Chernihiv Oblast (), also referred to as Chernihivshchyna (), is an

oblast An oblast ( or ) is a type of administrative division in Bulgaria and several post-Soviet states, including Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. Historically, it was used in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. The term ''oblast'' is often translated i ...

(province) in northern

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. The

administrative center An administrative centre is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune, is located. In countries with French as the administrative language, such as Belgiu ...

of the oblast is the city of Chernihiv. There are 1,511 settlements in the oblast, with a total population of

Geography

The total area of the province is around 31,900 km². On the west, the oblast is bordered by the

Kyiv Reservoir The Kyiv Reservoir (), locally the Kyiv Sea (), is a large Reservoir (water), water reservoir located on the Dnipro River in Ukraine. Named after the city of Kyiv, which lies to the south, it covers an area of within the Kyiv Oblast. The reserv ...

of the

Dnieper River The Dnieper or Dnepr ( ), also called Dnipro ( ), is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. Approximately long, with ...

and

Kyiv Oblast Kyiv Oblast (, ), also called Kyivshchyna (, ), is an Administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) in central and northern Ukraine. It surrounds, but does not include, the city of Kyiv, which is administered as a city with special sta ...

, which has a enclave known as Slavutych, which was created from Chernihiv Oblast for the inhabitants of Chernobyl following the

Chernobyl disaster On 26 April 1986, the no. 4 reactor of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, located near Pripyat, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union (now Ukraine), exploded. With dozens of direct casualties, it is one of only ...

. It is bordered by

Sumy Oblast Sumy Oblast (), also known as Sumshchyna (), is an oblast (province) in northeast Ukraine. The oblast was created in its modern-day form, from the merging of raions from Kharkiv Oblast, Chernihiv Oblast, and Poltava Oblast in 1939 by the Presid ...

to the east and

Poltava Oblast Poltava Oblast (), also referred to as Poltavshchyna (), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) of central Ukraine. The capital city, administrative center of the oblast is the city of Poltava. Most of its territory was par ...

to the south. The northern border of the oblast is part of Ukraine's international border abutting

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

's Gomel Region in the north-west and the

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

Bryansk Oblast Bryansk Oblast (), also known as Bryanshchina (, ), is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the city of Bryansk. As of the 2021 Census, its population was 1,169,161. Geography Bryansk Oblast lies in weste ...

in the north-east, respectively. The oblast is bisected into northern and southern sections by the

Desna River The Desna ( Russian and ) is a river in Russia and Ukraine, a major left-tributary of the Dnieper. Its name in means "right hand". It has a length of , and its drainage basin covers .Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

city limits. It is located in the historic regions of

Left-bank Ukraine The Left-bank Ukraine is a historic name of the part of Ukraine on the left (east) bank of the Dnieper River, comprising the modern-day oblasts of Chernihiv, Poltava and Sumy as well as the eastern parts of Kyiv and Cherkasy. Left-bank Ukrain ...

and Polissia.

History

Chernihiv Oblast was created as part of the

Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as the Ukrainian SSR, UkrSSR, and also known as Soviet Ukraine or just Ukraine, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991. ...

on 15 October 1932. The capital city of Chernihiv has known human settlement for over 2,000 years, according to

archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

excavations. Chernihiv Oblast comprises a very important historical region, notable as early as the

Kievan Rus' Kievan Rus', also known as Kyivan Rus,. * was the first East Slavs, East Slavic state and later an amalgam of principalities in Eastern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century.John Channon & Robert Hudson, ''Penguin Historical At ...

period, when the cities of Chernihiv and

Novhorod-Siverskyi Novhorod-Siverskyi (, , , ''Novgorod-Severskiy''), historically known as Novhorod-Siversk () or Novgorod-Seversk (), is a historic city in Chernihiv Oblast, northern Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Novhorod-Siverskyi Raion, alth ...

were frequently mentioned. The city of Chernihiv was the second most important Ukrainian city during the Rus' period of Ukrainian history, often serving as a major regional capital. Danylo of Chernihiv wrote of his pilgrimage to

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

during this era. The region at various times was ruled by the Kievan Rus',

Mongol Empire The Mongol Empire was the List of largest empires, largest contiguous empire in human history, history. Originating in present-day Mongolia in East Asia, the Mongol Empire at its height stretched from the Sea of Japan to parts of Eastern Euro ...

