Administrative divisions of Ukraine
Administrative divisions of Ukraine
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Ukraine is subdivided into 24 oblasts (regions), one autonomous republic, and two "cities with special status".
Contents |
Overview
The system of Ukrainian subdivisions reflects country's status as a unitary state (as stated in the country's constitution) with unified legal and administrative regime for each unit. However, experts agree that the wide autonomy of Crimea, the cultural and historical differences between regions, combined with lack of clarity in separation of powers between the levels of government diminish the formal unity of Ukraine significantly. The issue of administrative reform are routinely brought up and several projects were proposed, but failed to get significant traction. Some of the proposed steps include the integration of a few small oblasts, broadening of oblast and city authority, clarifying the authority and eliminating the competition between the locally elected and centrally appointed bodies.
For an understanding of the cultural and socioeconomic differences within the country, a knowledge of the Ukrainian historical regions is crucial in studying the administrative structure.
General scope of administrative division
The administrative division in Ukraine was directly inherited from the local republican administration of the Soviet Union, the Ukrainian SSR, and has not changed majorly since the middle of 20th century. It is somewhat complex as beside having couple of levels of a territorial subdivision, it also has its own classification for various settlements.
Structure
There are three major subdivisions: oblast (region), raion (district), and rada (municipality) city, town, and rural.
Cities always have their own form of self-administration (municipality) depending on their status and some may consist of their own city's districts (raions). A basic and the lowest level of administrative division is a municipality (or rada - council). Municipalities can be city, urban or rural, locally abbreviated as miskradas, selyshchna rada or silradas, respectively.
- Cities municipalities
For example, the municipalities of Kiev and of Sevastopol have the special status of a national importance (significance) and each is officially classified as a city with a special status, which administratively is equivalent to an oblast (region). Mayors of those cities, in general, as governors of oblasts are being appointed by the President of Ukraine. However, the status of the Mayor of Kiev city, in particular, is somewhat more complex, and for further information see Legal status and local government of Kiev. The status of the Sevastopol city is also unique.
On the oblast level almost each have at least one city of oblast subordination (importance) which is the administrative center (capital) of that oblast. However, some other big cities within the oblast may have such status as well. The cities of oblast subordination have the same importance of a whole raion and often are the administrative centers of such. Note that beside the regular raions there are several cities in Ukraine usually of national (mentioned earlier) or oblast status that are subdivided into several city raions of their own. Those raions may sometimes include other cities, towns, and/or villages. In 2010 there were 23 such cities that have city raions.
A lot of raions also have city municipalities of its level of subordination (importance). Those are usually the administrative centers (capitals). Notice that not all raions (districts) have a city as their administrative center, however all the raion (district) centers are at least urban-like (urbanized). All administrative centers have their own form of self-administration. The municipalities of a raion subordination may administer several other adjacent to them local councils (municipalities), usually rural. If raion has several cities of raion (district) level, they may share an administrative power for the raion.
- Other municipalities
As it was mentioned above, beside city municipalities there are urban-like municipalities. The lowest form of self-administration are rural municipalities and villages. A rural municipality may consist of a single village, usually big, or combination of other rural villages or localities. Note that some villages also have some additional very small settlements. Those settlements together with the home village combine a local (rural) municipality (silrada). For simplicity sake, silrada (rural municipality) is usually referred to as a village and is the lowest level of administrative division. The status to any settlement is granted through the Verkhovna Rada.
- Other administrations
There are also some former military installation-settlements (viiskove mistechko). Since the fall of the Soviet Union, the secrecy of such settlements was "unveiled", however, those towns being subordinated directly to the Ministry of Defense and do not have their own civil administration. Such military installations are like ghost towns that are not even identified on a map. One of them is on the border of the Kiev and Zhytomyr Oblasts called Makarov-1. Also there is a special territory which is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Emergencies. It is the territory which suffered the most from the Chernobyl Catastrophe, known as the Zone of alienation. Some restricted territories belong to the Ministry of Ecology (former Nature Environment) and are considered nature sanctuaries (preserves).
Currently there are three enclaves. The city of Slavutych is administratively subordinated directly to the Kiev region, while being completely surrounded by Belarus and Chernihiv region. Another enclave is a settlement Bile which is located on the Snake island and is fully surrounded by the Black Sea. Bile is part of the Vylkove city of Odessa region. Also a town of Kotsyubynske (Irpin municipality) which is part of the Kiev region is completely surrounded by the city of Kiev.
Other nomenclatures for local settlements that are now abandoned include khutir, workers' settlement etc.
