KYIV, May 30 - Ukraine's population has dropped by almost 500,000 people since last year's estimate to 48.41 million, according to preliminary census results published Thursday.
In a report in the official government newspaper Uraidovy Kurier, State Statistics Committee chief Oleksandr Osaulenko said that last year's census showed Ukraine's population had dropped by 3 million since the previous count, taken as part of a Soviet-wide census in 1989. Populations have plummeted in many former Soviet republics in the past decade. Many experts attribute lower life expectancy and birth rates to post-Soviet economic turmoil. The United Nations has estimated that as many as 20 percent of Ukrainians live in poverty. The average monthly wage is dlrs 63.
Though the overall population declined, the census found that the population of the capital, Kyiv, rose by about 1 percent to 2.6 million since last year, according to the Interfax news agency. Women make up 54 percent of Ukraine's population. Osaulenko said 67 percent of the population lives in cities. The census was held from Nov. 30 to Dec. 20, 2001.
