central Ukraine
{{Short description|Central regions of Ukraine}}
{{Coord missing|Ukraine}}
{{Update|date=April 2015}}
Central Ukraine ({{langx|uk|Центральна Україна|Tsentralna Ukraina}} {{IPA|uk|t͡senˈtralʲnɐ ʊkrɐˈjinɐ|}}) consists of historical regions of left-bank Ukraine and right-bank Ukraine that reference to the Dnieper River. It is situated away from the Black Sea Littoral North and a midstream of the Dnieper River and its basin.
The cities of Central Ukraine are among the oldest in Ukraine. Also in contrast to the southeastern portion of the country, the region is more agricultural with extensive grain and sunflower fields in the heart of Ukraine. Some of the largest cities in Central Ukraine include Kryvyi Rih, Cherkasy, Kropyvnytskyi, Poltava and Kremenchuk.
Politics
Elections in the Central Ukrainian oblasts (provinces) have historically been competitive between pro-Russian and pro-Western candidates. However, since the 2004 Orange Revolution, Central Ukrainian voters have started to lean toward more pro-Western parties (Our Ukraine, Batkivshchyna)[http://www.cvk.gov.ua/pls/vnd2012/WP406?PT001F01=900&pf7171=52 Центральна виборча комісія України - WWW відображення ІАС "Вибори народних депутатів України 2012"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121016140034/http://www.cvk.gov.ua/pls/vnd2012/WP406?PT001F01=900&pf7171=52 |date=2012-10-16 }}
[http://en.for-ua.com/news/2012/08/30/111349.html CEC {{not a typo|substitues}} Tymoshenko, Lutsenko in voting papers] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140813233711/http://en.for-ua.com/news/2012/08/30/111349.html |date=2014-08-13 }} and presidential candidates (Viktor Yushchenko and Yulia Tymoshenko).[https://books.google.com/books?id=H23Pv4Ik3vMC&dq=Ukrainian++parties+pro-Western+Bloc&pg=PA396 Communist and Post-Communist Parties in Europe] by Uwe Backes and Patrick Moreau, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2008, {{ISBN|978-3-525-36912-8}} (page 396)[http://www.opendemocracy.net/od-russia/andreas-umland/ukraine-right-wing-politics-is-genie-out-of-bottle Ukraine right-wing politics: is the genie out of the bottle?], openDemocracy.net (January 3, 2011)[http://www.jamestown.org/single/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=39981 Eight Reasons Why Ukraine’s Party of Regions Will Win the 2012 Elections] by Taras Kuzio, The Jamestown Foundation (17 October 2012)
[http://www.taraskuzio.net/media20_files/8.pdf UKRAINE: Yushchenko needs Tymoshenko as ally again] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130515074305/http://www.taraskuzio.net/media20_files/8.pdf |date=2013-05-15 }} by Taras Kuzio, Oxford Analytica (5 October 2007)
In a poll conducted by Kyiv International Institute of Sociology in the first half of February 2014, only 5.4% of polled in Central Ukraine believed "Ukraine and Russia must unite into a single state", whereas nationwide this percentage was 12.5.[http://www.kiis.com.ua/?lang=eng&cat=reports&id=236&page=1 How relations between Ukraine and Russia should look like? Public opinion polls’ results], Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (4 March 2014)
Demographics
=Religion=
{{Pie chart
|thumb = right
|caption = Religion in central Ukraine (2016)[http://old.razumkov.org.ua/upload/Religiya_200516_A4.compressed.pdf РЕЛІГІЯ, ЦЕРКВА, СУСПІЛЬСТВО І ДЕРЖАВА: ДВА РОКИ ПІСЛЯ МАЙДАНУ (Religion, Church, Society and State: Two Years after Maidan)], 2016 report by Razumkov Center in collaboration with the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches. pp. 27-29.
|label1 = Eastern Orthodoxy
|value1 = 76.7
|color1 = Orchid
|label2 = Not religious
|value2 = 12.7
|color2 = Honeydew
|label3 = Uncertain Christianity
|value3 = 6.5
|color3 = Turquoise
|label4 = Roman Catholicism
|value4 = 1.0
|color4 = Indigo
|label5 = Protestantism
|value5 = 1.0
|color5 = DodgerBlue
|label6 = Greek Catholicism
|value6 = 0.4
|color6 = DarkOrchid
|label7 = Judaism
|value7 = 0.3
|color7 = Blue
|label8 = Islam
|value8 = 0.1
|color8 = Green
|label9 = Other religions
|value9 = 0.1
|color9 = Chartreuse
}}
According to a 2016 survey of religion in Ukraine held by the Razumkov Center, approximately 73.5% of the population of central Ukraine declared to be believers, while 4.8% declared to be non-believers, and 2.6% declared to be atheists. Of the total population, 86.5% were Christians (76.7% Eastern Orthodox, 6.5% simply Christians, 1.9% Latin Rite Catholics, 1.0% members of various Protestant churches, and 0.4% members of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church), 0.3% were Jewish, and 0.1% were Muslims. Not religious and other believers not identifying with any of the listed major religious institutions constituted about 12.8% of the population.
=Language=
Surzhyk, a term for mixed Russian-Ukrainian dialects, is commonly spoken throughout Central Ukraine, though, according to sociological pols, most people self-identify as Ukrainian speakers.[http://ratinggroup.com.ua/en/products/politic/data/entry/14004/ The language question, the results of recent research in 2012], RATING (25 May 2012)[http://www.ukrinform.ua/eng/news/poll_ukrainian_language_prevails_at_home_229692 Poll: Ukrainian language prevails at home] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130728124303/http://www.ukrinform.ua/eng/news/poll_ukrainian_language_prevails_at_home_229692 |date=2013-07-28 }}, Ukrinform (7 September 2011)
See also
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{wikivoyage-inline|Central Ukraine}}
{{Ukrainian historical regions}}