the region's entrails. Their extraction is expected to be substantially increased.
15 mineral water sources are prospected in the region. That gives an opportunity to completely satisfy the population needs for medicinal and table mineral water.
INDUSTRIAL COMPLEXThe region has a powerful industrial potential, with the highly developed heavy industry. There are 587 industrial enterprises of 15 sectors here employing 451,700 people. The region is the second most important industrial manufacturer in Ukraine accounting for 15.6% of the total industrial output of the country.
MINING AND METALLURGICAL COMPLEXThe mining and metallurgical complex forms the basis of the regional industry. It incorporates 57 enterprises, among which there are 24 mining enterprises and 23 enterprises of ferrous metallurgy (including 2 mining and metallurgical integrated works, 3 metallurgical, 4 pipe, 3 coke and 1 ferroalloy plants).
Altogether, the enterprises of the sector employ 209.5 thousand people and account for 39.5% of the ferrous metallurgy production in Ukraine.
The region produces 100% of Ukrainian manganese ore, 82.4% of iron ore, 72.3% of pipes, 36.2% of rolled metal, 33.6% of cast iron, 32.1% of steel, and 28% of coke.
Most of the products are certified and meet the world quality standards.
A new still production technology is introduced allowing to obtain steel with 0,025% of sulfur and phosphorus at the most and to dope it additionally with molybdenum, vanadium, and titanium. That allows to manufacture rolled metal whose chemical composition and mechanical properties meet the DIN, EN, ASTM, API and other standards.
The pipe production facilities of the region manufacture pipes of more than 140 thousand standard sizes from 400 steel grades using different methods of hot and cold deformation, centrifugal casting, and welding. They have mastered production of a wide range of steel pipes with enamel coating, as well as brass, aluminum, titanium, and zirconium pipes. The rolled railway wheels, bands and ring products manufactured are exported to more than 35 countries.
COAL INDUSTRYThe region possesses significant resources of black and brown coals and has all the necessary components for successful development of the coal industry.
The balance coal reserves of the region exceed 21 billion tons. At present, about 10 million tons of coal are extracted annually accounting for nearly 12% of the total of the coal extracted in Ukraine.
The life of the miners’ towns of the Dnipropetrovsk region, such as Pavlograd, Pershotravensk, and Ternivka, is tightly connected with the operation of 10 coal mining enterprises employing the total of 30 thousand people.
POWER INDUSTRYThe Dnipropetrovsk region is one of the most power consuming regions of Ukraine. It has the second highest installed capacity in the country. The power industry is highly developed, with the generation structure formed by the Prydniprovsk and Kryvyi Rih heat power plants with the total capacity of 4,700 MW and the Dniprodzerzhynsk hydroelectric power plant with the capacity of 350 MW. This sector of the regional economy accounts for 8.9% of the total power generation in Ukraine and employs 14.1 thousand people.
CHEMICAL AND PETROCHEMICAL INDUSTRYThe chemical industry is represented by 17 enterprises whose products, such as varnish and paint, mineral fertilizers, tires, explosives, etc. are well known in Ukraine and beyond its borders. The sector employs 21.7 thousand people and accounts for 17.9% of the chemical and petrochemical production in Ukraine.
Tires of more than 80 standard sizes including large and low-pressure tires for advanced agricultural machinery are manufactured and exported to 30 countries of the world.
The varnish and paint production is one of the largest in the Ukraine. More than 120 kinds of varnish and paint products are manufactured using environmentally friendly technologies.
The region manufactures advanced materials, structures, and rubber products for use in many sectors, such as space, air transport, science, etc. Elastomer production is being mastered.
MACHINE BUILDING COMPLEXOn the territory of the region a large complex of machine building and metal working industry has been formed and is operated. Its contribution to the national production is 10,5%. More than 160 enterprises of the sector employ 99,300 persons.
In fact, all types of machine-building enterprises operate in the region. The highest level of development is achieved by metallurgical, transport, electric engineering, mining, road building and communal, chemical and polymeric machine building, and machine-tool construction enterprises.
The products of the sector, such as tractors, presses, car dumpers, dump-cinder cars, etc., are known not only in Ukraine, but also far beyond its borders.
For the recent years a number of new products have been introduced, including tramcars, trolley-buses, magnetic separators and a wide range of products for mining and metallurgical complex, coal industry, agriculture, light and processing industries. Main-line electric locomotives have been designed and manufactured. A main-line passenger electric locomotive has been prepared for production.
Enterprises of the region have mastered production of city and long-distance buses and large-tonnage semi-trailers of meeting European standards.
The Dnipropetrovsk region is one of the centers of rocket and space building. The high-tech equipment and high qualification of engineers and workers have allowed development and manufacturing of environmentally friendly clean carrier rockets "Zenit" and other space vehicles having no analogues in the world.
