Ten years ago, the economies and populations of Russia and Ukraine were compared on this blog. This is a follow-up. I have not changed the original text. Charts speak louder than words. Since the TED database was no longer available to me, I used the Maddison Project Data (originally from TED).
Russia and Ukaraine are the two largest parts of the former Soviet Union. We borrow data from Total Economic Database (TED/MPD), provided by Conference Board (CB/MPD), to characterize them economically. In 1980, the total population of Ukraine and the Russian Federation was 50 and 139 million respectively. Figure 1 shows the evolution of the total population since 1950 as estimated by CB. We have alreadypresentedthe depopulation scenarios in Russia and Japan in this blog before. The situation in Ukraine is even more dire. Figure 2 shows the comparison of population evolution normalized to 1980; Ukraine has lost 15 percent of its total population since 1990.
Figure 1. Evolution of total population.
Figure 2. Total population in Russia and Ukraine as normalized to the respective levels 1980. Depopulation of Ukraine is dramatic since 1990.
The overall depopulation has made it difficult for Ukraine to follow a steady path of growth. Figure 3 illustrates the evolution of the GDP per capita of Russia and Ukraine from 1980 onwards (the first available estimate in the TED database). For Ukraine's current (2013) GDP per capita is $4,870, while Russia's is $9,526. The peak GDP per head for Ukraine was in 1989 at $10,000, and the current level is around 77 percent of that. In other words, Ukraine is still in the 1970's, while Russia has added 18 percent to its 1989 level.
All in all, Ukraine needs immediate help.
Figure 3. GDP per capita in Ukraine and Russia since 1980.
Figure 4. GDP per capita normalized to 1989.
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