Not enough men in Ukraine! Why is that a problem?
Thursday, June 18th, 2009OK…if you are a woman living in Ukraine you might think differently. However, if you are a man that likes women and you seek less competition, then you aren’t shedding too many tears.
Of course, behind the statistics there are discomforting reasons contributing to a shortage of men. The usual suspects include diet and lifestyle, high per capita alcohol and tobacco consumption, traffic accidents, a lack of safey standards and enforcement, TB & HIV, an inadequate health care system, and men leaving to seek employment and business opportunities in other countries.
Another factor are the high levels of stress due to a culture that has lost some of it’s bearings after the fall of the Soviet Union, and the lack of a stable political system and economy. Moreover, the difficulty in completing even the simplest task, as well as endemic corruption, wears people down in a way that is insidious and often obscured. Something as simple as crossing the street in any Ukrainian city, can create a level of stress that one rarely experiences in the developed world.
Of course, women are also subject to many of the same stresses that men are, perhaps even more so when they are caregivers or mothers. As in most countries however, their level of alcohol consumption tends to be far less for example. Moreover, they are generally not employed in jobs that have the same degree of hazards that men are exposed to. In most societies, women also tend to utilize the health care system more than men and perhaps are genetically predisposed to deal with certain types of stress better.
Deficit of men in Ukraine is 3.6 million
As of January 1, 2009, the number of Ukrainian population made up 45 million 963 359 people (as of January 1, 2008 – 46 million 192.3 thousand people, as of May 1, 2009 – 45 million 881 048 people).
According to the official information of the State Statistics Committee of Ukraine, the number of urban population made up 31 million 331,587 thousand people as of January 1, 2009 (as of Janaury 1, 2008 - 31 million 413,1 thousand people, as of May 1, 2009 – 31 million 294,756 thousands), out of them men – 14 million 349,742 thousands, women – 16 million 981,845 thousands; rural population – 14 million 631,772 thousand people (as of January 1, 2008 - 14 million 779,2 thousands, as of May 1, 2009, – 14 million 586,292 thousands), men – 6 million 835,190 thousands, women – 7 million 796,582 thousands.
As for the age difference, the average age of a Ukrainian made up 40.1 years as of January 1, 2009. In particular, the average age of men made up 37.3 years, women – 42.5 years. Besides, as of January 1, 2009, the age of 1 thousand 425 Ukrainians, including 287 men and 1138 women, exceeded 100 years old.
(from www.unian.net)