The following table is based on the 2001 Ukrainian Census.
| Degree of division | Territorial | Number | Cities/other settlements | Number | Total settlements |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Crimea | 1 | - | - | - |
| region/oblast | 24 | special status city | 2 | 459 | |
| 2 | district/raion | 490 | region level city | 178 | |
| - | - | city district | 118 | ||
| 3 | - | - | district level city | 279 | |
| municipality, town/urban-type | 783 | other town/urban-type settlement | 102 | 885 | |
| 4 | municipality, rural | 10278 | village | 27190 | 28456 |
| 5 | - | - | rural settlement/selyshche | 1266 |
Types of settlements
| Status [1] | Status (in Ukrainian) |
Total Number (as of 2006) |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| misto / city | місто | 457 | |
| municipality | місто зі спеціальним статусом | 2 | |
| misto оblastnoho znachennia | місто областного значення | 176 | |
| misto raionnoho znachennia | місто районного значення | 279 | |
| selyshche miskoho typu / town | селище міського типу | 886 | |
| selo / village | сільський населений пункт | 28,552 | |
| selysche | селище | 1,364 | |
| selo | село | 27,188 | |
There are two types of settlements: rural and urban.
- Rural
Rural populated areas (сільський населений пункт) can be either a village (село, selo) or a rural settlement (селище).
- Urban
Urban populated areas (міський населений пункт) can be either a city (містo) or an urbanized settlement (селище міського типу). Urbanized settlements for a brevity sake often are classified as towns in the English language.
The changes to a settlement status can be done only by the Verkhovna Rada. Please, note that the size of a settlement does not ultimately define its status although is a major factor. For example, the city of Prypiat in Ukraine still retains its status, while having a population of zero (0) residents due to its infrastructure: buildings, roads, utility networks, etc.
- City vs. town in Ukraine
The typical Ukrainian misto ought to be considered a city, not a town (compare to City status in the United Kingdom). However, the city's subordination to either oblast or raion also should be taken into account, especially in the political sense. Some of urbanized settlements may be cities of raion subordination, although it could seem confusing, a type of settlement should be considered first as its status is given for administrative purposes.
List of regions
| Region | Area (sq mi) | Population (2010) | Density | Centre city | Raions/Districts | Important cities |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Crimea |
10,038.0 | 1,965,031 | 195.76 | Simferopol | 14 | 11 |
 Cherkasy Oblast |
8,069.5 | 1,291,135 | 160.00 | Cherkasy | 20 | 6 |
 Chernihiv Oblast |
12,303.1 | 1,104,241 | 89.75 | Chernihiv | 22 | 3 |
 Chernivtsi Oblast |
3,126.3 | 903,782 | 289.09 | Chernivtsi | 11 | 2 |
 Dnipropetrovsk Oblast |
12,322.1 | 3,344,073 | 271.39 | Dnipropetrovsk | 22 | 13 |
 Donetsk Oblast |
10,238.3 | 4,448,031 | 434.45 | Donetsk | 18 | 28 |
 Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast |
5,366.8 | 1,380,770 | 257.28 | Ivano-Frankivsk | 14 | 5 |
 Kharkiv Oblast |
12,129.4 | 2,755,177 | 227.15 | Kharkiv | 27 | 7 |
 Kherson Oblast |
10,988.9 | 1,091,151 | 99.30 | Kherson | 18 | 3 |
 Khmelnytskyi Oblast |
7,971.1 | 1,331,534 | 167.05 | Khmelnytskyi | 20 | 6 |
 Kiev Oblast |
10,861.4 | 1,719,602 | 158.32 | Kiev | 25 | 13 |
 Kirovohrad Oblast |
9,493.5 | 1,014,809 | 106.90 | Kirovohrad | 21 | 4 |
 Luhansk Oblast |
10,302.7 | 2,300,412 | 223.28 | Luhansk | 18 | 4 |
 Lviv Oblast |
8,429.8 | 2,545,634 | 301.98 | Lviv | 20 | 9 |
 Mykolaiv Oblast |
9,497.3 | 1,186,452 | 124.93 | Mykolaiv | 19 | 5 |
 Odessa Oblast |
12,861.1 | 2,387,636 | 185.65 | Odessa | 26 | 7 |
 Poltava Oblast |
11,099.7 | 1,493,668 | 134.57 | Poltava | 25 | 5 |
 Rivne Oblast |
7,740.2 | 1,152,576 | 148.91 | Rivne | 16 | 4 |
 Sumy Oblast |
9,202.4 | 1,166,765 | 126.79 | Sumy | 18 | 7 |
 Ternopil Oblast |
5,337.1 | 1,086,694 | 203.61 | Ternopil | 17 | 1 |
 Vinnytsia Oblast |
10,236.7 | 1,646,250 | 160.82 | Vinnytsia | 27 | 6 |
 Volyn Oblast |
7,777.6 | 1,038,223 | 133.49 | Lutsk | 16 | 4 |
 Zakarpattia Oblast |
4,933.2 | 1,246,323 | 252.64 | Uzhhorod | 13 | 5 |
 Zaporizhia Oblast |
10,494.3 | 1,805,431 | 172.04 | Zaporizhia | 20 | 5 |
 Zhytomyr Oblast |
11,518.2 | 1,283,201 | 111.41 | Zhytomyr | 23 | 5 |
 Kiev (Kyiv) |
323.9 | 2,782,016 | 8589.12 | Kiev | 10 | 1 |
 Sevastopol |
416.6 | 380,301 | 912.87 | Sevastopol | 4 | 2 |
Naming
| Ukrainian | Romanized¹ | English widespread | English recommended (formal use) | English recommended (informal use) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| автономна республіка | avtonomna respublika | (autonomous) republic | autonomous republic | autonomy |
| область | oblast' | region², province | oblast | province |
| район | raion | district, region³, area, county | raion | district |
| містo | misto | city, municipality | misto | city, municipality5 |
| містo зі спеціальним статусом | misto zi spetsial'nym statusom | special-status municipality, special-charter municipality4 | municipality | municipality, city |
| містo областного значення | misto оblastnoho znachennia | city of oblast subordinance | misto оblastnoho znachennia | city of oblast subordinance |
| містo районного значення | misto raionnoho znachennia | city of raion subordinance | misto raionnoho znachennia | city of raion subordinance |
| селище міського типу | selysche mis'koho typu | town, urban-type settlement | selysche mis'koho typu | town, urban-type settlement |
| сільський населений пункт | sil'skyi naselenyi punkt | village, rural-type settlement | selo | village, rural-type settlement |
| селище | selysche | village | selysche | village |
| село | selo | village | selo | village |
Notes
- Romanized using Ukrainian National standard. Details at Romanization of Ukrainian.
