In Ukraine, the term "populated place" () refers to a structured component of the human settlement system, representing a stationary community within a territorially cohesive and compact area characterized by a significant concentration of population. Its defining attribute is the continuous presence of human inhabitants. Populated places in Ukraine are classified into two primary categories: urban and rural. Urban populated places are cities, whereas rural areas include villages and ''selyshches''.
All populated places are governed by their
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 ...
(municipality), be it a village, city or any other type of settlement. A municipality may consist of one or several populated places and is (except
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, ...
and
Sevastopol
Sevastopol ( ), sometimes written Sebastopol, is the largest city in Crimea and a major port on the Black Sea. Due to its strategic location and the navigability of the city's harbours, Sevastopol has been an important port and naval base th ...
) a constituent part of a
raion
A raion (also spelt rayon) is a type of administrative unit of several post-Soviet states. The term is used for both a type of subnational entity and a division of a city. The word is from the French (meaning 'honeycomb, department'), and is c ...
(district) which in turn is constituents of 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).
Besides regular populated places in Ukraine, that are part of administrative division and population census, there are several additional categories for populated places that are used for other purposes. Among such categories are mountainous populated places, historic populated places, and others.
The 2015 law on decommunization required populated places and toponymy related to Ukraine's past in the
Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
to be renamed. Leading to a string of new Ukrainian toponyms. On 21 March 2023, about a year following the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...
and subsequent occupation of parts of Ukraine by Russia, the
Ukrainian parliament
The Verkhovna Rada ( ; VR), officially the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, is the unicameral parliament of Ukraine. It consists of 450 deputies presided over by a speaker. The Verkhovna Rada meets in the Verkhovna Rada building in Ukraine's capi ...
The Law of Ukraine of 28.07.2023 № 3285-IX "About the procedure for solving certain issues of the administrative and territorial system of Ukraine" established the following terminology regarding populated places:
*A populated place (, ) is a compactly inhabited place of residence of people, which was formed as a result of historical traditions, economic and other activities, has a stable population composition, its own name and a separate territory with boundaries established in accordance with the law.
*A city (, ) is a populated place with mostly compact residential area, the total population of which is at least 10,000.
*A ''selyshche'' ( is a populated place with mostly farmstead-type residences, the total number of inhabitants of which is at least 5,000.
*A village (, ) is a populated place with farmstead-type residences, the total number of inhabitants of which is less than 5,000
*Cities are urban, and ''selyshches'' and villages are rural populated places.
*A settlement (, ) is a compact place of residence of people outside a populated place, which does not have a stable population structure and is not classified as a "populated place". Examples of such places are ''
dacha
A dacha (Belarusian, Ukrainian language, Ukrainian and rus, дача, p=ˈdatɕə, a=ru-dacha.ogg) is a seasonal or year-round second home, often located in the exurbs of former Soviet Union, post-Soviet countries, including Russia. A cottage (, ...
Soviet era
The history of the Soviet Union (USSR) (1922–91) began with the ideals of the Russian Bolshevik Revolution and ended in dissolution amidst economic collapse and political disintegration. Established in 1922 following the Russian Civil War, ...
category of
urban-type settlement
Urban-type settlement, abbreviated: ; , abbreviated: ; ; ; ; . is an official designation for lesser urbanized settlements, used in several Central and Eastern Europe, Central and Eastern European countries. The term was primarily used in the So ...
(, ) was abolished.
The law also regulates official reclassification of the type of a populated place.
Cities
City with special status
A city with special status (), formerly a "city of republican subordinance", is a type of first-level administrative division of Ukraine. Kyiv and Sevastopol are the only two such cities. Their administrative status is recognized in the Ukrain ...
is treated as a city-region. Most cities in Ukraine are the centres of the corresponding
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 ...
. Two cities (
Chernobyl
Chernobyl, officially called Chornobyl, is a partially abandoned city in Vyshhorod Raion, Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine. It is located within the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, to the north of Kyiv and to the southwest of Gomel in neighbouring Belarus. ...
and
Pripyat
Pripyat, also known as Prypiat, is an abandoned industrial city in Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine, located near the border with Belarus. Named after the nearby river, Pripyat (river), Pripyat, it was founded on 4 February 1970 as the ninth ''atomgrad'' ...
) are abandoned and are governed by the State Agency of Ukraine on the Exclusion Zone Management.
City status a populated place receives on a decision of the
Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine
The Verkhovna Rada ( ; VR), officially the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, is the unicameralism, unicameral parliament of Ukraine. It consists of 450 Deputy (legislator), deputies presided over by a speaker. The Verkhovna Rada meets in the Verkhovn ...
.
Cities that have population of less than 50,000 are considered to be ''small cities'' and fall under a special state program in development of small cities.
According to the
2001 Ukrainian Census
The 2001 Ukrainian census is to date the only census of the population of independent Ukraine. It was conducted by the State Statistics Committee of Ukraine on 5 December 2001, twelve years after the last Soviet Union census in 1989.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, ...
and
Sevastopol
Sevastopol ( ), sometimes written Sebastopol, is the largest city in Crimea and a major port on the Black Sea. Due to its strategic location and the navigability of the city's harbours, Sevastopol has been an important port and naval base th ...
).