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

and

. Numerous tragic events have taken place in the region, such as the Battle of Kruty and the Koriukivka massacre. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the province was occupied by Germany in 1941–1943. During the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Chernihiv Oblast was one of the first regions where Russian and Ukrainian forces clashed. On 4 April 2022 Governor of Chernihiv Oblast Vyacheslav Chaus stated that the Russian military had left Chernihiv Oblast, but that it had planted mines in many areas. On 4 and 5 April 2022 units of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine retook control of their border crossing in Chernihiv Oblast.

Demographics

The current estimated population of the oblast is around 976,701 (as of 2021). According to the 2001 Ukrainian census, ethnic Ukrainians accounted for 93.5% of the population of Chernihiv Oblast, and

ethnic Russians Russians ( ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Eastern Europe. Their mother tongue is Russian language, Russian, the most spoken Slavic languages, Slavic language. The majority of Russians adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church ...

for 5.0%.

Language

Due to the Russification of Ukraine during the Soviet era, the share of Ukrainian speakers in the population of Chernihiv Oblast gradually decreased between the 1970 and 1989 censuses, while the share of Russian speakers increased. Native language of the population of Chernihiv Oblast according to the results of population censuses: Native language of the population of the raions and cities of Chernihiv Oblast according to the 2001 Ukrainian census: Ukrainian is the only official language on the whole territory of Chernihiv Oblast. According to a poll conducted by ''

Rating A rating is an evaluation or assessment of something, in terms of a metric (e.g. quality, quantity, a combination of both,...). Rating or rating system may also refer to: Business and economics * Credit rating, estimating the credit worthiness ...

'' from 16 November to 10 December 2018 as part of the project «Portraits of Regions», 80% of the residents of Chernihiv Oblast believed that the Ukrainian language should be the only state language on the entire territory of Ukraine. 12% believed that Ukrainian should be the only state language, while Russian should be the second official language in some regions of the country. 3% believed that Russian should become the second state language of the country. 5% found it difficult to answer. On 21 March 2023, Chernihiv Oblast Military Administration approved the «Programme to promote the functioning of the Ukrainian language as a state language in Chernihiv Oblast for 2023—2028», the main objective of which is to strengthen the positions of the Ukrainian language in various spheres of public life in the oblast. According to the research of the ''Content Analysis Centre'', conducted from 15 August to 15 September 2024, the topic of which was the ratio of Ukrainian and Russian languages in the Ukrainian segment of

social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...

, 76.2% of posts from Chernihiv Oblast were written in Ukrainian (67.8% in 2023, 56.6% in 2022, 18.1% in 2020), while 23.8% were written in Russian (32.2% in 2023, 43.4% in 2022, 81.9% in 2020). After Ukraine declared independence in 1991, Chernihiv Oblast, as well as Ukraine as a whole, experienced a gradual Ukrainization of the education system, which had been Russified during the Soviet era. Dynamics of the ratio of the languages of instruction in general secondary education institutions in Chernihiv Oblast: According to the

State Statistics Service of Ukraine State Statistics Committee of Ukraine (, ''Derzhavnyi Komitet Statystyky Ukrainy'') is the government agency responsible for collection and dissemination of statistics in Ukraine. For brevity, it was also referred to as ''Derzhkomstat''. In 2010, ...

, in the 2023—2024 school year, all 89,872 pupils in general secondary education institutions in Chernihiv Oblast were studying in classes where Ukrainian was the language of instruction. — The province has experienced long-term population decline. The population has fallen 37% from the 1959 figure of 1,554,000, the steepest decline of any Ukrainian oblast. It has the lowest population density in the country.

