Poltava Oblast (), also referred to as Poltavshchyna (), is an oblast (province) of central Ukraine. The administrative center of the oblast is the city of Poltava. Most of its territory was part of the southern regions of the Cossack Hetmanate. Population:

After Poltava, the oblast's three most populous cities were Kremenchuk, Horishni Plavni, and Lubny, according to 2022 government estimates.

History The Poltava Oblast was established on 22 September 1937 by a resolution of the Central Executive Committee of the Soviet Union. It was based mostly on rayons (districts) that were part of Kharkiv Oblast, with some from Kyiv Oblast. The region approximately corresponds to the earlier Poltava Governorate (1802–1925).

During the Nazi Germany occupation in 1941–43, most of the region belonged to Kiew Generalbezirke (general district), while the rest was part of the German military rear area. After the withdrawal of German forces, the region was reinstated almost to the same borders. In the 1950s it lost some of its territories to the newly created Cherkasy Oblast. Some were submerged with the creation of the Kremenchuk Reservoir in 1959. In 2020, as part of a general Ukrainian administrative reform, Poltava Oblast reduced the number of its raions by increasing them in size.

During the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the town of Myrhorod was bombed. However, there has been no ground fighting and the province remains completely under Ukrainian control.

Geography

Poltava Oblast is situated in the central part of Ukraine. Located on the left bank of the Dnieper, the Poltava region was part of the Cossack Hetmanate. It has an area of 28,800 km2. The oblast borders Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Kirovohrad, Cherkasy and Kyiv oblasts. The oblast does not contain any notable landforms apart from the Dnieper river, the land is gently undulating.

Demographics According to the 2001 Ukrainian census, ethnic Ukrainians accounted for 91.4% of the population of Poltava Oblast, and ethnic Russians for 7.2%. Етнічний склад населення України, 2001 рікБанк даних, перепис 2001 року

, its population was 1,400,000 and population density was 49 people per 1 km2.

Language

Due to the Russification of Ukraine during the Soviet era, the share of Ukrainian speakers in the population of Poltava Oblast gradually decreased, while the share of Russian speakers increased. Native language of the population of Poltava 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 1959197019892001 Ukrainian92.1%90.3%85.9%90.0% Russian7.2%9.1%13.2%9.5% Other0.7%0.6%0.9%0.5%

Native language of the population of the raions, cities and city councils of Poltava Oblast according to the 2001 Ukrainian census: UkrainianRussian Poltava Oblast 90.0%9.5% City of Poltava 85.4%14.1% City of Kremenchuk 75.5%23.9% City of Lubny 91.1%8.6% City of Myrhorod 88.3%11.3% Komsomolsk (city council) 73.2%26.3% Velyka Bahachka Raion 96.7%2.8% Hadiach Raion 96.9%2.8% Hlobyne Raion 95.9%3.4% Hrebinka Raion 95.8%3.6% Dykanka Raion 95.3%3.9% Zinkiv Raion 97.0%2.3% Karlivka Raion 95.9%3.4% Kobeliaky Raion 96.0%3.3% Kozelshchyna Raion 96.0%3.4% Kotelva Raion 97.2%2.4% Kremenchuk Raion(in pre-2020 borders) 93.8%5.6% Lokhvytsia Raion 96.9%2.7% Lubny Raion(in pre-2020 borders) 97.5%2.1% Mashivka Raion 95.4%3.9% Myrhorod Raion(in pre-2020 borders) 97.5%2.3% Novi Sanzhary Raion 95.9%3.4% Orzhytsia Raion 97.5%2.1% Pyriatyn Raion 94.8%4.8% Poltava Raion(in pre-2020 borders) 93.8%5.7% Reshetylivka Raion 96.4%2.7% Semenivka Raion 97.3%2.2% Khorol Raion 97.3%2.5% Chornukhy Raion 97.9%1.9% Chutove Raion 95.2%4.0% Shyshaky Raion 96.7%2.5%

Ukrainian is the only official language on the whole territory of Poltava Oblast.

According to a poll conducted by Rating from 16 November to 10 December 2018 as part of the project «Portraits of Regions», 80% of the residents of Poltava Oblast believed that the Ukrainian language should be the only state language on the entire territory of Ukraine. 9% believed that Ukrainian should be the only state language, while Russian should be the second official language in some regions of the country. 8% believed that Russian should become the second state language of the country. 3% found it difficult to answer.

On 3 December 2024, Poltava Oblast Council approved the «Programme for the Development and Functioning of the Ukrainian Language as the State Language in All Spheres of Public Life in Poltava Oblast for 2025—2030», 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, 76.0% of posts from Poltava Oblast were written in Ukrainian (63.9% in 2023, 60.0% in 2022, 15.5% in 2020), while 24.0% were written in Russian (36.1% in 2023, 40.0% in 2022, 84.5% in 2020).