Rural populated places
Rural populated places () or rural localities can refer to two different types of inhabited places: ''selyshches'' and villages.
Rural settlements
The term ''selyshche'' () used to have a double meaning in the administrative-territorial system of Ukraine. It was used either for urban-type settlements or for some smaller populated places which are often part of a rural
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 ...
. Unlike other nomenclatures for populated places, in the
Constitution of Ukraine
The Constitution of Ukraine (, ) is the fundamental law of Ukraine. The constitution was adopted and ratified at the 5th session of the ''Verkhovna Rada'', the parliament of Ukraine, on 28 June 1996. The constitution was passed with 315 ayes o ...
a term like urban-type settlement was not defined and was part of the Soviet legislature that was conditionally grandfathered. In 2023 a law was passed to finally eliminate any deviations or variations of the term rural settlement clearly categorizing them as rural type of populated place along with villages. The law also merged the two categories that de facto existed in Ukraine.
According to the 2023 law "About the order to solve separate issues of the administrative and territorial system of Ukraine", a rural settlement is identified as a populated place with predominantly a private housing total population of which is no less than 5,000 people.
According to the
2001 Ukrainian Census
The 2001 Ukrainian census is to date the only census of the population of independent Ukraine. It was conducted by the State Statistics Committee of Ukraine on 5 December 2001, twelve years after the last Soviet Union census in 1989.2001 Ukrainian Census
The 2001 Ukrainian census is to date the only census of the population of independent Ukraine. It was conducted by the State Statistics Committee of Ukraine on 5 December 2001, twelve years after the last Soviet Union census in 1989.
Other populated places
In 1995 there was created a special category for mountainous populated places in Ukraine. Mountainous status is received by populated places located in mountainous area, have inadequately developed sphere of employment and social services as well as a limited transportation access (low development density of infrastructure or infrastructure is weak).
Historic types of populated places
Among historic types of populated places in Ukraine are places like
khutir
A khutor ( ; rus, хутор, p=ˈxutər) or khutir (, ) is a type of rural locality in some countries of Eastern Europe; in the past the term mostly referred to a single- homestead settlement.mistechko,
sloboda
A sloboda was a type of settlement in the history of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. The name is derived from the early Slavic word for 'freedom' and may be loosely translated as 'free settlement'.
,
horod
Horod ( cyrl, город, und) from Old Slavonic '' gord'' is a version of the Slavic word meaning "town", "city" or "castle", also found in Slavic languages as '' grad'' or '' gorod''.
It is mostly found in Czech, Slovak, Belarusian and Ukrai ...
. Collective and/or soviet farms used to be based either on an individual settlement (village) or include several neighboring rural settlements (villages, khutirs, slobodas).
Ukrainian khutirs were destroyed in 1930s–1940s during the Soviet occupation as part of the fight with individual farming (
dekulakization
Dekulakization (; ) was the Soviet campaign of Political repression in the Soviet Union#Collectivization, political repressions, including arrests, deportations, or executions of millions of supposed kulaks (prosperous peasants) and their familie ...
Urban-type settlements in Ukraine
Urban-type settlement () was a type of administrative division for urban-like human settlements in Ukraine from 24 October 1925 through 26 January 2024. Following the reform, this type of settlement was reduced to rural status and all urban-type s ...
were a type of populated place in Ukraine from 1925 until 2024, deriving from a Soviet invented term for a populated place with some degree of urbanization or in proximity to an urbanized area. In the
Constitution of Ukraine
The Constitution of Ukraine (, ) is the fundamental law of Ukraine. The constitution was adopted and ratified at the 5th session of the ''Verkhovna Rada'', the parliament of Ukraine, on 28 June 1996. The constitution was passed with 315 ayes o ...
urban settlement is mentioned simply as ''selysche'' (a settlement), which also adds another ambiguity to the administrative territorial system of Ukraine. The term selysche is also used to some smaller populated places, while can be found within other administrative territorial subdivisions. Those settlements are implicitly known as rural settlements, while often presented simply as ''selysches''. According to the
2001 Ukrainian Census
The 2001 Ukrainian census is to date the only census of the population of independent Ukraine. It was conducted by the State Statistics Committee of Ukraine on 5 December 2001, twelve years after the last Soviet Union census in 1989.decommunization
Decommunization in former communist states is the process of purging former communist high officials and eliminating communist symbols.
It is sometimes referred to as political cleansing. Although the term has been occasionally used during t ...
of Ukraine's settlement classification system.
See also
*
Geography of Ukraine
Ukraine is the second-largest European country, after Russia. Its various regions have diverse geographic features ranging from highlands to lowlands, as well as climatic range and a wide variety in hydrography. Most of the country lies within ...
List of cities in Ukraine
There are 463 populated places in Ukraine, populated places in Ukraine that have been officially granted city status () by the Verkhovna Rada, the country's parliament, as of 23 April 2025. Settlements with more than 10,000 people are eligible for ...
The History of Cities and Villages of the Ukrainian SSR ''The History of Cities and Villages of the Ukrainian SSR'' () is a Ukrainian encyclopedia, published in 26 volumes. It provides knowledge about the history of all populated places in Ukraine.
It was approved by the Communist Party of Ukraine in 1 ...
, a comprehensive encyclopedic compilation of all populated places
Ukrainian SSR
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. ...