Age structure

: ''0-14 years:'' 12.9% (male 70,680/female 67,487) : ''15-64 years:'' 68.4% (male 352,230/female 378,864) : ''65 years and over:'' 18.7% (male 61,722/female 138,277) (2013 official)

Median age

: ''total:'' 42.8 years : ''male:'' 38.5 years : ''female:'' 46.9 years (2013 official)

Administrative subdivisions

Since July 2020, Chernihiv Oblast is administratively subdivided into 5 raions (districts). The following data incorporates the number of each type of administrative divisions of Chernihiv Oblast: * Administrative centre — 1 ( Chernihiv), * Raions — 5, *

Hromada In Ukraine, a hromada () is the main type of municipality and the third level Administrative divisions of Ukraine, local self-government in Ukraine. The current hromadas were established by the Cabinet of ministers of Ukraine, Government of Uk ...

s — 57, including: ** Urban hromadas — 16, ** Settlement hromadas — 24, ** Rural hromadas — 17. The local administration of the oblast is controlled by the Chernihiv Oblast Rada. The governor of the oblast is the Chernihiv Oblast Rada speaker, appointed by the

President of Ukraine The president of Ukraine (, ) is the head of state of Ukraine. The president represents the nation in international relations, administers the foreign political activity of the state, conducts negotiations and concludes international treaties. ...

Important settlements

;Largest cities # Coat of Arms of Chernihiv

Chernihiv (294,727) # Nizhyn gerb

Nizhyn Nizhyn (, ; ) is a city located in Chernihiv Oblast of northern Ukraine along the Oster River. The city is located north-east of the national capital Kyiv. Nizhyn serves as the capital city, administrative center of Nizhyn Raion. It hosts the ...

(72,422) # Priluky

Pryluky (58,456) # Bahmach gerb

Bakhmach (18,798) # Nosivka new gerb

Nosivka (14,185) # Novhorod-Siverskiy herb

(14,025) ;Other settlements * Borzna (historical city) * Kozelets (historical town) *

Liubech Liubech ( Ukrainian and Russian: ; ) is a rural settlement in Chernihiv Oblast, northern Ukraine. Liubech is located north of the capital of Ukraine, Kyiv, and located near the border with Belarus. It hosts the administration of Liubech settl ...

(historical city of

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

) * Baturyn (Hetman residence and fort)

Raions

The Slavutych municipality is located in Chernihiv Oblast on the eastern bank of the Dnieper, but officially belongs to

(being an administrative

exclave An enclave is a territory that is entirely surrounded by the territory of only one other state or entity. An enclave can be an independent territory or part of a larger one. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is s ...

Economy

Industry

The economy of Chernihiv Oblast is centered around

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil or simply oil, is a naturally occurring, yellowish-black liquid chemical mixture found in geological formations, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons. The term ''petroleum'' refers both to naturally occurring un ...

and

natural gas Natural gas (also fossil gas, methane gas, and gas) is a naturally occurring compound of gaseous hydrocarbons, primarily methane (95%), small amounts of higher alkanes, and traces of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and helium ...

extraction,

transport Transport (in British English) or transportation (in American English) is the intentional Motion, movement of humans, animals, and cargo, goods from one location to another. Mode of transport, Modes of transport include aviation, air, land tr ...

machinery A machine is a physical system that uses power to apply forces and control movement to perform an action. The term is commonly applied to artificial devices, such as those employing engines or motors, but also to natural biological macromolec ...

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

and the

textile Textile is an Hyponymy and hypernymy, umbrella term that includes various Fiber, fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, Staple (textiles)#Filament fiber, filaments, Thread (yarn), threads, and different types of #Fabric, fabric. ...

industry. A major tobacco factory is situated in Pryluky. The cities of Bakhmach and

are important

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

junctions on the route from

and

to Southeast

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. There are notable machinery and

electronics Electronics is a scientific and engineering discipline that studies and applies the principles of physics to design, create, and operate devices that manipulate electrons and other Electric charge, electrically charged particles. It is a subfield ...

industries in Chernihiv. Chernihiv also has a brewery producing beer under the name "Chernihivske".

Religion

The religion among believers in the oblast is overwhelmingly

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, otherwise known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity or Byzantine Christianity, is one of the three main Branches of Christianity, branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholic Church, Catholicism and Protestantism ...

. A substantial percentage of the population is

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

. Small minorities of Ukrainian Catholics,

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

s (including the descendants of earlier Polish colonists), and recent converts to

Protestantism Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

are also present.

