Regions of Ukraine Kyiv Lviv Oblast Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast

Zaporizhia Oblast Odesa Oblast

Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Donetsk Oblast

Kirovohrad Oblast Mykolaiv Oblast Luhansk Oblast Kherson Oblast

Rank by life expectancy index

1 4 5

20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27

Rank by level of education

1 5

10

20 4 9

18 14 21 24 13

Source: State of the Environment Report for Donetsk Oblast, 2007 Produced by Zoi Environment Network, May 2010

Rank by Gross Regional Product Index

1

13 20

5 8 3 2

22 11 12 18

Overall rank by human

development index

1 2

13

11 8 7 9

23 18 20 22

Population in Donetsk oblast

Russians Others* * includes Jewish, Tatar, Armenian, Azeri and Georgian

Source: Ukrainian Census (Donetsk Oblast): Donetsk Oblast Statistical Office, 2007 Produced by Zoi Environment Network, January 2011

Today the Donetsk region (the name is used variously for the city itself, the oblast – the administrative re- gion around it – and for Donbas as a whole) is the most densely-populated part of Ukraine. It accounts for a third of Ukraine’s export revenue, thanks mainly to the metalworking indus- try. Te growth of the region’s GDP since 1999 has been mostly related to

the steel sector, though this has so far been driven by central policy and a favourable world market, not by any structural reforms.

Yet problems remain. Te region is undeniably one of Ukraine’s wealthi- est, responsible for the lion’s share of the country’s industrial output and GDP, but few areas of Europe have

sustained such a body blow from the world economic crisis as the indus- trial heartland of eastern Ukraine. Orders for steel and other metals have almost completely dried up and prices have plummeted. In the Donetsk Oblast, home to 4.6 mil- lion people, around 80 per cent of the economy is tied to the metals indus- try. In January 2009, when industrial

production dropped by a precipitous one-third throughout Ukraine, in the Oblast it fell by half against the pre- vious year. Donetsk makes up 10 per cent of Ukraine’s population and pro- vides 20 per cent of its GDP, a fact to which local politicians oſten draw attention, arguing that the region’s wealth should be spent there instead of feeding the rest of the country.

9

Ukrainians

Byelorussians

Greeks

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