Part 778

Defense expenditures: exchange rate conversion - $56 million, 1.7% of budget (FY93/94)

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@Ukraine -------

Map ---

Location: 49 00 N, 32 00 E -- Eastern Europe, bordering the Black Sea, between Poland and Russia

Flag ----

Description: two equal horizontal bands of azure (top) and golden yellow represent grainfields under a blue sky

Geography ---------

Location: Eastern Europe, bordering the Black Sea, between Poland and Russia

Geographic coordinates: 49 00 N, 32 00 E

Map references: Commonwealth of Independent States

Area: total area: 603,700 sq km land area: 603,700 sq km comparative area: slightly smaller than Texas

Land boundaries: total: 4,558 km border countries: Belarus 891 km, Hungary 103 km, Moldova 939 km, Poland 428 km, Romania (southwest) 169 km, Romania (west) 362 km, Russia 1,576 km, Slovakia 90 km

Coastline: 2,782 km

Maritime claims: continental shelf: 200-m or to the depth of exploitation exclusive economic zone: undefined territorial sea: 12 nm

International disputes: certain territory of Moldova and Ukraine - including Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina - are considered by Bucharest as historically a part of Romania; this territory was incorporated into the former Soviet Union following the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact in 1940; dispute with Romania over continental shelf of the Black Sea under which signifcant gas and oil deposits may exist; potential dispute with Russia over Crimea; has made no territorial claim in Antarctica (but has reserved the right to do so) and does not recognize the claims of any other nation

Climate: temperate continental; Mediterranean only on the southern Crimean coast; precipitation disproportionately distributed, highest in west and north, lesser in east and southeast; winters vary from cool along the Black Sea to cold farther inland; summers are warm across the greater part of the country, hot in the south

Terrain: most of Ukraine consists of fertile plains (steppes) and plateaux, mountains being found only in the west (the Carpathians), and in the Crimean Peninsula in the extreme south lowest point: Black Sea 0 m highest point: Hora Hoverla 2,061 m

Natural resources: iron ore, coal, manganese, natural gas, oil, salt, sulfur, graphite, titanium, magnesium, kaolin, nickel, mercury, timber

Land use: arable land: 56% permanent crops: 2% meadows and pastures: 12% forest and woodland: 0% other: 30%

Irrigated land: 26,000 sq km (1990)

Environment: current issues: inadequate supplies of potable water; air and water pollution; deforestation; radiation contamination in the northeast from 1986 accident at Chornobyl' Nuclear Power Plant natural hazards: NA international agreements: party to - Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Environmental Modification, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution; signed, but not ratified - Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Climate Change, Law of the Sea

Geographic note: strategic position at the crossroads between Europe and Asia; second-largest country in Europe

People ------

Population: 50,864,009 (July 1996 est.)

Age structure: 0-14 years: 20% (male 5,139,034; female 4,936,901) 15-64 years: 66% (male 16,135,671; female 17,433,600) 65 years and over: 14% (male 2,318,629; female 4,900,174) (July 1996 est.)

Population growth rate: -0.4% (1996 est.)

Birth rate: 11.17 births/1,000 population (1996 est.)