1608 to 1880 After the loss suffered by the Cossack-Swedish Alliance under
Ivan Mazepa in the
Battle of Poltava in 1709, some political emigrants, primarily
Cossacks, settled in
Turkey and in Western Europe. In 1775, after the fall of the
Zaporozhian Sich to the
Russian Empire, some more
Cossacks emigrated to
Dobruja in the
Ottoman Empire (now in
Romania), while others settled in Volga and Ural regions of the Russian Empire. In the second half of the 18th century, Ukrainians from the
Transcarpathian Region formed agricultural settlements in the
Kingdom of Hungary, primarily in the
Bačka and
Syrmia regions. Both are now located in the
Vojvodina Region of the
Republic of Serbia. In time, Ukrainian settlements emerged in the major European capitals, including
Vienna,
Budapest, Rome and
Warsaw.
1880–1920 of the Russian Empire, districts and
counties of Austria-Hungary at the end of the 19th century 1890, modern
Prnjavor, Bosnia and Herzegovina. – Ukrainian historical name of the land in the Russian Far East area. In 1880, the Ukrainian diaspora consisted of approximately 1.2 million people, which represented approximately 4.6% of all Ukrainians, and was distributed as follows: • 0.7 million in the European part of the Russian Empire • 0.2 million in
Austro-Hungary • 0.1 million in the Asian part of the Russian Empire • 0.1 million in the United States In the last quarter of the 19th century due to the agrarian resettlement, a massive emigration of Ukrainians from Austro-Hungary to the Americas and from the Russian Empire to the Urals and Asia (
Siberia and
Kazakhstan) occurred. A secondary movement was the emigration under the auspices of the Austro-Hungarian government of 10,000 Ukrainians from
Galicia to
Bosnia. Furthermore, due to Russian agitation, 15,000 Ukrainians left Galicia and
Bukovina and settled in Russia. Most of these settlers later returned. Finally in the Russian Empire, some Ukrainians from the
Chełm and
Podlaskie regions, as well as most of the Jews, emigrated to the Americas. Some of those who left their homeland returned. For example, from the 393,000 Ukrainians who emigrated to the United States, 70,000 returned. Most of the emigrants to the US worked in the construction and mining industries. Many worked in the US on a temporary basis to earn
remittances. In the 1890s, Ukrainian agricultural settlers emigrated first to
Brazil and
Argentina. However, the writings of Galician professor and nationalist Dr
Joseph Oleskiw were influential in redirecting that flow to Canada. He visited an already-established Ukrainian
block settlement, which had been founded by
Iwan Pylypiw, and met with Canadian immigration officials. His two pamphlets on the subject praised the United States as a place for wage labour, but stated that Canada was the best place for agricultural settlers to obtain free land. By contrast he was fiercely critical of the treatment Ukrainian settlers had received in South America. After his writings, the slow trickle of Ukrainians to Canada greatly increased. Before the start of the First World War, almost 500,000 Ukrainians emigrated to the Americas. This can be broken down by country as follows: • to the United States: almost 350,000 • to Canada: almost 100,000 • to Brazil and Argentina: almost 50,000 In 1914, the Ukrainian diaspora in the Americas numbered about 700,000-750,000 people: • 500,000-550,000 in the US • almost 100,000 in Canada • approximately 50,000 in Brazil • 50,000 in Argentina Most of the emigrants to the Americas belonged to the
Greek Catholic Church. This led to the creation of Greek Catholic bishops in Canada and the US. The need for solidarity led to the creation of Ukrainian religious, political, and social organisations. These new Ukrainian organisations maintained links with the homeland, from which books, media, priests, cultural figures, and new ideas arrived. Furthermore, local influence, as well as influence from their homeland, led to the process of a national re-awakening. At times, the diaspora was ahead of their time in this re-awakening. Emigrants from the Transcarpathian and
Lemko regions created their own organisations and had their own separate Greek Catholic church hierarchy (the
Ruthenian Catholic Church). These emigrants are often considered to be
Rusyns or Ruthenians and are considered by some to be distinct from other Ukrainians. However, in Argentina and Brazil, immigrants from Transcarpathia and the Lemko Region did identify themselves as Ukrainians. The majority of the Ukrainian diaspora in the Americas focused on obtaining independence and convincing outside powers to join
its war against the Soviets. The two nationalist governments which existed simultaneously;
The Ukrainian People’s Republic, and
The West Ukrainian People’s Republic (whose more progressive government was exiled by the former) both sent delegates to the
1919 Paris Peace Conference. An interesting note is the role the Ruthenians played to convince the American government about the inclusion of the Transcarpathian region into the
Czechoslovak Republic in 1919. In contrast, the Ukrainian diaspora in the Russian Empire, and especially in Asia, was primarily agrarian. After 1860, the diaspora was primarily located in the Volga and Ural Regions, while in the last quarter of that century, due to a lack of space for settlement, the diaspora expanded into Western
Siberia,
Turkestan, the
Far East, and even into the
Zeleny Klyn. In the 1897 census there were 1,560,000 Ukrainians divided as follows: • In the European part of the empire: 1,232,000 • In the Volga and Urals: 393,000 • In the non-Ukrainian (ethnographically speaking) parts of
Kursk and
Voronezh Regions: 232,000 • Almost 150,000 in
Bessarabia. • In the Asian part of the empire: 311,000 • In the Caucasus region: 117,000 In the next few decades, Ukrainian emigration to Asia increased (almost 1.5 million Ukrainians emigrated), leading to almost 2 million Ukrainians in the Asian part of the Russian Empire by 1914. Consequently, the Russian Empire had approximately 3.4 million Ukrainians. Most of this population was assimilated due to a lack of national awareness and closeness with the local Russian population, especially in religion. Unlike the emigrants from Austro-Hungary, the Ukrainian emigrants in the Russian Empire did not create their own organisations nor were there many interactions with their homeland. The revolution of 1917 allowed the creation of Ukrainian organisations, which were linked with the national and political rebirth in Ukraine.
