The population of Ukraine was around in 2001 at 48,760,474, giving the nation a population density of 81 persons per sq km .The most famous recent demographic trend has been a decline in population—with an around loss of nearly 1.2 million between 1990 and 1997—due to death rates exceeding birth rates. Leading factors in the nation’s low fertility and high mortality rates are environmental pollution.

The population of Ukraine is about 47.72 million. Ethnic Ukrainians make up about 73% of the total; ethnic Russians number about 22%, ethnic Belarusians number about 5%. The industrial regions in the east and southeast are the most heavily populated, and the urban population makes up about 67% of the population. Ukrainian and Russian are the principal languages. Although Russian is very widely spoken, in the 1989 census 88% of the population identified Ukrainian as their native language.The largest part of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church belongs to the Moscow Patriarchy; following Ukrainian freedom a separate Kiev Patriarchy was also accomplished, which declared freedom from Moscow. In addition to these, there is also a Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church.

The birth rate of Ukraine is declining. About 70% of adult Ukrainians have a secondary or higher education. Ukraine has about 150 colleges and universities, of which the most valuable are at Kiev, Lviv, and Kharkiv. There are about 70,000 scholars in 80 research institutes.