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

Environment-international agreements:
party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air
Pollution-Sulphur 85, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change,
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, Antarctic-Environmental
Protocol, Law of the Sea

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

@Ukraine:People

Population: 50,125,108 (July 1998 est.)

Age structure: 0-14 years: 19% (male 4,852,461; female 4,656,688) 15-64 years: 67% (male 16,096,737; female 17,481,600) 65 years and over: 14% (male 2,284,960; female 4,752,662) (July 1998 est.)

Population growth rate: -0.64% (1998 est.)

Birth rate: 9.53 births/1,000 population (1998 est.)

Death rate: 16.31 deaths/1,000 population (1998 est.)

Net migration rate: 0.43 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1998 est.)