Ethnic group
When Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union, the policy of Russian migration and Ukrainian migration was in effect, and the share of ethnic Ukrainians in the Ukrainian population fell from 77 percent in 1959 to 73 percent in 1991. The trend reversed after the country gained independence, and at the turn of In the 21st century, ethnic Ukrainians made up more than three quarters of the population. Russians continue to be the largest minority, although they now make up less than one-fifth of the population. The rest of the population consists of Belarusians, Moldovans, Bulgarians, Poles, Hungarians, Romanians, Roma (Gypsies) and other groups. Crimean Tatars, who were forcibly deported to Uzbekistan and other Central Asian republics in 1944, began to return to Crimea in large numbers in 1989; at the beginning of the 21st century, they represented one of the largest non-Russian minority groups. In March 2014, Russia forcibly annexed Crimea, a move condemned by the international community, and human rights groups subsequently documented a series of repressive measures taken by Russian authorities against the Crimean Tatars.
Historically, Ukraine had a large Jewish and Polish population, especially in the Right Bank region (west of the Dnieper River). In fact, at the end of the 19th century, slightly more than one-quarter of the world's Jewish population (an estimated 10 million) lived in ethnic Ukrainian territory. This predominantly Yiddish-speaking population was greatly reduced by emigration in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and the devastation of the Holocaust. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, a large number of remaining Ukrainian Jews emigrated, primarily to Israel. At the turn of the 21st century, the few hundred thousand Jews who remained in Ukraine constituted less than 1 percent of the Ukrainian population. Most of Ukraine's large Polish minority was resettled in Poland after World War II as part of a Soviet plan to make ethnic settlement conform to territorial borders. At the turn of the 21st century, fewer than 150,000 ethnic Poles remained in Ukraine.
Major ethnic groups of Ukraine
After gaining independence in 1991, Ukraine was tasked with unifying its various regions and creating a distinct national identity. As the country is home to over a hundred different nationalities, this presents some complex and significant challenges.
Ethnic divisions in Ukraine date back to the imperial period, when regional boundaries were strongly contested by Russia, Austria-Hungary, and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Southeast Ukraine has historically been populated by ethnic Russians and Russian-speaking Ukrainians with close cultural and economic ties to Russia. Much of western Ukraine was part of Habsburg Austria until 1918; while other regions were brought into Ukraine after World War II, and the area maintains strong ties with Europe.
About 77.5% of the population of Ukraine identify as ethnic Ukrainians. The second largest national group are Russians, who make up 17.2% of the population. Other prominent nationalities include Romanians, Belarusians, Crimean Tatars, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Poles, Jews and Armenians.
The Ethnicities Of Ukraine Are United
The current crisis in Ukraine is said to be an ethno-linguistic conflict between Russians and Ukrainians, especially in Crimea. Ukraine seems to be divided between Russian-speaking Ukrainians and Ukrainian-speaking Ukrainians. This kind of talk only benefits Putin's geopolitical stake in Ukraine. Unfortunately, the Western mass media is inadvertently feeding Putin's propaganda. The truth is quite simple. Many Ukrainians are bilingual. Moreover, both a Russian-speaking Ukrainian and a Ukrainian-speaking Ukrainian are still Ukrainians, citizens of Ukraine. Residents of Ukraine also speak Polish, Romanian, Hungarian (Hungarian), Bulgarian, Turkish and so on.
Shown this map by dividing Ukraine
The media has repeatedly shown this map by dividing Ukraine into the Russian-speaking southeast and the Ukrainian-speaking northwest. The source of this map is the 2001 census. It is important to remember that in the census every Ukrainian was asked to identify his "mother tongue". About 68% of Ukrainians answered "Ukrainian" and about 30% of Ukrainians answered "Russian". By the way, Ukrainians who identified themselves as ethnic Russians made up only 17% of the population. At the time, 90% of the population was over the age of nine, and therefore born and raised in Soviet Ukraine, where Russian was the primary language. Ukraine did not gain independence until 1991. At the time of the census, only a child aged nine or younger could grow up in independent Ukraine, where the primary language had been changed from Russian to Ukrainian. It is not surprising that almost one third of Ukrainians consider Russian as their mother tongue. The census did not ask if individuals spoke other languages.
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