Lviv Oblast (, ), also referred to as Lvivshchyna (, ), is an oblast in western Ukraine. The administrative center of the oblast is the city of Lviv. The current population is
History Name The region is named after the city of Lviv which was founded by Daniel of Galicia, the King of Galicia, in the 13th century, where it became the capital of Galicia-Volhynia. Daniel named the city after his son, Leo. During this time, the general region around Lviv was known as Galicia–Volhynia, one of the strongest and most stable kingdoms in Eastern Europe of that time.
Early history
The oblast's strategic position at the heart of central Europe and as the gateway to the Carpathians has caused it to change hands many times over the centuries. In the Early Middle Ages, the territory was inhabited by the Lendians, an old Polish tribe. It was ruled variously by Great Moravia, Poland, Kievan Rus', the Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia (circa 1200 to 1340; from 1246 under the suzerainty of the Golden Horde), and then ruled by the Kingdom of Poland and Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (1340 to 1772). Apart from the Polish and Ruthenian population, there were sizeable Scottish and Armenian communities in Lviv and Brody during Polish rule. Following the First Partition of Poland it passed to the Austro-Hungarian Empire (1772 to 1918), then the West Ukrainian People's Republic and Poland (1919 to 1939), when it was part of the Lwów Voivodeship of the Second Republic of Poland. The region's historically dominant Ukrainian population declared the area to be a part of an independent West Ukrainian People's Republic in November 1918 until June 1919, but this endured only briefly. Local autonomy was provided in international treaties but was ignored by the Polish government; the area experienced much ethnic tension between the Polish and Ukrainian populations.
Establishment The oblast was created as part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic on 4 December, 1939 following the Soviet invasion of eastern Poland and annexation of Eastern Galicia and Volhynia. Several NKVD prisoner massacres were committed in the area in 1941, including at Lviv, Sambir and Dobromyl.
It was occupied by Nazi Germany from 1941 to 1944 following the start of Operation Barbarossa, where most of the local Jewish population were killed. The Germans then established several prisoner-of-war camps with multiple forced labor subcamps in the region for Soviet, French and Belgian POWs, who were subjected to beatings, hunger, epidemics and executions, resulting in a high death rate. Following the end of World War II, the region remained in Soviet hands as was arranged in the Tehran and Yalta conferences. Most local Poles were expelled and Ukrainians expelled from Poland arrived.
As a result of the 1951 Polish–Soviet territorial exchange the area of Belz passed from Poland to the Lviv Oblast, whereas the area of Ustrzyki Dolne passed from the Drohobych Oblast to Poland. In 1959, Drohobych Oblast was incorporated into Lviv Oblast.
Present day Given its historical development, Lviv Oblast is one of the least Russified and Sovietized parts of Ukraine, with much of its Polish and Habsburg heritage still visible today.
In Ukraine today, there are three provinces (oblasts) that formed the eastern part of the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria. Two of these, Lviv Oblast and Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast were entirely contained in the kingdom; the third oblast of Ternopil was mainly in the kingdom apart from four of its most northerly counties (raions). The counties of the Kingdom of Galicia remained largely unchanged when they were incorporated into successor states; with minor changes as detailed below, the current counties are almost co-extensive with those of the Kingdom.
During the 2014 Euromaidan protests, the region is also notable for having declared independence from the central government led by Viktor Yanukovych who started to use active military force against protestors. During Ukraine's decommunization process that accelerated after 2014, Lviv Oblast became the first region of Ukraine to remove all its Soviet-era monuments by January 2024.
Geography The terrain of Lviv Oblast is highly varied. The southern part is occupied by the low Beskids mountain chains running parallel to each other from northwest to southeast and covered with secondary coniferous forests as part of the Eastern Carpathians; the highest point is Pikui (1408 m). North from there are the wide upper Dniester river valley and much smaller upper San River valley. These rivers have flat bottoms covered with alluvial deposits, and are susceptible to floods. Between these valleys and Beskyd lies the Precarpathian upland covered with deciduous forests, with well-known mineral spa resorts (see Truskavets, Morshyn). It's also the area of one of the earliest industrial petroleum and gas extraction. These deposits are all but depleted by now.
In the central part of the region lie Roztochchia, Opillia, and part of the Podolia uplands. Rich sulfur deposits were mined here during the Soviet era. Roztocze is densely forested, while Opillia and Podolia (being covered with loess on which fertile soils develop) are densely populated and mostly covered by arable land. In the central-north part of the region lies the Small Polesia lowland, geographically isolated from the rest of Polesia but with similar terrain and landscapes (flat plains with sandy fluvioglacial deposits and pine forests). The far North of the region lies on the Volhynia upland, which is also covered with loess; coal is mined in this area.
Climate The climate of Lviv Oblast is moderately cool and humid. The average January temperatures range from in the Carpathians to in the Dniester and San River valleys while in July the average temperatures are from in the Carpathians to in Roztochchia and in the lower part of the Dniester valley. The average annual precipitation is in the lowlands, in the highlands and up to in the Carpathians, with the majority of precipitation occurring in summer. Prolonged droughts are uncommon, while strong rainfalls can cause floods in river valleys. Severe winds during storms can also cause damage, especially in the highlands. The climate is suitable for the cultivation of sugar beets, winter wheat, flax, rye, cabbage, apples, and for dairy farming. It is still too cold to successfully cultivate maize, sunflower, grapes, melon, watermelon or peaches in Lviv Oblast. In the Carpathians conditions are suitable for seasonal Alpine skiing.