- Province is more precise because region may also refer to supranational geographic entity.
- Region is ambiguous since it usually refers to larger national-level units; area is inaccurate.
- 4. Also may be referred as republican status.
- 5. City refers exclusively to the city administration (usually smaller cities), while some cities include other urban and rural administrations such collective administrations form city councils - municipalities.
Oblast
Uncommon in English language term oblast in Ukraine is interchangeably used with more common region which is a general term used for oblasts and the Republic of Crimea. Most of Ukraine's oblast (regions) are named after their administrative centers (all cities). Each region generally consists of about one to two million of people and has about 20 districts (raions).
- Nomenclature grammatical aspect
The name of each oblast is a relative adjective, formed by adding a feminine suffix to the name of respective center city. E.g. Poltava is a center of Poltavs'ka oblast' (Poltava Oblast). Most of them are also sometimes referred to in a feminine noun form, following the convention of traditional regional place names, ending with the suffix "-shchyna". E.g. Poltava Oblast is also called Poltavshchyna.
Exceptions to this rule include:
- Two oblasts, Volyn and Zakarpattia, which retain the names of their respective historical regions, Volyn' (Volhynia) and Zakarpattia (Transcarpathia), whose respective capitals are Lutsk and Uzhhorod.
- Two cities: Kiev which is an independently administrated city from the surrounding Kiev Oblast and Sevastopol which is, while located on the Crimean peninsula, administratively not part of Crimea. Kiev is, however, also the administrative center of Kiev Oblast (administrative bodies of the oblast are situated inside the city).
An oblast center in Ukraine is usually the largest and most developed city in given region.
Oblasts sometimes referred to as provinces, however historically provinces were part of administrative division of the Russian Empire, territories of which today often are different. For example, the former Volhynian province encompasses the Rivne Oblast, the Volyn Oblast, and also includes some territories in the Ternopil Oblast. See also List of etymologies of country subdivision names: "Ukraine".
Autonomous Republic of Crimea
The Autonomous Republic of Crimea (Ukrainian: Автономна Республіка Крим, Avtonomna Respublika Krym, Crimean Tatar: Qırım Muhtar Cumhuriyeti), formerly Crimea Oblast of the Ukrainian SSR, is geographically the main part of Crimean peninsula in the south of Ukraine. Its capital is Simferopol.
Raions
Raions are small territorial units of subdivision of Ukraine. There are 490 raions in 24 oblasts and Crimea autonomous republic of Ukraine. An average area of Ukrainian raion is 1,200 km2 (463 sq mi), an average population of raions is 52,000 people.
Metro Areas
Ukraine has five major agglomerated metropolitan areas (conurbations).
- Kiev includes cities such as Irpin, Boryspil, Fastiv among others
- Kharkiv includes cities such as Chuhuiv, Merefa, and numerous other settlements
- Donetsk includes cities such as Makiivka, Khartsyzk, and others
- Dnipropetrovsk with Dniprodzerzhynsk and Novomoskovsk
- Odessa with Illichivsk and Ovidiopol
Other minor metro areas are:
- Kryvyi Rih and Zhovti Vody
- Lviv with Vynnyky and Pustomyty
- Horlivka and Yenakieve
- Zaporizhia with Vilniansk
- Mykolaiv with Voskresenske
- Luhansk with Oleksandrivsk and Schastia
- Mariupol with Staryi Krym
These conurbation areas are not officially recognized and remain to be administered according to official oblast-raion system of subdivision.
See also
- Geography of Ukraine
- Historical regions of Ukraine
- ISO 3166-2:UA
- Administrative divisions development in Ukraine
- Administrative divisions of the Ukrainian SSR
- ^ (Russian)In Kiev region a military installation cannot vote (video)
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