After Ukraine declared independence in 1991, Poltava 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 Poltava 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—2022 2022—2023 Ukrainian 74.3% 74.4% 77.5% 80.6% 83.0% 93.0% 97.0% 97.0% 98.0% 98.0% 99.0% 99.0% 99.96% 100.0% Russian 25.7% 25.6% 22.5% 19.4% 17.0% 7.0% 3.0% 3.0% 2.0% 2.0% 1.0% 1.0% 0.04% —

According to the State Statistics Service of Ukraine, in the 2023—2024 school year, all 134,575 pupils in general secondary education institutions in Poltava Oblast were studying in classes where Ukrainian was the language of instruction. —

Age structure 0–14 years: 13.2% (male 99,444/female 93,949) 15–64 years: 69.9% (male 483,389/female 530,911) 65 years and over: 16.9% (male 81,435/female 164,861) (2013 official)

Median age total: 41.4 years male: 38.0 years female: 44.7 years (2013 official)

Points of interest

The following historic-cultural sites were nominated for the Seven Wonders of Ukraine: Gogol Museum-Reserve Kotliarevsky Museum and Manor Saint Nicholas Church Poltava Museum of Local Lore Exaltation of the Holy Cross Monastery Other points of interest include the site of the Battle of Poltava and the Bilsk hillfort. Opishnia is a centre for the production of decorative ceramics and is the location of the .

Economy

Industry

The oblast is a center of Ukraine's oil and natural gas industry, with many wells and pipelines situated here. There is a major oil refinery plant in the city of Kremenchuk. Important iron ore processing facilities also present. In general, there are 374 large industrial organization and 618 small industrial organizations.

Agriculture

In 1999 the gross grain yield was about 14,529 thousand tons, sugar beets – 1,002,900 tons, sunflower seeds – 166,200 tons, potatoes – 279,900 tons. The oblast also produced 120,500 tons of meat, 645,900 tons of milk and 423,200,00 eggs. At the beginning of 1999 there were 1,311 registered farms in the region.

Administrative divisions

The oblast is divided into 4 districts and 60 hromadas.

The local administration of the oblast is controlled by the Poltava Oblast Rada. The governor of the oblast is the Poltava Oblast Rada speaker, appointed by the President of Ukraine.

The following data incorporates the number of each type of administrative divisions of the Poltava Oblast:

Administrative centre – 1 (Poltava) Raions – 4 Hromadas – 60 On 18 July 2020, the number of raions was reduced to four. These are:

Kremenchuk Raion (Кременчуцький район), the center is in the city of Kremenchuk; Lubny Raion (Лубенський район), the center is in the city of Lubny; Myrhorod Raion (Миргородський район), the center is in the city of Myrhorod; Poltava Raion (Полтавський район), the center is in the city of Poltava.

Until 2020 Name Ukrainian name Area (km2) Populationcensus 2015Admin. centerUrban populationPoltava Полта́ва (місто) 103 293,945 Poltava (city) 293,945Horishni Plavni Горішні Плавні (місто) 34 54,701 Horishni Plavni (city) 52,144Kremenchuk Кременчу́к (місто) 96 223,942 Kremenchuk (city) 223,942Lubny Лубни (місто) 46 46,820 Lubny (city) 46,820Myrhorod Миргород (місто) 20 40,440 Myrhorod (city) 40,440Chornukhy Raion Чорнухинський район 682 11,485 Chornukhy 2,581Chutove Raion Чутівський район 861 22,976 Chutove 9,468Dykanka Raion Диканський район 679 18,993 Dykanka 7,804Hadiach Raion Гадяцький район 1,595 29,767 Hadiach 24,005Hlobyne Raion Глобинський район 2,500 44,007 Hlobyne 16,182Hrebinka Raion Гребінківський район 595 22,589 Hrebinka 10,926Karlivka Raion Карлівський район 854 34,121 Karlivka 14,997Khorol Raion Хорольський район 1,062 34,670 Khorol 13,304 Kobeliaky Raion Кобеляцький район 1,823 42,419 Kobeliaky 14,982Kotelva Raion Котелевський район 800 19,674 Kotelva 12,406Kozelshchyna Raion Козельщинський район 930 19,575 Kozelshchyna 5,981Kremenchuk Raion Кременчуцький район 1,200 39,699 Kremenchuk (city) N/A *Lokhvytsia Raion Лохвицький район 1,300 43,274 Lokhvytsia 20,187Lubny Raion Лубенський район 1,378 31,983 Lubny (city) N/A *Mashivka Raion Машівський район 889 19,609 Mashivka 3,815Myrhorod Raion Миргородський район 1,540 32,115 Myrhorod (city) N/A *Novi Sanzhary Raion Новосанжарський район 1,300 34,620 Novi Sanzhary 8,375Orzhytsia Raion Оржицький район 1,000 24228 Orzhytsia 5,369Poltava Raion Полтавський район 1,259 67,095 Poltava (city) N/A *Pyriatyn Raion Пирятинський район 864 31,809 Pyriatyn 15,796Reshetylivka Raion Решетилівський район 1,009 26,399 Reshetylivka 9,340Semenivka Raion Семенівський район 1,300 25,456 Semenivka 6,244Shyshaky Raion Шишацький район 790 20,423 Shyshaky 4,545Velyka Bahachka Raion Великобагачанський район 1,000 25,145 Velyka Bahachka 8,350Zinkiv Raion Зіньківський район 1,360 34,700 Zinkiv 15,179

Note: Asterisks (*) Though the administrative center of the raion is housed in the city that it is named after, cities do not answer to the raion authorities only towns do; instead they are directly subordinated to the oblast government and therefore are not counted as part of raion statistics.

Nomenclature

Most of Ukraine's oblasts are named after their capital cities, officially referred to as "oblast centers" (, translit. oblasnyi tsentr). The name of each oblast is a relative adjective, formed by adding a feminine suffix to the name of respective center city: Poltava is the center of the Poltavs'ka oblast''' (Poltava 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 Poltava Oblast, Poltavshchyna''.

Gallery

References

External links

State Administration of Poltava Region – official site Information Card of the Region – official site of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine