The current estimated population of the oblast is around 976,701 (as of 2021). According to the
2001 Ukrainian census,
ethnic Ukrainians accounted for 93.5% of the population of Chernihiv Oblast, and
ethnic Russians for 5.0%.
Language ,
Ukrainian was the native language for over 89% of Chernihiv Oblast's population: it was the dominant language in all of the city and town councils, as well as in the absolute majority of the village councils of the oblast. In the extreme north of Chernihiv Oblast, near the border with Russia and Belarus,
Russian was the dominant language in twelve village councils, all of which also had significant (over 20%) Ukrainian-speaking minorities. Due to the
Russification of Ukraine during the Soviet era, the share of Ukrainian speakers in the population of Chernihiv Oblast gradually decreased between the 1970 and 1989 censuses, while the share of Russian speakers increased. Native language of the population of Chernihiv Oblast according to the results of population censuses: Native language of the population of the
raions and cities of Chernihiv Oblast according to the
2001 Ukrainian census:
Ukrainian is the only official language on the whole territory of Chernihiv 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 Chernihiv Oblast believed that the Ukrainian language should be the only state language on the entire territory of Ukraine. 12% believed that Ukrainian should be the only state language, while Russian should be the second official language in some regions of the country. 3% believed that Russian should become the second state language of the country. 5% found it difficult to answer. On 21 March 2023, Chernihiv Oblast Military Administration approved the «Programme to promote the functioning of the Ukrainian language as a state language in Chernihiv Oblast for 2023—2028», the main objective of which is to strengthen the positions of the Ukrainian language in various spheres of public life in the oblast. 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, 76.2% of posts from Chernihiv Oblast were written in Ukrainian (67.8% in 2023, 56.6% in 2022, 18.1% in 2020), while 23.8% were written in Russian (32.2% in 2023, 43.4% in 2022, 81.9% in 2020). After Ukraine declared independence in 1991, Chernihiv Oblast, as well as Ukraine as a whole, experienced a gradual
Ukrainization of the education system, which had been
Russified during the Soviet era. Dynamics of the ratio of the
languages of instruction in general secondary education institutions in Chernihiv Oblast: According to the
State Statistics Service of Ukraine, in the 2023—2024 school year, all 89,872 pupils in general secondary education institutions in Chernihiv Oblast were studying in classes where
Ukrainian was the language of instruction. The province has experienced long-term population decline. The population has fallen 37% from the 1959 figure of 1,554,000, the steepest decline of any Ukrainian oblast. It has the lowest population density in the country.
Age structure :
0-14 years: 12.9% (male 70,680/female 67,487) :
15-64 years: 68.4% (male 352,230/female 378,864) :
65 years and over: 18.7% (male 61,722/female 138,277) (2013 official)
Median age :
total: 42.8 years :
male: 38.5 years :
female: 46.9 years (2013 official) ==Administrative subdivisions==