2. Geography - - Ukraine is 233,100 square miles with 1,729 miles of coastline. - - It is the world’s 44th largest country and the largest wholly-European country and the 2nd largest county in Europe
3. The landscape of Ukraine consists mostly of fertile plains and plateaus which are crosses by rivers such as the Dniester, Seversky Donets, Dnieper, and Southern Buh and flow into both the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. In the southwest region is the delta, Danube which forms the border with Romania. Ukraine’s only mountains are to the west and are called the Carpathian Mountains. Geography
4. People Population 45,415,596 70.7% of the population is between the ages of 15 and 64 and the median age is 39.7 years old But with the death rate (15.7 deaths/ 1000 population) being higher than the birth rate (9.62 births/ 1000 population) the population growth is actually negative (-0.619%). And the life expectancy of the population as a whole is 68.46 years old with females (74.74 years) having a higher life expectancy then males (62.56 years)
5. People Of the population 77.8% are Ukrainian, 17.3% are Russian the rest of the population is made up of very small percentages from other countries 50.4% of the Ukrainian Orthodox – Kyiv Patriarchate religion, 26.1% are Ukrainian Orthodox – Moscow Patriarchate, 8% are Ukrainian Greek Catholic, 7.2% are Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox, 2.25 are Roman Catholic, 2.2% are Protestant, .6% are Jewish and 3.2% are other religions
6. Culture Ukrainian customs are very much influenced by Christianity they are also influenced by their neighbors to the west and the east which is reflected in their architecture, music and art. Because their biggest influence stems from Christianity they are very traditional people especially in their gender roles Also the Communist era had a very strong influence on them especially in their art and writing and it was not until the 1980s that artist and writers were free to express themselves however they wanted
7. Culture The traditional food that is apart of their regular diet includes chicken, pork, beef, fish, and mushrooms and also tend to eat a lot of potatoes, grains, fresh and pickled vegetables. Some of there traditional dishes are varenyky which are boiled dumplings with mushrooms, potatoes, sauerkraut, cottage cheese or cherries), borscht which is soup made of beets, cabbage and mushrooms or meat, and holubtsy which is stuffed cabbage rolls filled with rice, carrots and meat. Some of there specialties are chicken kiev and kiev cake They typically drink stewed fruit, juices, milk, buttermilk, mineral water, tea, coffee, beer, wine, and horilka
8. History “Ukraine’s modern history began with the East Slavs. From at least the 9th century, Ukraine was a centre of the medieval living area of the East Slavs. This state, known as KievanRus, became a large and powerful nation, but disintegrated in the 12th century. After the Great Northern War, Ukraine was divided among a number of regional powers, and the 19th century, the largest part of the Ukraine was integrated into the Russian Empire, with the rest under Austro-Hungarian control.”
9. History After much time and several attempts at independence after World War I and the Russian Civil War Ukraine became on of the founding republics of the Soviet Union, December 30, 1922. In 1945 the Ukrainian SSR became one of the co-founding members of the United Nations. Then in 1991 Ukraine became independent again after the end of the Soviet Union. Though was thrown into an eight year recession.
