Zakarpattia Oblast

Zakarpattia Oblast
Закарпатська область (Ukrainian)
Kárpátalja
Zakarpatska oblast[1]
Nickname: 
Закарпаття (Zakarpattia)
Coordinates: 48°25′N 23°17′E / 48.41°N 23.29°E / 48.41; 23.29
Country Ukraine
Established22 January 1946[2]
Administrative centerUzhhorod
Government
 • GovernorMyroslav Bilets'kyy (RZ)[3]
 • Oblast council64 seats
 • ChairpersonRoman Saray
Area
 • Total12,777 km2 (4,933 sq mi)
 • RankRanked 24th
Population
 (2022)[4]
 • TotalDecrease 1,244,476
 • RankRanked 15th
GDP
 • Total₴ 76 billion
(€2.0 billion)
 • Per capita₴ 60,632
(€1,600)
Time zoneUTC+2 (EET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+3 (EEST)
Postal code
88-90xxx
Area code+380-31
ISO 3166 codeUA-21
Vehicle registrationРЕ, АО[citation needed]
Raions13
Cities (total)11
• Regional cities5
Urban-type settlements19
Villages579
HDI (2022)0.722[6]
high
FIPS 10-4UP25
Websitecarpathia.gov.ua
1 The Hungarian language has some minority rights in seven villages of the Mukachivskyi Raion.[7]

Zakarpattia Oblast (Ukrainian: Закарпатська область), also referred to as simply Zakarpattia (Ukrainian: Закарпаття; Hungarian: Kárpátalja) or Transcarpathia in English, is an oblast located in the Carpathian Mountains in west Ukraine, mostly coterminous with the historical region of Carpathian Ruthenia. Its administrative centre is the city of Uzhhorod. Other major cities within the oblast include Mukachevo, Khust, Berehove, and Chop, the last of which is home to railroad transport infrastructure.

Zakarpattia Oblast was established on 22 January 1946, after Czechoslovakia gave up its claim to the territory of Subcarpathian Ruthenia (Czech and also Slovak: Podkarpatská Rus) under a treaty between Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union. The territory of Subcarpathian Ruthenia was then taken over by the USSR and became part of the Ukrainian SSR.

During the Ukrainian independence referendum held in 1991, Zakarpatska Oblast voters were given a separate option on whether or not they favoured autonomy for the region.[8] Although a large majority favoured autonomy, it was not granted.[8] However, this referendum was about self-government status, not about autonomy (like in Crimea).[9]

Situated in the Carpathian Mountains of western Ukraine, except the southwestern Hungarian-populated region that belongs to the Hungarian plain, Zakarpattia Oblast is the only Ukrainian administrative division which borders upon four countries: Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, and Romania. As the Carpathians are an important tourist and travel destination (housing many ski and spa resorts), they play a major part in the oblast's economy.

With a land area of almost 13,000 square kilometres (5,000 sq mi), the oblast is ranked 23rd by area and 15th by population as according to the 2001 Ukrainian Census, the population of Zakarpatska Oblast was 1,254,614. The current population is 1,244,476 (2022 estimate).[4] This total includes people of many different nationalities of which Hungarians, Romanians, and Rusyns constitute significant minorities in some of the province's cities, while in others, they form the majority of the population (as in the case of Berehove).

  1. ^ Syvak, Nina; Ponomarenko, Valerii; Khodzinska, Olha; Lakeichuk, Iryna (2011). Veklych, Lesia (ed.). Toponymic Guidelines for Map and Other Editors for International Use (PDF). scientific consultant Iryna Rudenko; reviewed by Nataliia Kizilowa; translated by Olha Khodzinska. Kyiv: DerzhHeoKadastr and Kartographia. p. 20. ISBN 978-966-475-839-7. Retrieved 2020-10-06. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  2. ^ "Сьогодні Закарпаття увійшло до складу України. 68 років тому" [Today Zakarpattia became part of Ukraine. 68 years ago]. 7dniv. 29 June 2013
  3. ^ "Zelensky appointed a temporary head of the Transcarpathian RSA". UNN. September 9, 2024.
  4. ^ a b Чисельність наявного населення України на 1 січня 2022 [Number of Present Population of Ukraine, as of January 1, 2022] (PDF) (in Ukrainian and English). Kyiv: State Statistics Service of Ukraine. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 July 2022.
  5. ^ "Валовии регіональнии продукт".
  6. ^ "Sub-national HDI - Area Database - Global Data Lab". hdi.globaldatalab.org.
  7. ^ "Mukachivskyi Raion: Social data". Zakarpattia Oblast Administration. Archived from the original on 2008-02-09. Retrieved 2007-06-02.
  8. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference magocsi was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Kuzio, Taras. "The Rusyn Question in Ukraine: sorting out fact from fiction". Canadian Review of Studies in Nationalism. XXXII (2005).