1.2. DEMOGRAPHIC SITUATION AND INCOMES OF THE
POPULATION IN UKRAINE
The population of Ukraine has being decreased: 1991 – 51,9 million,
1998 – 50,5 million (available population at the beginning of the year). For
the period from 1990 to 1997 birth rate decreased from 12,7 to 8,7, death rate
increased from 12,1 to 14,9; subsequently natural increase rate decreased from
0,6 to –6,2 (per 1000). This is also overlaid with the negative balance of
external migration (number of emigrants from 1994 exceeds number of immigrants).
This process leads to the reduction of the domestic food market capacity.
Women (53 %) prevail in the population composition , their needs in food
and energy are lower than those of men. The urbanisation level in Ukraine in
1990s is stable. Urban settlements are populated with 68 % of the total
population, 49 town being populated with more than 100 thousand people in each.
This results in territorial gap between concentration of the urban population
– consumers of foodstuffs and rural areas where these products are mainly
produced.
One of the important demographic processes is a tendency for the growth
in the number of people over working age. In 1990 it was 21,2 %, in 1997 it was
22,9 %. National Academy of Sciences predicts that it will increase to 30 %.
This will have a peculiar influence on the food market because effective demand
of old people decreases. Life expectancy of the Ukrainian population is falling.
For the population born in 1989 - 1990 it equals to 71 years (66 years for men
and 75 years for women) and for those born in 1996 – 1997 it equals to 67 (62
years for men and 73 years for women).
The average wage of factory and office workers (these are mainly dwellers
in urban settlements) in Ukraine in 1997 was 156 hr, and the average wage of
members of collective agricultural enterprises was 82 hr. At the same time as
the proportion of the rural population increases in the total population of the
region, the index of own provision of foodstuffs grown on private household
plots.
The estimation of livelihoods of the population because they transform
demand for food into market demand. Factual incomes of the population in Ukraine
in 1990s fell sharply because consumer price index had been growing three times
quicker than the average wage. The average family income in Ukraine made up
3,805 hr. in 1997, the average family composition was 2,88 members, thus yearly
family income per capita made up 1,355 hr and for villagers it was 1,286 hr.
Property differentiation of the population increased which reflected on
the structure of the family income use. The proportion of the expenses for food
of the urban population made up 47,5 %, for the rural population – 66,1 %.
Convergence
of the incomes of urban and rural population has led to the “ruralisation”
of the population which is reflected on the movement of a part of city dwellers
to rural areas. Incomes of the families living in urban settlements are formed
mainly from labour incomes (58,3 % in 1996) and in rural settlements they are
formed from private household plots (54,3 % in 1996).