The following statistical information is taken from the calculation of 1910, the percentage of Ukrainians from the Russian census of 1897. But the Pinchuks, in the Government of Minsk, were counted as belonging to the Ukrainians by the common opinion of all Russian and non-Russian ethnographers, altho the official statistics have designated them as White Russian.
We shall begin at the western border region, at the Kholmshchina (Kholm land), which was recently organized by the Russian Government as an independent Government apart from Russian Poland, and includes the eastern areas of the Governments of Lublin and Sidletz. In the Government of Lublin (16,800 square kilometers, 1,500,000 inhabitants) the Ukrainians comprise 17% of the population (250,000), in the Government of Sidletz 14% (140,000). The region inhabited by the Ukrainians in both Governments together, amounts to 10,000 square kilometers. Poles and Jews inhabit not only the cities in the Kholm country, but to a great extent villages as well, and comprise a considerable percentage of the population near the western border of the Ukraine. The percentage figures of the Ukrainians and Poles (in parentheses) are in the various districts of the Government of Lublin: Hrubeshiv 66 (24), Tomashiv 52 (37), Kholm 38 (38), Bilhoray 22 (68), Zamostye 9 (83), Krasnostav 6 (83); in the districts of the Government of Sidletz: Vlodava 64 (20), Bila 48 (38), Konstantiniv 22 (55), Radin 5 (87). In these districts the Jews comprise 5–13% of the population, the Germans 14% in the District of Kholm. The number of Ukrainians in the generally Polish-Jewish cities is not insignificant, even comprising the absolute majority in Hrubeshiv.
In the Government of Grodno (38,600 square kilometers 1,950,000 inhabitants), the Ukrainians comprise 23% of the population and inhabit the districts of Berestia (81% Ukrainians), Kobrin (83%), Bilsk (42% relative majority), [[134]]and the border of Pruzani (7%), altogether 14,000 square kilometers, with a Ukrainian population of 440,000. The Poles and White Russians comprise 2–3% in the first two of these districts, the Poles 37% in the District of Bilsk, the White Russians 79% in Pruzani, the Jews 9–11% in all districts.
In the Government of Minsk (91,000 square kilometers, 2,800,000 inhabitants), the Ukrainians (Pinchuks) comprise 14% of the population. They inhabit the entire District of Pinsk and the half of the District of Mosiv, situated on the right bank of the Pripet River, altogether 17,000 square kilometers, with a Ukrainian population of 390,000.
The Government of Volhynia (71,700 square kilometers, 3,850,000 inhabitants) is a central Ukrainian region. The Ukrainians (2,700,000) here comprise over 70% of the population, the Jews 13%, the Poles over 6%, the Germans about 6%, the Russians 3%, the Czechs 1%. These foreign peoples live scattered, or as colonists, and chiefly in the cities of Volhynia, in all of which (Kremianetz excepted) they are more numerous than the Ukrainians. In the country it is different. The percentages of Ukrainians in the districts of Volhynia are very high: Kovel 86%, Ovruch 87%, Ostroh 85%, Zaslav 82%, Kremianetz 84%, Starokonstantiniv 80%. Somewhat smaller are the percentages in the following districts: Zitomir 73%, Dubno 73%, Volodimir Volinsky 68%, Rivne 65%, Lutzk 62%.
In the Government of Kiev (51,000 square kilometers, 4,570,000 inhabitants) the Ukrainians comprise over 79% (3,620,000) of the population. This percentage takes into account the city population, of which the majority are Jews and “Russians.” In the districts, as Chihirin, Svenihorodka, Uman, Tarashcha, the percentage of Ukrainians exceeds 90%, in Radomishl 80%. The chief foreign element are the Jews (12%), then the Russians [[135]](over 6%), and the Poles (2%). In the city of Kiev the Ukrainians comprise more than one-fifth of the population, as much as the Jews and Poles together. An absolute Ukrainian majority exists in the cities of Vassilkiv, Kaniv, Tarashcha, Zvenihorodka and Chihirin. In Berdichiv, Cherkassi, Uman, Lipovetz, Skvira and Radomishl the Jews predominate.
The Government of Podolia (42,000 square kilometers, 3,740,000 inhabitants) has over 81% of its population Ukrainian (3,030,000). In some districts the percentage is much higher, as for example in the District of Mohiliv, 89%. The Jews are the largest foreign element (12%) then the Russians (3%), and the Poles (2%), who live principally in the cities. Only the smaller Podolian cities, e.g., Olhopol, Yampol, Stara Ushitza, Khmelnik, have a Ukrainian majority. In Haisin, Vinnitza, Litin and Bar the number of Ukrainians equals the number of Jews; in Kamenetz, Balta, Bratzlav, Letichiv, Mohiliv and Proskuriv the Jews predominate.
The Government of Kherson (71,000 square kilometers, 3,500,000 inhabitants), just as the three last discussed, is part of the compact Ukrainian national territory, altho the population of this region appears much more mixed. The Ukrainians (1,640,000) here comprise barely 54% of the population. The chief cause of this is the fact that in the large cities of this Government, Jews and Russians predominate, and then there are a great many Roumanian, German and Bulgarian colonies. Despite this, however, the Ukrainians constitute an absolute majority in most of the districts (e.g., the District of Alexandria 88% of Ukrainians, Yelisavet 73%, Kherson 70%, Ananiiv 63%), a relative majority in the rest (Odessa 47%, Tiraspol 38%). The Russians comprise more than 21% of the population, the Jews 12%, the Roumanians over 5% (District of Tiraspol 27%), the Germans nearly 5%, the Bulgarians [[136]]and Poles 1% each. Odessa is a city of many languages. Russians and Jews predominate; the Ukrainians comprise barely one-eleventh of the population, besides which there are Germans, Roumanians, Bulgarians, Poles, Greeks, French, English, Albanians, etc. In Mikolaiv the Ukrainians are only one-thirteenth of the population, in Kherson one-fifth, in Yelisavet one-fourth. In the following cities the Ukrainians possess an absolute majority over the Russians: Alexandria, Ananiiv, Bobrinetz, Vosnesensk, Olviopol, Ochakiv, Berislav, Dubosari.
The Government of Bessarabia (46,000 square kilometers, 2,440,000 inhabitants) has only its northwest tip and its coastal region within Ukrainian national territory. The Ukrainians (460,000) comprise barely 20% of the population of this Government, which consists principally of Roumanians. The territory inhabited by the Ukrainians amounts to 10,000 square kilometers. The Ukrainians comprise an absolute majority only in the District of Khotin (56%), along with 25% Roumanians and 13% Jews. In the District of Akerman the Ukrainians make up 24% of the population, the Bulgarians the same, the Germans and the Roumanians 18% each, the Turks 4%. The Ukrainians settle on the sea-coast and the Dniester. In the District of Ismail there are 17% Ukrainians, 47% Roumanians, 11% Bulgarians, 9% Turks, 3% Germans; in the District of Soroki 17% Ukrainians, 67% Roumanians, 11% Jews. In other districts of Bessarabia there are much fewer Ukrainians; in the district of Biltzi 12%, Benderi 9%, Orhiiv 6%, Kishinev only 2%. In the cities Jews, Russians and Roumanians predominate. The Ukrainians possess an absolute majority only in Akerman, a relative majority in Ismail and Kilia.
In our survey of the Ukraine on the left Dnieper bank we shall begin with the border regions, coming gradually to the central parts. [[137]]