Irrigated land: 26,050 sq km (1993 est.)
Natural hazards: NA
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-Persistent Organic
Pollutants, 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
People
Population: 49,811,174 (July 1999 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 18% (male 4,690,318; female 4,498,239)
15-64 years: 68% (male 16,136,296; female 17,572,011)
65 years and over: 14% (male 2,251,664; female 4,662,646) (1999 est.)
Population growth rate: -0.62% (1999 est.)
Birth rate: 9.54 births/1,000 population (1999 est.)