LIGHT INDUSTRYThe light industry of the region is a multi-branch complex which has a powerful production potential. The range of its products includes sewn clothes, knitwear, shoes, synthetic furs, toys, wool and cotton yarn, sewing threads, etc.
The sector, employing 13,400 persons, accounts for 4.4% of the total output of the Ukrainian light industry.
A number of companies of the sector have been re-equipped with state-of-the-art production lines, which allows them to manufacture competitive high-quality products.
Advanced technologies are applied to manufacture overcoats and women’s clothes exported to France, Canada, Germany, England and other countries.
AGROINDUSTRIAL COMPLEXThe agroindustrial complex is the second largest (after the industry) structural subdivision and one of the best developed sectors of the regional economy. It accounts for more than 14% of the total regional output.
Fertile black soils prevail in the whole of the Dnipropetrovsk region. The agricultural sector uses 2,299,300 hectares of land, which makes up 73,4% to the total area of the region, and employs 131,200 persons.
In the structure of agricultural arable lands, croplands account for 66%, hayfields and pastures for 10.8%. 10.6% of the croplands are irrigated.
The major crops of the region are grain, sunflower, sugar beets and vegetables.
The agricultural production development is based on the improvement of crop and field structure, introduction of soil-protective methods of land cultivation, and reduction of soil breakage. Intensive technologies are planned to be applied to grow grain crops on the area of 600,000 hectares (75%), sugar beets (100%) and sunflowers (30%).
Specialized dairy cattle farming is being established targeted at formation of pedigree Holstein herds by means of breeding imported animals and own reproduction.
The genetic potential of the animals is being raised. The dairy subsector operates 6 pedigree-breeding plants, 9 pedigree reproduction facilities and 36 pedigree farms.
The region has 2 stud farms where stud-horse selection and breeding are carried out. A significant part of the horses is exported.
The food industry of the region, employing 25,300 persons, is steadily increasing its production, which currently accounts for 5.6% of the total food production of Ukraine.
The range of food products manufactured includes sausages, dairy products, natural fruit juices, mineral waters and soft drinks, bakery yeast, vegetable oil, alcoholic beverages, sweets, halvah and other confectionery products.
Products of a number of companies meet international quality requirements and are marketed both in Ukraine and abroad.
CONSTRUCTION SECTORIn terms of its production capacities, capital assets, number of employees, and construction and assembly works performed, the construction sector of the region is the second largest in Ukraine.
The sector includes 343 general construction and specialized entities, 205 of which form holding- or trust-type organizations. Most of the latter are associated into 9 large general construction and specialized structures. On the territory of the region there are five residential construction enterprises, whose total annual capacity is 955,000 sq. m.
In addition, 700 small companies and 40 cooperatives are involved into general and specialized construction business.
In spite of the significantly decreased investment into capital construction, the Dnipropetrovsk region enterprises of the sector are steadily increasing both industrial and civil construction volumes. In 1999 a total of UAH 1152.3 million of capital assets (8,2% of the total in Ukraine) was put into operation. The subcontracted works performed totalled UAH 634.3 million (8,5% of the total in Ukraine).
In 1999, the region commissioned 382,100 sq. m of dwelling space (6,4% of the total in Ukraine), which was the second largest in Ukraine after Kyiv.
TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATIONS
The high economical potential of the region and its dense population have conditioned development of different types of transport, namely air, railway, motor, pipeline, river, electric, and subway transport.
The region operates 3 airports, of which 2 are international, linking the region with foreign countries.
The region territory is crossed by important railways providing links with the main raw material bases of the country – black coal of Donbas, iron ore of Kryvbas and manganese of Nikopol basin.
The operational length of the general-purpose railways is 1,578.2 km, including 1,256.2 km electrified. The railway density in the region is 49.5 km per 1,000 sq. km, while the all-Ukrainian rate is 37 km.
The network of motor roads is well developed. The length of the hard-surface motor roads of general purpose is 9,045 km. The motor road density in the region is more than 283 km per 1,000 sq. km, while the all-Ukrainian rate is 269 km.
From north to south, the Dnipropetrovsk region is crossed by the main water artery of the country, the Dnipro river. Dnipropetrovsk and Dniprodzerzhynsk river ports are functioning. Vessels of river-sea type provide direct international cargo transportation with access to the Black Sea.
The telecommunications market is on the rise. The installed capacity of automatic telephone exchanges is 649,700 phone numbers. The density of home telephone numbers is 20.7 per 100 persons and 48.7 per 100 families. The Ukrainian Mobile Communications (UMC) network is functioning. The Internet services are rapidly developing.
The introduction of information technologies and state-of-the-art post equipment allows to provide e-mail and mixed mail services, carry out banking transactions, effect different sorts of payments and render information services.
