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Ukraine

OFFICIAL NAME: Ukraine

DATE OF FORMATION: 1991

POPULATION: 48.2 million

DENSITY: 207 people per square mile

LANGUAGES: Ukrainian, Russian, Tatar

RELIGIONS: Christian (mainly Orthodox) 95%, Other 4%, Jewish 1%

ETHNIC MIX: Ukrainian 73%, Russian 22%, Other 4%, Jewish 1%

GOVERNMENT: Multiparty elections

CURRENCY: Hryvna

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Its name translated literally as "on the border," Ukraine was long considered merely to be the edge of the Russian Empire. It is now the second-largest country in Europe, after Russia. An independent Ukrainian state was established in 1918, but was overrun the following year by Russian forces from the east and Polish forces from the west. In 1991, Ukraine again became independent. The country is divided between the nationally conscious and Ukrainian-speaking west (including areas which were part of Poland until World War II) and the east, which has a large ethnic Russian population.