Culture and tourist attractions

There are several outstanding historical Orthodox churches and buildings in Chernihiv,

, Kozelets, and Pryluky. Nizhyn is a historical

Cossack The Cossacks are a predominantly East Slavic Eastern Christian people originating in the Pontic–Caspian steppe of eastern Ukraine and southern Russia. Cossacks played an important role in defending the southern borders of Ukraine and Rus ...

city and home to a university. * Saint Anthony's Caves *Churches of Chernihiv, including Saviour-Transfiguration Cathedral, Boris and Gleb Cathedral, Yeletsky Monastery, Trinity Monastery, St. Catherine's Church, Piatnytska Church *Hustynia Monastery *Kniazhyi hrad * Kachanivka Palace and Sokyryntsi Palace Chernihiv Oblast was famous for its specific style of folk icon-painting. Brightness and realistic depictions of the saints were typical for it, with red and hot yellow paints used. The icons were decorated by flowers in a manner reminiscent of Slavonic pre-Christian traditions. The icons from Chernihiv Oblast were spread outside its territory. Many of them are preserved in the Museum of Ukrainian home icons of the Radomysl Castle.

Nomenclature

Most of Ukraine's oblasts are named after their capital cities, officially referred to as "oblast centres" (, translit. ''oblasnyi tsentr''). The name of each oblast is a relative

adjective An adjective (abbreviations, abbreviated ) is a word that describes or defines a noun or noun phrase. Its semantic role is to change information given by the noun. Traditionally, adjectives are considered one of the main part of speech, parts of ...

, formed by adding a feminine

suffix In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns and adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can ca ...

to the name of respective centre city: ''Chernihiv'' is the centre of the ''Chernihivs'ka oblast (Chernihiv Oblast). Most oblasts are also sometimes referred to in a feminine noun form, following the convention of traditional regional place names, ending with the suffix "-shchyna", as is the case with the Chernihiv Oblast, ''Chernihivshchyna''.

Gallery

File:Небо палає.jpg, Krasna Square in Chernihiv File:Transfiguration cathedral. Chernihiv.JPG, Transfiguration Cathedral in Chernihiv, one of the oldest surviving buildings of pre-Mongol Rus' File:Миколаївський собор.jpg, St. Nicholas Cathedral in Nizhyn, the prototype of

Ukrainian Baroque Ukrainian Baroque (), also known as Cossack Baroque () or Mazepa Baroque, is an style (visual arts), artistic style that was widespread in Ukraine in the 17th and 18th centuries. It was the result of a combination of local traditions and Europea ...

File:Собор Різдва. Прилуки. 2.jpg, Nativity of the Theotokos Cathedral in Pryluky File:Р. Десна Новгород-Сіверський.jpg, Transfiguration Monastery in Novhorod-Siverskyi File:Kachanivka panorama.jpg, Kachanivka Palace File:Sokyryntsi Park-palace-2.JPG, Sokyryntsi Palace File:Палац К. Розумовського.jpg, Kyrylo Rozumovskyi's Palace in Baturyn File:Архітектурно-меморіальний комплекс Цитадель.jpg, Baturyn Fortress Citadel File:РЛП «Міжрічинський», Десна. img2.jpg, Mizhrichynskyi Regional Landscape Park

References

* Kardash, Peter. ''Ukraine and Ukrainians''. Ed. Peter Lockwood. Melbourne: Fortuna Publishers, 1988. * (1972) ''Історіа міст і сіл Української CCP - Чернігівська область (History of Towns and Villages of the Ukrainian SSR - Chernihiv Oblast)'', Kiev.
Information Card of the Region
- Official site of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine * Богомолець. О. "Замок-музей Радомисль на Шляху Королів Via Regia". — Київ, 2013

External links

Very detailed map of Chernigov Guberniya as in 1910
Latinised placenames
Chernihiv Oblast State Administration

- Symbols of Chernihiv Oblast
The Official Site of the Radomysl Castle

Economic Portal of Chernihiv Region
{{Authority control Oblasts of Ukraine States and territories established in 1932 1932 establishments in Ukraine