1. Ukraine Bobby Macblain

2. General Information The population of Ukraine is 48,396,470 (July 2002 est.) people, which represents about 18% of the population of the former Soviet Union. Ukrainians make up about 73% of the total; ethnic Russians number about 22%. The industrial regions in the east and southeast are the most heavily populated, and the urban population makes up about 70% of the population. Ukrainian and Russian are the principal languages, but about 88% of the population consider Ukrainian their native language

3. Government Structure Ukraine continues to make steady progress toward developing a democratic state based on the rule of law. Under Ukraine's first post-Soviet Constitution, adopted on June 28, 1996, power was formally divided between three branches of government -- the executive, national legislature, and the judiciary. Although the new Constitution has not definitively resolved the formal division of powers between the three branches of government, it has provided the Ukrainians with a strong, legal framework for addressing this problem. More importantly, it has codified the fundamental rights of free speech, freedom of the press and assembly, and freedom of religion for all Ukrainians. Ukraine's Presidency remains the preeminent post in the Ukrainian government. The President is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and may veto Rada legislation. The Rada can override Presidential vetoes by a two-thirds vote. Under the new Constitution, Ukrainians hold presidential elections every five years and are scheduled to return to the polls in 2004

4. Economics Since 1991, the Ukrainian economy has been exposed to the difficult processes of the transition into a market one. Ukraine's decline in production was halted in 1999. In the first half of 2000, GDP was up 5% compared to the same period of 1999. Industrial production showed an increase of 10.8% versus the first half of 1999. The highest growth rates of over 30% have been reported for such socially oriented industries as light industry, wood-working and the pulp-and-paper industry. Rapid growth was shown by export-oriented industries with nonferrous metallurgy (20.9%) and ferrous metallurgy (18.6%) leading the pack. In the first half of 2000 indices for the machine- building and metal-working industries have risen almost 9.1 %. Over the last three years, annual inflation has declined to 10-20% owing to the macroeconomic stabilization, inflation having peaked at 10,155% in 1993. The stabilization has benefited much from a rigid budget policy While the budget deficit was 17.7% in 1992, it was only 1.5% in 1999. For the first time in its history Ukraine adopted a balanced budget for the year 2000.

5. Tourist Attractions Crimea is a fascinating region to explore, as well as a great place to spend a vacation. Across the centuries it has attracted settlers such as the Greeks, the Venetians and the Genoese - all of whom founded cities along the coast and inter- married with the local people. Crimean Resorts

6. Customs Ukraine is a wonderful country with rich culture and extremely interesting traditions. Ukrainians pay great attention to observing holidays. They try to keep all traditions and customs of their ancestry. As for the elements of Ukrainian character, first of them is kindness. There is hospitality, and friendliness. There is respect for elders, for the deceased; love for children, love of nature and animals. Ukrainians have a knack for humor; they are musical, artistic and wonderful craftsmen famous for their mastery in weaving, wood carving and ceramics. But skills and diligence in working the land is perhaps the greatest talent the Ukrainians possess

7. Languages Ukrainian is an Eastern Slavonic language closely related to Russian and Belarusian. It is spoken by about 51 million people in Ukraine (Україна) and in many other countries, including Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Brazil, Canada, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Paraguay, Poland, Romania, Russia and Slovakia.RussianBelarusian

8. Education The Ukrainian educational system is organized into five levels: preschool, primary, secondary, higher and postgraduate education. In 2010 a total of 56% of children aged one to six years old had the opportunity to attend preschool education, the Education and Science Ministry of Ukraine reported in August 2010. Schools receive 50% of their funding from the city budget and 50% from the national Government budget. [5] The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine intends to give general education schools the option to independently manage the financial resources assigned from the state budget starting from January 1, 2010. [6] School level Primary and secondary education is divided into "younger", "middle", and "senior" schools. Younger school comprises grades 1 to 4. Grades 5-9 are usually referred to as "middle school", while 10-11 are "senior school". Despite the names, students usually study in the same school building throughout their primary and secondary education. Primary schooling lasts 4 years and middle school 5. There are then 2 profile years.

9. Military Ukraine's military is divided up the same way as the United states. The military is voluntary and both men and women are aloud in.

10. Transportation Transportation in Ukraine is branched and developed. Every person who travels to Ukraine wants to know about the possibilities of moving around a city or going from one town to another. Let's start with the municipal transport. One of the most popular kinds of transportation is buses.

11. Bibliography Page Slide 1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Ukraine Slide 2. http://www.ukrtravel.com/people_in_ukraine.htm Slide 3. http://www.ukrtravel.com/government_in_ukraine.htm Slide 4. http://www.ukrtravel.com/ukraine_economy_business.htm Slide 5. http://www.traveltoukraine.org/mustsee.htm http://europeservices.blogspot.com/p/visit-ukraine.html Slide 6. http://ukraine-travel.kiev.ua/information/ukrainian-customs/ Slide 7. http://www.omniglot.com/writing/ukrainian.htm\ Slide 8. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Ukraine Slide 9. http://www.indexmundi.com/facts/ukraine/military-expenditure Slide 10 http://www.ukrainetravel.co/index.php/transportation Slide 10