Demographics According to the 2001 Ukrainian census, ethnic Ukrainians accounted for 94.8% of the population of Lviv Oblast, ethnic Russians for 3.6%, and ethnic Poles for 0.7%. Етнічний склад населення України, 2001 рікБанк даних, перепис 2001 року Notably, the comparison of the 2001 Ukrainian census (mentioned above), with the last Soviet census of 1989 reveals that in those 12 years the number of Poles in the Lviv Oblast declined by 29.7% which, in the opinion of "Wspólnota Polska" Society defies explanation, and could possibly be attributed to the intensive Ukrainization of the Roman Catholic Church.
Language
Lviv Oblast was one of the few oblasts of the Ukrainian SSR where the share of Ukrainian speakers was increasing despite the Russification of Ukraine carried out in the USSR. Native language of the population of Lviv Oblast according to the results of population censuses:Итоги Всесоюзной переписи населения 1959 года: Украинская ССР, стр. 168—193Численность и состав населения СССР: по данным Всесоюзной переписи населения 1979 года. Центральное статистическое управление СССР, 1984Чорний С. Національний склад населення України в ХХ сторіччі (2001)Итоги Всесоюзной переписи населения 1970 года. Том IV — М., Статистика, 1973 19591970197919892001 Ukrainian84.8%87.6%89.0%90.1%95.3% Russian11.6%10.8%9.8%8.8%3.8% Other3.6%1.6%1.2%1.1%0.6%
Native language of the population of the raions, cities, and city councils of Lviv Oblast according to the 2001 Ukrainian census: UkrainianRussian Lviv Oblast 95.3%3.8% Lviv (city council) 88.8%9.7% Boryslav (city council) 97.6%1.9% Drohobych (city council) 94.9%3.8% Chervonohrad (city council) 93.3%6.2% City of Sambir 95.2%2.3% City of Stryi 93.0%5.1% City of Truskavets 94.2%5.0% Brody Raion 98.3%1.6% Busk Raion 99.4%0.5% Horodok Raion 99.1%0.8% Drohobych Raion(in pre-2020 borders) 99.6%0.3% Zhydachiv Raion 99.3%0.6% Zhovkva Raion 99.1%0.7% Zolochiv Raion(in pre-2020 borders) 99.0%0.9% Kamianka-Buzka Raion 98.8%1.0% Mostyska Raion 93.2%0.4% Mykolaiv Raion 98.5%1.4% Peremyshliany Raion 99.7%0.3% Pustomyty Raion 98.9%0.7% Radekhiv Raion 99.6%0.3% Sambir Raion(in pre-2020 borders) 98.0%0.6% Skole Raion 99.4%0.5% Sokal Raion 99.0%0.8% Staryi Sambir Raion 98.8%0.4% Stryi Raion(in pre-2020 borders) 99.3%0.6% Turka Raion 99.8%0.1% Yavoriv Raion(in pre-2020 borders) 98.9%1.0%
Ukrainian is the only official language on the whole territory of Lviv Oblast.
On 18 September 2018, a moratorium on the public use of Russian-language cultural products was imposed in Lviv Oblast by a decision of the Lviv Oblast Council.
According to a poll conducted by Rating from 16 November to 10 December 2018 as part of the project «Portraits of Regions», 90% of the residents of Lviv Oblast believed that the Ukrainian language should be the only state language on the entire territory of Ukraine. 7% believed that Ukrainian should be the only state language, while Russian should be the second official language in some regions of the country. 1% believed that Russian should become the second state language of the country. 2% found it difficult to answer.
On 20 September 2022, Lviv Oblast Council approved the «Comprehensive Programme for Strengthening of the Ukrainian Language for 2023—2026», the main objectives of which are to strengthen the positions of the Ukrainian language in various spheres of public life in the oblast and to Ukrainianize the refugees from other regions of Ukraine.
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, 93.9% of posts from Lviv Oblast were written in Ukrainian (87.3% in 2023, 86.0% in 2022, 52.4% in 2020), while 6.1% were written in Russian (12.7% in 2023, 14.0% in 2022, 47.6% in 2020).
After Ukraine declared independence in 1991, Lviv Oblast, as well as Ukraine as a whole, experienced a gradual Ukrainization of the education system, which had been RussifiedBarbara A. Anderson and Brian D. Silver, "Equality, Efficiency, and Politics in Soviet Bilingual Education Policy, 1934-1980," American Political Science Review 78 (December 1984): 1019-1039. during the Soviet era. Dynamics of the ratio of the languages of instruction in general secondary education institutions in Lviv Oblast:«Статистичний щорічник України за 1998 рік» — К., 1999. — — Language of instruction, % of pupils 1991—1992 1992—1993 1993—1994 1994—1995 1995—1996 2000—2001 2005—2006 2007—2008 2010—2011 2012—2013 2015—2016 2018—2019 2021—2022814 pupils (0.28%) received general secondary education in Polish. 2022—2023709 pupils (0.36%) received general secondary education in Polish. Ukrainian 91.8% 93.6% 94.6% 95.4% 96.0% 98.0% 99.0% 99.0% 99.0% 99.0% 99.0% 99.0% 99.65% 99.64% Russian 8.1% 6.2% 5.3% 4.4% 4.0% 2.0% 1.0% 1.0% 1.0% 1.0% 1.0% 1.0% 0.07% —
According to the State Statistics Service of Ukraine, in the 2023–2024 school year, of the 286,111 pupils in general secondary education institutions in Lviv Oblast, 285,367 (99.74%) were studying in classes where Ukrainian was the language of instruction, while 744 (0.26%) were studying in classes where Polish was the language of instruction. —
Age structure 0-14 years: 15.7% (male 202,923/female 193,000) 15-64 years: 70.0% (male 867,699/female 897,788) 65 years and over: 14.3% (male 122,906/female 238,016) (2013 official)