eek Catholic 6%, Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox 1.7%,
Protestant, Jewish, none 38% (2004 est.)

Languages:
Ukrainian (official) 67%, Russian 24%; small Romanian-, Polish-,
and Hungarian-speaking minorities

Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 99.7%
male: 99.8%
female: 99.6% (2003 est.)

People - note:
the sex trafficking of Ukrainian women is a serious problem that
has only recently been addressed

Government Ukraine

Country name:
conventional long form: none
conventional short form: Ukraine
local long form: none
local short form: Ukrayina
former: Ukrainian National Republic, Ukrainian State, Ukrainian
Soviet Socialist Republic

Government type:
republic

Capital:
Kiev (Kyyiv)

Administrative divisions:
24 provinces (oblasti, singular - oblast'), 1 autonomous republic*
(avtonomna respublika), and 2 municipalities (mista, singular -
misto) with oblast status**; Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Chernivtsi, Crimea
or Avtonomna Respublika Krym* (Simferopol'), Dnipropetrovs'k,
Donets'k, Ivano-Frankivs'k, Kharkiv, Kherson, Khmel'nyts'kyy,
Kirovohrad, Kiev (Kyyiv)**, Kyyiv, Luhans'k, L'viv, Mykolayiv,
Odesa, Poltava, Rivne, Sevastopol'**, Sumy, Ternopil', Vinnytsya,
Volyn' (Luts'k), Zakarpattya (Uzhhorod), Zaporizhzhya, Zhytomyr
note: administrative divisions have the same names as their
administrative centers (exceptions have the administrative center
name following in parentheses)

Independence:
24 August 1991 (from the Soviet Union)

National holiday:
Independence Day, 24 August (1991); the date of 22 January (1918),
the day Ukraine first declared its independence (from Soviet
Russia), is now celebrated as Unity Day

Constitution:
adopted 28 June 1996

Legal system:
based on civil law system; judicial review of legislative acts

Suffrage:
18 years of age; universal

Executive branch:
chief of state: President Viktor A. YUSHCHENKO (since 23 January
2005)
head of government: Prime Minister Yuriy YEKHANUROV (since 22
September 2005); First Deputy Prime Minister - Stanislav STASHEVSKYY
(since 27 September 2005)
cabinet: Cabinet of Ministers appointed by the president and
approved by the Supreme Council
note: there is also a National Security and Defense Council or NSDC
originally created in 1992 as the National Security Council, but
significantly revamped and strengthened