FOREIGN ECONOMIC AND INVESTMENTS ACTIVITIESThe region's foreign trade turnover in 1999 amounted to USD 3,066.2 million, including USD 2,141.6 million in export and USD 924.6 million in import (1 export dollar per 0,43 import dollar). The positive foreign trade balance totalled USD 1,217.0 million. 2,539 enterprises of the region were involved in foreign economic transactions with their business partners from 131 countries of the world.
As of January 01, 2000 the foreign investment in the region amounted to USD 178.3 million. The investment contributions originating from 48 countries were allocated to 351 enterprises. The region is the sixth largest recipient of foreign investment in the country.
SCIENTIFIC POTENTIALThe scientific and technological potential of the region is significant. 55 research institutions, 21 engineering design organizations, and the Prydniprovsky Scientific Center of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine employ 4,486 Candidates of Sciences, 753 Doctors of Sciences, 6 Corresponding Members and 9 Academicians of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.
The Dnipropetrovsk region always been and is to remain "the forge of scientists" widely known beyond its borders.
As far back as the pre-war period, the Dnipropetrovsk region fame was contributed to by the scientific schools of academicians L.V. Pysarzhevsky, D.I. Yavornytsky, O.K. Brodsky, and D.O. Svyrenko.
Through the post-war period up to the years of independence, this glorious tradition has been supported by the scientific schools of M.K. Yangel, O.P. Chekmaryov, G.A. Volovyk, V.M. Poturayev, V.V. Pylypenko, M.I. Gasyk, and G.G. Pivnyak.
They solve diverse tasks ranging from development and implementation of the Ukrainian space program to creation of energy-saving environmentally friendly technologies for use in mining, metallurgical, chemical, construction and agricultural sectors.
Many of the projects developed and implemented in the region are at the forefront of the world science. It is evidenced by the fact that for the last three years the region’s scientists have been awarded seven National Prizes of Ukraine in science and technology. Of importance is creation of such new research institutions as the Institute of Nature Management and Environmental Problems, the Kryvy Rih Botanic Gardens, and the Institute of Transport Systems and Technologies, all of them within the structure of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.
EDUCATION, HEALTHCARE, CULTURE, AND SPORTS
There are 1041 schools of general education in the Dnipropetrovsk region. The specialized boarding schools provide the necessary conditions for education and upbringing of orphans and handicapped children.
A great attention is paid to nurturing the national elite, the intellectual potential of the state, providing educational opportunities at the institutions of new type, such as gymnasias, lyceums and multi-level educational complexes.
A network of modern educational institutions oriented to a child's personality is being developed. There was done much for revival of the national school. The psychological and social education services are functioning successfully.
The Dnipropetrovsk Region has 80 state higher educational institutions including 63 of the 1st-2nd accreditation levels and 17 of the 3rd-4th accreditation level. 128,600 students are trained there according to full-time, extra-mural and evening-time tuition curricula.
New promising specialties have been recently introduced to ensure that the structure and the quality of the specialists trained meet the modern requirements of the economic, social and cultural sectors of the region. For the last 3 years, their number has exceeded 60.
The region has a developed network of healthcare institutions, with the total capacity of 36,830 beds and 77,765 out-patient visits per day. The healthcare institutions employ more than 15,000 physicians and more than 34,000 junior medical personnel. Diagnostics, prevention and treatment services, as well as methodological assistance, are provided by 20 healthcare institutions, the most significant of which is the Mechnikov Regional Hospital, one of the oldest medical institutions in Ukraine which celebrated its 200th anniversary in 1998.
The Dnipropetrovsk Region is a unique cultural center. There are 1,702 cultural institutions in the region, 7 state theaters and 3 major concert halls, 6 state and 173 community museums.
In 1999 the Dnipropetrovsk State Historical Museum named after D. I. Yavornytsky celebrated its 150th anniversary.
Among twelve theaters and performance stages of the region, the Dnipropetrovsk Musical and Dramatic Theater named after T.G. Shevchenko is of particular significance for the national dramatic art development.
The Petrykivsky decorative painting is a visiting card of the Dnipropetrovsk region. The embroidery art is a true adornment of the Pridniprov'ya.
Libraries are of great importance for upbringing broad-minded and highly-educated people of the new millenium. The number of libraries in the region is 839 with the book stock of 22 million volumes.
The Dnipropetrovsk region has a rich history. 11,000 historical and cultural sights remind of the prominent events and outstanding figures of science, history and art that played their role in the social and economic development of the Pridniprov'ya.
The region has a developed network of sport facilities, children’s sport schools and sport clubs. Competition series for prizes named after outstanding people of the region are resumed. President of Ukraine Volley-Ball Cup attracts a keen interest in the country.
354 sportsmen of the region are members of national teams, and 52 are candidates to be included into the National Olympic Team of Ukraine.
In 1999 sportsmen of the region won 57 medals in European and world championships, which is the best result among the Ukrainian regions.
40% of the National Paraolympic Team are the region's sportsmen, including world record holders Olena Akopyan, Danylo Seredyn and others.