Demographics
See article: Russians in Ukraine
| Historical population | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
| 1897 | 28,100 | — |
| 1926 | 106,000 | +277.2% |
| 1939 | 466,300 | +339.9% |
| 1959 | 699,200 | +49.9% |
| 1970 | 879,000 | +25.7% |
| 1979 | 1,020,800 | +16.1% |
| 1989 | 1,109,100 | +8.7% |
| 1998 | 1,065,400 | −3.9% |
| 2006 | 993,500 | −6.7% |
Donetsk currently has a population of over 982,000 inhabitants (2010) and has a metropolitan area of over 1,566,000 inhabitants (2004). It is the fifth-largest city in Ukraine.
While the majority of people in central and western Ukraine speak Ukrainian, the completer majority of the residents of Donetsk are Russian-speaking Ukrainians and ethnic Russians. According to 2001 population census, Ukrainians are 56,9% of Donetsk oblast and Russians are 38,2%. The Russian language is dominant in Donbas: even the ethnic Ukrainians consider Russian as their first language. In 1989 there were no Ukrainian language schools in Donetsk.
The actual nationality structure of the Donetsk City Municipality is as follows:
- Russians: 493,392 people, 48.15%
- Ukrainians: 478,041 people, 46.65%
- Belarusians: 11,769 people, 1.15%
- Greeks: 10,180 people, 0.99%
- Jews: 5,087 people, 0.50%
- Tatars: 4,987 people, 0.49%
- Armenians: 4,050 people, 0.40%
- Azerbaijanis: 2,098 people, 0.20%
- Georgians: 2,073 people, 0.20%
- Other: 13,001 people, 1.27%
- Total: 1,024,678 people, 100.00%
In 1991 one-third of the population described themselves as Russian, one-third as Ukrainian while the majority of the rest described themselves as Slav.
Read more about this topic: Donetsk