While the population in the EU increased by 0.36% in 2002, in the candidate countries it decreased by 0.18%. This difference is explained both by the natural population growth in the European Union and the decline of such growth in the candidate countries, and by migration, which increased the EU population by 0.27% and reduced the number of inhabitants in the candidate countries by 0.07%. More than three quarters of the population growth in the European Union, according to Eurostat, is provided by migration.
Overall, in 2002, the EU population grew by 1.34 million people. This figure is approximately at the level of recent years, but insignificant in relation to the growth that was registered in the middle of the last century.
Excess mortality over birth rates slowed natural population growth. The highest birth rate was recorded in Ireland (14.8 newborns per 1,000 inhabitants), France (12.9) and the Netherlands (12.5). The lowest - in Germany (8.8). The mortality rate was highest in Denmark - 10.9 deaths per 1,000 inhabitants, and the lowest - in Ireland (7.7). Among candidate countries, the highest mortality was registered in Latvia - 13.8 per 1,000 inhabitants, and the lowest - in Cyprus (6.4).
The highest natural population growth (the difference between births and deaths) was recorded in Ireland - 7.1 per 1,000 inhabitants, in France (4) and the Netherlands (3.8). The most significant decrease in natural growth was registered in Germany - minus 1.4 per thousand inhabitants. Among the candidate countries, natural growth was observed only in Cyprus (4.4) and Malta (1.9). The most significant decline in natural growth was recorded in Latvia - minus 5.3 per thousand inhabitants.
And in our country
The population of Ukraine, according to updated data from the All-Ukrainian census of December 5-14, 2001, is 48 million 457 thousand people.
The urban population of Ukraine amounted to 32.574 million, rural - 15.878 million (67.2% and 32.8%, respectively). Compared with the 1989 census, the urban population of Ukraine decreased by 2 million, rural - by 1.2 million. At the same time, the ratio of urban and rural population of the country remained practically at the same level.
In Ukraine, there are 26.16 million (53.7%) women and 22.441 million (46.3%) men.
Of the 454 cities in Ukraine, five are cities with over a million inhabitants, 37 have 100-500 thousand people, and nine have more than 500 thousand residents. In Kiev, the population is more than 2.6 million people, in Kharkov - 1.47 million, in Dnepropetrovsk - 1.065 million, in Odessa - 1.029 million, in Donetsk - 1.016 million.
The permanent population of Ukraine is 48.241 million. Of these, citizens of other countries - 168 thousand.
As Interfax-Ukraine notes, representatives of 130 nationalities and ethnic groups live on the territory of our country. The most numerous nationality is Ukrainians (37.5417 million or 77.8%). Russians make up 17.3% of the population (8.3341 million). The number of Ukrainians increased by 0.3%, and their share by 5.1%. The number of Russians decreased by 26.6%. Ukrainian was named the native language by 67.5% of the population of Ukraine, Russian - by 29.6%.
The last general census in Ukraine was conducted as part of the all-Union census (in the USSR) in 1989. According to its data, 51.45 million people lived in Ukraine.