Ukraine Environment - 2023

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

Environment - current issues

air and water pollution; land degradation; solid waste management; biodiversity loss; deforestation; radiation contamination in the northeast from 1986 accident at Chornobyl' Nuclear Power Plant

Environment - international agreements

party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Antarctic-Environmental Protection, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Climate Change-Paris Agreement, Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping-London Convention, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands

signed, but not ratified: Air Pollution-Heavy Metals, Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air Pollution-Sulfur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds

Climate

temperate continental; Mediterranean only on the southern Crimean coast; precipitation disproportionately distributed, highest in west and north, lesser in east and southeast; winters vary from cool along the Black Sea to cold farther inland; warm summers across the greater part of the country, hot in the south

Land use

agricultural land: 71.2% (2018 est.)

arable land: 56.1% (2018 est.)

permanent crops: 1.5% (2018 est.)

permanent pasture: 13.6% (2018 est.)

forest: 16.8% (2018 est.)

other: 12% (2018 est.)

Urbanization

urban population: 70.1% of total population (2023)

rate of urbanization: -0.27% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)

total population growth rate v. urban population growth rate, 2000-2030

Food insecurity

widespread lack of access: due to conflict - planting of 2023 winter crops was completed by mid‑November 2022 and crops are currently in winter dormancy phase; the area sown with wheat amounts to about 3.8 million hectares, well below the 6.5 million hectares planted in 2021; overall, the area sown with the 2023 winter cereal crops is estimated to be 40 percent below the average level; despite decreased cereal production, food availability at the national level is reported to be adequate, but access remains a major challenge; the country had already been experiencing elevated levels of food price inflation in the past, due to the economic impact of the conflict in eastern parts of the country; according to the 2023 Humanitarian Needs Overview, at least 17.6 million people are estimated to be in need of multi-sectoral humanitarian assistance in 2023 due to the war, including over 11 million in need of food security and livelihood interventions (2023)

Revenue from forest resources

0.34% of GDP (2018 est.)

Revenue from coal

0.42% of GDP (2018 est.)

Air pollutants

particulate matter emissions: 18.29 micrograms per cubic meter (2016 est.)

carbon dioxide emissions: 202.25 megatons (2016 est.)

methane emissions: 63.37 megatons (2020 est.)

Waste and recycling

municipal solid waste generated annually: 15,242,025 tons (2016 est.)

municipal solid waste recycled annually: 487,745 tons (2015 est.)

percent of municipal solid waste recycled: 3.2% (2015 est.)

Major rivers (by length in km)

Danube (shared with Germany [s], Austria, Slovakia, Czechia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Moldova, and Romania [m]) - 2,888 km; Dnieper river mouth (shared with Russia [s] and Belarus) - 2,287 km; Dniester river source and mouth (shared with Moldova) - 1,411 km; Vistula (shared with Poland [s/m] and Belarus) - 1,213 km
note – [s] after country name indicates river source; [m] after country name indicates river mouth

Major watersheds (area sq km)

Atlantic Ocean drainage: (Black Sea) Danube (795,656 sq km), Don (458,694 sq km), Dnieper (533,966 sq km)

Total water withdrawal

municipal: 2.77 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)

industrial: 4.04 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)

agricultural: 3.06 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)

Total renewable water resources

175.28 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)

NOTE: The information regarding Ukraine on this page is re-published from the 2023 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Ukraine 2023 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Ukraine 2023 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.