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Cultural Tensions
*Ukraine's largest cultural tension stems from its affiliation with the Soviet Union and Russia, as described in the Russian Ties section of Media Environment. Below are two other tensions visible in the country today.
"Brain Drain"
Economically, Ukraine falls short of many other countries in the world. In terms of GNI per capita, Ukraine was ranked 136th in 2011 by the World Bank, with a share of $3,615. Based upon information from a survey in 2009, I calculated Ukraine’s average household income to be less than $800 per month.
Julia, a young mother living in Ukraine, says she has to work 4 jobs just to support her family.
It is because of this economic instability that many Ukrainians are leaving the country in search of better work. A “brain drain” forms as well-educated and well-trained workers immigrate to places such as the United States and Canada to land better jobs. In April 2012, the publication ChinaDaily published an article about the increasingly dangerous trend. The article quotes researcher Pual Rosenko, from the Razumkov Center located in Kyiv. He said that Ukraine is losing IT specialists, programmers, and scientists to countries abroad, and even students are leaving Ukraine for higher education in another place.
Another expert from the Razumkov center, Martin Edmonds, also mentions the brain drain. He says that Ukraine needs to do what it can to hold on to younger talent and trained workers by enacting economic reform and promoting a better national image (13).
Religious Tensions
It also worth mentioning that there exists a number of religious tensions in Ukraine. Although a majority of religious-affiliated citizens (>80%) are Orthodox, author Andrew Sorokowski claims that millions of Ukrainians have been left with a distrust of established religion. Sorokowski explains that there is still religious controversy in the nation. There are three primary sects of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine, and although past presidents have tried to unite them, consolidation attempts were unsuccessful (16).
There is also a small minority (about 10%) of Catholics in Ukraine. This faith is a minority, but Sorkowski writes that there are various regions throughout Ukraine in which Catholics outnumber Orthodox Ukrainians. This can create tension, as traditionally the Catholic and Orthodox religions differ over certain specifications of the Christian faith (16). In 2010, the New York Times reported on a bomb that went off outside an Orthodox Church in southern Ukraine. In 2001, thousands protested the Pope’s first visit to Ukraine.