| Languages of Ukraine | |
|---|---|
 Orange — Ukrainian language has an absolute majority Purple — Ukrainian language has a plurality. Blue — Russian language has an absolute majority |
|
| Official language(s) | |
| Significant unofficial language(s) | |
| Indigenous language(s) | |
| Regional language(s) |
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| Minority language(s) | |
| Main foreign language(s) | |
| Sign language(s) | Ukrainian Sign Language |
| Common keyboard layout(s) |
 |
| Source | Census-2001 |
The official language of Ukraine is Ukrainian, an East Slavic language which is the native language of 67.5% of Ukraine's population. Russian is the native language of 29.6% of Ukraine's population and the rest (2.9%) are native speakers of other languages. Ethnologue lists 40 minority languages and dialects; nearly all are languages of the former Soviet Union.
According to Article 10 of the Constitution of Ukraine the state has an obligation to ensure the comprehensive development and functioning of the Ukrainian language in all spheres of social life throughout Ukraine while guaranteeing the free development, use and protection of the languages of Ukraine's national minorities.
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In an October 2009 poll by FOM-Ukraine 52% of the respondents state they use Russian as their "Language of communication"; 41% of the respondents state they use Ukrainian and 8% stated they use a mixture of both.[1]
A poll held November 2009 revealed that 54.7% of the population of Ukraine believed the language issue in Ukraine is irrelevant, that each person can speak the language he or she prefers and that a lot more important problems exist in the country; 14.7% of those polled stated that the language issue was an urgent problem that cannot be postponed and that calls for immediate resolution; another 28.3% believed that, while the language issue needs to be resolved, this could be postponed.[2]
According to the Russian census 1897 on the territory of the nine (9) Russian guberniyas yielded the following results:
The Poltava Governorate alone had a record of 93%(!) of Ukrainian language speakers to 3% Russians and 4% Yiddish. Today Poltava Oblast have 90% Ukrainian speakers and 10% Russians.
The Kharkov Governorate had 81% of Ukrainian language speakers to 18% Russians. Today Kharkov Oblast have 54% Ukrainian speakers and 44% Russian while Sumy Oblast - 84% to 16%.
The Podolie Governorate had also 81% of Ukrainian language speakers to 12% Yiddish, 3% Russian, and 2% Polish. Today Vinnytsia Oblast have 95%(!) Ukrainian speakers and 5% Russian while Khmelnytsky Oblast - 95%(!) to 4%.
The Kiev Governorate had 79% of Ukrainian language speakers to 6% Russian speakers. Today Kiev Oblast have 92% Ukrainian speakers and 7% Russians while Cherkasy Oblast - 93%(!) - 7%.
The Volyn Governorate had 70% of Ukrainian language speakers to 4% - Russian speakers. Today Volyn Oblast have 97%(!) Ukrainian speakers and 3% Russians, while Rivne Oblast - 97%(!) - 3%, and Zhytomyr Oblast - 93%(!) - 7%.
The Yekaterinoslav Governorate had 69% of Ukrainian language speakers to 17% - Russian speakers, 5% Yiddish, and 4% German. Today Dnipropetrovsk Oblast have 67% Ukrainian speakers and 32% Russians, while Donetsk Oblast - only 24%(!) to 75%(!), and Luhansk Oblast - 30% to 69%(!).
The Chernigov Governorate had 66% of Ukrainian language speakers to 22% - Russian speakers, 7% Belorussian, and 5% Yiddish. Today Chernihiv Oblast have 89% Ukrainian speakers and 10% Russians.
The Kherson Governorate had 53% of Ukrainian language speakers to 21% - Russian speakers, 12% Yiddish, 5% Romanian, and 5% German. Today Mykolaiv Oblast have 69% Ukrainian speakers and 29% Russians, while Odessa Oblast - 46% to 42%, and Kirovohrad Oblast - 89% to 4%.
The Taurida Governorate had 42% of Ukrainian language speakers to 28% - Russian speakers, 14% Tatars, 5% German, 4% Yiddish, and 3% Bulgarian. Today Zaporizhia Oblast have 50% Ukrainian speakers and 48% Russians, while Kherson Oblast - 73% to 25%, and Crimea - only 10%(!) to 77%(!) (11% speak Tatar).
Please note that over 100 years almost no trace of German culture has left in the country, mostly due to the racial attitude of the Russians who associate everybody not-Russian with Nazis. Over the past couple of decades the Ukrainian language began to recover yet not as it could. If in 1897 third of Voronezh Governorate population were Ukrainian native speakers, then today not only almost any Ukrainian culture was left near Voronezh, but among the population of Donbas less than 30% prefer to speak the Ukrainian.
 Ukrainian |
 Russian |
 Fluency in Ukrainian (red column) and Russian (blue column) |
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