Attachment #25: Ukraine, A Profile of How the Nation Ranks in Terms of Resources
Ukraine is not a backward country. It is the second-largest country by area in Europe after Russia, which it borders to the east and north-east. Ukraine also shares borders with Belarus to the north; Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary to the west; Romania and Moldova to the south; and has a coastline along the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea. It spans an area of 604,000 square kilometres (233,000 sq miles). It has a population of 44 million and is the eighth-most populous country in Europe.
It has tremendous resources as can be seen by the following:
- 1st in Europe in proven recoverable reserves of uranium ores;
- 2nd place in Europe and 10th place in the world in terms of titanium ore reserves;
- 2nd place in the world in terms of explored reserves of manganese ores (2.3 billion tons, or 12% of the world’s reserves);
- 2nd largest iron ore reserves in the world (30 billion tons);
- 2nd place in Europe in terms of mercury ore reserves;
- 3rd place in Europe (13th place in the world) in shale gas reserves (22 trillion cubic meters);
- 4th in the world by the total value of natural resources; 7th place in the world in coal reserves (33.9 billion tons);
Ukraine is an agricultural country:
- 1st in Europe in terms of arable land area;
- 3rd place in the world by the area of black soil (25% of world’s volume);
- 1st place in the world in exports of sunflower and sunflower oil;2nd place in the world in barley production and 4th place in barley exports;
- 3rd largest producer and 4th largest exporter of corn in the world;
- 4th largest producer of potatoes in the world;
- 5th largest rye producer in the world;
- 5th place in the world in bee production (75,000 tons);8th place in the world in wheat exports;
- 9th place in the world in the production of chicken eggs;
- 16th place in the world in cheese exports;
- Ukraine can meet the food needs of 600 million people.
Ukraine is an industrialized country:
- 1st in Europe in ammonia production;
- 4th largest natural gas pipeline system in the world (142.5 bln cubic meters of gas throughput capacity in the EU);
- 3rd largest in Europe and 8th largest in the world in terms of installed capacity of nuclear power plants;
- 3rd place in Europe and 11th in the world in terms of rail network length (21,700 km);
- 3rd place in the world (after the U.S. and France) in production of locators and locating equipment;
- 3rd largest iron exporter in the world;
- 4th largest exporter of turbines for nuclear power plants in the world;
- 4th world’s largest manufacturer of rocket launchers;
- 4th place in the world in clay exports;
- 4th place in the world in titanium exports;
- 8th place in the world in exports of ores and concentrates;
- 9th place in the world in exports of defense industry products;
- 10th largest steel producer in the world (32.4 million tons).