Donetsk region is a region with a high concentration of industrial production, transport and a significant population density. According to the State Statistics Committee, as of January 1, 2015, the population of the Donetsk region is estimated at 4.31 million people. The population density of 165 people / km 2 - this figure is 2.2 times higher than the average for Ukraine (75.5 people / km²).
Statistics
No one will definitely answer the question of how many people are in the Donetsk region. It must be borne in mind that the difficult political situation significantly affects the migration of residents of the region, so their exact number is currently impossible to calculate. As of January 1, 2013, there were 18 districts in the region, 52 cities (28 of which are of regional significance), 131 urban settlements and 1, 118 other settlements, in which 4, 375, 000 people lived in total. The urban population was 3, 964, 200 inhabitants (91%), the rural population - 411, 000 (9%). The percentage ratio remains approximately the same, although the absolute data have noticeably decreased.
On the territory, which occupies 4.4% of the area of Ukraine, about 20% of all production capacities of the country are concentrated and 9.6% of the population live. By the number of Donetsk region occupied an unconditional first place among other regions of the country.
Demographic crisis
The population of Lugansk and Donetsk regions due to armed conflict has declined markedly. Data from different sources is different, but even modest estimates indicate hundreds of thousands of refugees who have left the region. The authorities of the DPR and LPR speak of 825, 000 refugees (450, 000 from Donetsk and 375, 000 from Lugansk regions), the FMS of the Russian Federation reported 733, 000 migrants. UN data is much more modest: 200, 000 displaced citizens in Russia and 190, 000 inside Ukraine.
But even before these events, a demographic crisis was observed in the Donbass. So, in 2013 relative to 2012, the population of the Donetsk region decreased by 27, 700 people, including 23, 200 people in urban settlements, 4, 500 people in rural areas. Based on 1 thousand inhabitants, the population decreased by 6.3 people, while the intensity of reduction in rural areas is 1.9 times higher (11 people per 1000 inhabitants) than in urban settlements (5.8 per 1000).
The size of the overall population decline in 2012 was 99.7% due to natural decline (the number of deaths is 1.6 times the number of births) and 0.3% due to migration outflow (the number of deaths exceeded 0.1% number of arrivals).
Dynamics
In the 1930s, the Donetsk region became the largest population region of Ukraine, ahead of the Vinnitsa region. In 1959, 10.2% of the population of Ukraine lived here, in 1970 and 1979 - 10.4%. In 1989, the population of the Donetsk region decreased to 10.3%, in 2014 - to 9.6%. The proportion of senior citizens (over 60) in the Donbass is 10.7% of the population, while among the population under the age of 14 only 8.3%.
During the events of 2014, a quasi-state entity, the Donetsk People's Republic, was formed in part of the territory of the Donetsk region. As of 2015, it controlled about 1/3 of the area of the Donetsk region, where 55.8% of its population lived before the war.
Population: Ukraine, Donetsk region
The historical dynamics of changes in the population of Donetsk region:
- 1926: 1, 645, 000 people.
- 1939: 3, 099, 810
- 1959: 4, 262, 048
- 1970: 4, 891, 979
- 1979: 5160641 people.
- 1989: 5332395 people.
- 2001: 4841074 people.
- 2014: 4, 343, 900
The first half of 2015
Although the population of the Donetsk region is not reliably known, local authorities keep statistics on both sides. The main demographic indicators for January-June 2015 compared to the same period of 2014:
|
Regions controlled by Kiev (2015), people |
Areas controlled by the DPR (2015), people |
2014 |
|
|
Natural population movement |
-13500 |
-10000 |
-16500 |
|
Number of dead |
21706 |
14321 |
36230 |
|
Number of births |
8242 |
4320 |
19663 |
Age structure
The population of Donbass among the regions of Ukraine is characterized by the highest rates of population aging. In 1989, the population under the age of 14 decreased by 50% (in Ukraine - 40%), over 65 years old, on the contrary, increased by 31% (in Ukraine - 15%).
In the period 1989-2014. the average age in the region increased by 5.7 years (in Ukraine - by 4.1 years), the median age - by 6.5 years (in Ukraine - by 5 years). What is the largest increase in the average age of the population among all Ukrainian regions.
In 2014, the average age of citizens was 42.5 years, which is 1.9 years more than the average Ukrainian. By this coefficient, the Donetsk region takes the penultimate place among the regions of Ukraine, only in the Chernihiv region the average age of the population was more. The median age of the population of the Donetsk region in 2014 was 42.1 years - 2.3 years more than in Ukraine.
Urbanization
In the Donetsk region recorded the highest level of urbanization among the regions of Ukraine, more than 90% of its population live in cities. This indicator has been stable over the past decades, compared with 1979, it grew by only 1.5%, and compared with 1989 - by 0.3%.
At the same time, the urban population of Donetsk region, together with neighboring Lugansk, are characterized by the highest depopulation rates in Ukraine. In 1989-2014 the urban population of the region decreased by 18.2%, which is twice higher than the average for Ukraine (9.4%). To the Donetsk region in 1989-2014 accounted for 27% of the total reduction in the urban population of Ukraine (877, 400 of 3, 251, 000).
|
Year |
Urban population |
Urbanization percentage |
|
1926 |
648, 000 |
39.5 |
|
1939 |
2420000 |
78 |
|
1959 |
3656000 |
85.8 |
|
1979 |
4, 600, 000 |
89.1 |
|
1989 |
4815000 |
90.3 |
|
2001 |
4, 364, 000 |
90.1 |
|
2014 |
3938000 |
90.6 |
Largest cities
List of cities of Donbass (2014) by population:
- Donetsk: 945, 000 people.
- Mariupol: 458, 000 people
- Makeevka: 352, 000
- Horlivka: 254, 000 people
- Kramatorsk: 163, 000
- Slavyansk: 116, 000 people
- Enakievo: 81, 000 people
- Artyomovsk: 77, 000
- Konstantinovka: 76, 000 people
- Krasnoarmeysk: 64, 000 people
- Druzhkovka: 59000 people.
- Khartsyzsk: 58, 000 people
Ethnic language structure
The composition of the population of the Donetsk region due to the post-war large-scale restoration of industrial enterprises, requiring the attraction of labor from the internal regions of the USSR, is characterized by national diversity.
|
Nationality |
1926 |
1959 |
1979 |
2001 |
|
Ukrainians |
61.6% |
55.6% |
50.9% |
56.9% |
|
Russians |
24.6% |
37.6% |
43.2% |
38.2% |
|
Greeks |
6.2% |
2.2% |
1.8% |
1.6% |
|
Belarusians |
1.5% |
1.5% |
0.9% |
|
|
Tatars |
0.6% |
0.5% |
0.4% |
Although citizens who consider themselves Ukrainians, the majority, the majority of the population prefers to speak Russian. Dynamics of the native language of Donbass according to censuses:
|
Nationality |
1897 |
1959 |
1979 |
2001 |
|
Ukrainians |
53% |
44% |
32% |
24% |
|
Russians |
25% |
54% |
66.5% |
75% |
|
Other |
22% |
2% |
1.5% |
1 % |
