Today we are going to talk about Ukraine, a popular country in recent times. Ukraine is known as the "granary of Europe" because of its fertile land, high grain production and relatively high share of grain exports internationally. However, since the independence of the Soviet Union, Ukraine's economic development has been relatively low among European countries, and even the finances need the support of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, and it has not embarked on the path of developed countries like other European countries. So, as a relatively economically backward country in Europe, what is the current wage level in Ukraine?
Let's start with the basic situation in Ukraine. Ukraine has a land area of 603,700 square kilometers, second only to Russia among European countries, larger than France, equivalent to twice the land area of Italy, and belongs to a large country in terms of land size alone. Ukraine has a population of 41.41 million in 2021, of which ethnic Ukrainians account for about 70% and Ethnic Russians account for about 20%, which is enough to support a large country. The GDP in 2021 is about 200 billion US dollars, equivalent to 1.29 trillion yuan, and the economic scale is lower than Changsha's 1.33 trillion yuan and higher than Zhengzhou's 1.27 trillion yuan, which is basically equivalent to the economic scale of one of our second-tier cities. Ukraine's per capita GDP is about 4829.75 US dollars, which is a relatively backward country.
Ukraine is an interesting country, originally has a relatively good foundation for development, why has it become the poorest and backward country in Europe?
The word "Ukraine" was first used in the Annals of Rus (1187), meaning "frontier land". It can be seen from this that Ukraine originated in Kievan Rus' and later split into numerous principalities. In 1240 the Mongol Expeditionary Force occupied Kiev. Later, the Mongol Golden Horde, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Poland successively ruled Ukraine.
After Russia gradually became stronger, Ukraine began to seek Russian protection due to the competition for deer in the eastern European plains. In 1654, the Ukrainian Cossack chief Khmelnytsky signed the Pereyaslav Treaty with the Russian Tsar, and Ukraine and Russia were formally merged. For more than three hundred years, Ukraine had its own government, but it did not play a substantive role. Eastern Ukraine joined the Soviet Union in 1922, and western Ukraine merged with eastern Ukraine in 1939 to become part of the Soviet Union. On August 24, 1991, Ukraine declared its independence from the Soviet Union.
From the perspective of the historical development of Ukraine, Ukraine was not an independent country for a long period of history, but existed as part of Russia. During the Soviet era, Ukraine served as the Soviet Union's granary and heavy industrial base, and the Soviet Union deployed some large military enterprises in Ukraine. For example, all the aircraft carriers of the Soviet era were built at the Nikolayev Shipyard in Ukraine, from which many of the Soviet Union's large warships also came from; the Antonov Aircraft Design Bureau was the world's leading manufacturer of large transport aircraft, producing many classic transport aircraft such as the An-22 Ante and an-124 Ruslan.
Ukraine inherited about 35% of the Soviet Union's military production capacity through separation, with as many as 3594 military enterprises and 3 million employees. If Ukraine can give full play to its advantages, it will certainly be able to occupy a place in the world. However, due to The lack of intelligent national leaders in Ukraine and the failure to properly handle relations with Russia, the United States and Europe, the political situation has led to political instability. Coupled with oligarchic control of the country's economic lifeline and lack of dynamism in market competition, the economy has weakened, which has made ukraine's gap with other European countries wider and wider.
Without economic development, it is difficult for ordinary people's wages to rise significantly, which forms a vicious circle and leads to a large number of Ukrainians leaving abroad to earn a living. Ukraine's population has also fallen from 52 million at the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union to 41.41 million today, with a population loss of more than 10 million in 30 years. Now in European countries, China, South Korea, Japan and other countries and regions, there are many Ukrainians.
So, back to the point, what is the real salary in Ukraine for a month? In October 2021, Ukraine raised the minimum wage to 6500 hryvnia (about 1430 yuan), which will be raised every year thereafter, to 6700 hryvnia (1474 yuan) in 2022, to 7176 hryvnia (1578 yuan) in 2023, and to 7665 hryvnia (1686 yuan) in 2024. In 2021, the minimum wage in Changsha is 1700 yuan, the minimum wage in Zhengzhou is 1900 yuan, and the minimum wage in Ukraine is slightly lower than in our two second-tier cities.
According to the data released by the National Statistics Agency of Ukraine, the average nominal wage in Ukraine in 2021 is 14179 hryvnia, equivalent to 3119 yuan, which is actually similar to ours. However, the various industries vary greatly, and the areas with the highest average wages are finance and insurance, with an average of 22843 hryvnia, equivalent to 5025 yuan; in second place are government departments and defense 22637 hryvnia, equivalent to 4980 yuan; in third place is the information and telecommunications industry 22606 hryvnia, equivalent to 4973 yuan. Areas with lower wages include 6,838 hryvnias in the accommodation and catering sector, equivalent to 1,504 yuan; 10,430 hryvnias in real estate transactions, equivalent to 2,295 yuan; and 10,841 hryvnias in agriculture, forestry and fisheries, equivalent to 2,385 yuan.
However, some people who have been to Ukraine, or some Ukrainians in China, say that in fact, the wages of Ukrainians are far from being as high as the data released by the government, and the reason for this phenomenon may be that many people are being averaged. Because the gap between rich and poor in Ukraine is very large, the income gap between different industries is obvious, finance and government departments belong to high-income industries, and people like supermarket cashiers and restaurant waiters belong to low-income groups, and they basically take the minimum wage. However, ukrainian prices are relatively low, which is a comfort for them.
This income level in Ukraine can be described as a sky and an underground compared with the EU countries, which is also an important reason why Ukraine has been seeking to join the EU. Unfortunately, the EU has not approved Ukraine's accession, because the EU is not a philanthropist and does not want to be dragged down by Ukraine.