UKRAINE

UKRAINE

Ukraine was the center of the first eastern Slavic state, Kyivan Rus, which during the 10th and 11th centuries was the largest and most powerful state in Europe.  During the latter part of the 18th century, most Ukrainian ethnographic territory was absorbed by the Russian Empire.

German and Soviet armies were responsible for some 7 to 8 million more deaths. Although final independence for Ukraine was achieved in 1991 with the dissolution of the USSR, democracy and prosperity remained elusive as the legacy of state control and endemic corruption stalled efforts at economic reform, privatization, and civil liberties.

• GDP: 5.2%
  
  
• GDP (per capita): $7,300
• UNEMPLOYMENT RATE: 7%
• POPULATION: 44,854,065
• RELIGION:Orthodox 57.6%
  Moscow Patriarchate 26.1%
  Ukrainian Greek Catholic 8%
  Roman Catholic 2.2%
  Protestant 2.2%
  Jewish 0.6%
  other 3.2%
• PRESIDENT: Viktor Yanukovych
• PRIME MINISTER: Mykola Azarov