1920–1945 First major political emigration The First World War and the
Russian Civil War led to the first massive political emigration, which strengthened the existing Ukrainian communities by infusing them with members from various political, scientific, and cultural backgrounds. Furthermore, some of these new emigrants formed Ukrainian communities in Western and Central Europe. Thus, new communities were created in Czechoslovakia, Germany, Poland, France, Belgium, Austria, Romania, and Yugoslavia. The largest was in
Prague, which was considered one of the centres of Ukrainian culture and political life (after
Lviv and
Kraków). This group of emigrants created many different organisations and movements associated with corresponding groups in the battle for independence. A few Ukrainian universities were founded. Furthermore, many of these organisations were associated with the exiled Ukrainian government, the
Ukrainian People's Republic. During the 1920s, the
new diaspora maintained links with now-Soviet Ukraine. A Sovietophile movement appeared, whereby former opponents of the Bolsheviks began to argue that Ukrainians should support Soviet Ukraine. Some argued that they should do so because the Soviet republics were the leaders of international revolution, while others claimed that the Bolsheviks' social and national policies benefited Ukraine. This movement included
Mykhailo Hrushevskyi,
Volodymyr Vynnychenko and
Yevhen Petrushevych. Many émigrés, including Hrushevskyi, returned and helped the Bolsheviks implement their policy of Ukrainianisation. However, the abandonment of Ukrainianisation, the return to collectivisation, and the man-made famine of 1932–33 ended Ukrainianisation. Most of the links were broken, with the exception of some Sovietophile organisations in Canada and the United States. On the other hand, the Canadian and American diaspora maintained links with the Ukrainian community in Galicia and the Transcarpathian Region. The political emigration decreased in the mid-1920s due to a return to Soviet Ukraine and a decline in students studying at the Ukrainian universities established outside of Ukraine.
Economic emigration In 1920 and 1921, many Ukrainians left Western Ukraine to settle in the Americas and Western Europe. Most of the emigrates settled in Argentina, Brazil,
Uruguay,
Paraguay, France, the UK and Belgium. The economic crisis of the early 1930s stopped most of this emigration. The emigration picked up again later in the decade. The number of emigrants can be approximated as: • to Canada: almost 70,000 Ukrainians; • to Argentina: 50,000 Ukrainians; • to France: 35,000 Ukrainians; • to the United States: 15,000 Ukrainians; • to Brazil: 10,000 Ukrainians; • to Paraguay and Uruguay: a couple of thousand Ukrainians. Furthermore, many Ukrainians left the Ukrainian SSR and settled in Asia due to political and economic factors, primarily collectivisation and the famine of the 1930s.
Size The Ukrainian diaspora, outside of the Soviet Union, was 1.7-1.8 million people: • In the Americas: • In the United States: 700–800,000 Ukrainians • In Canada: 250,000 Ukrainians • In Argentina: 220,000 Ukrainians • In Brazil: 80,000 Ukrainians • In Western and Central Europe: • In Moldova: approximately 360,000 Ukrainians • In Poland: 100,000 Ukrainians • In France: 40,000 Ukrainians • In Yugoslavia: 40,000 Ukrainians • In Czechoslovakia: 35,000 Ukrainians • In other countries: 15–20,000 Ukrainians (1926 census) According to the Soviet census of 1926, there were 3,450,000 Ukrainians living outside of the
Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, divided as follows: • In the European part of the Soviet Union: 1,310,000 Ukrainians • 242,000 Ukrainians living on land neighbouring the Ukrainian ethnic territory • 771,000 Ukrainians in the Volga and Ural regions • In the Asian part of the Soviet Union: 2,138,000 Ukrainians • 861,000 Ukrainians in Kazakhstan • 830,000 Ukrainians in Siberia • 315,000 Ukrainians in the Far East • 64,000 Ukrainians in
Kyrgyzstan • 33,000 Ukrainians in the Central Asian Republic • 35,000 Ukrainians in the Caucasus Region. In
Siberia, the vast majority of the Ukrainians lived in the Central Asian region and the Zeleny Klyn. On 1 January 1933, there were about 4.5 million Ukrainians (larger than the official figures) in the Soviet Union outside of the Ukrainian SSR, while in America there were 1.1-1.2 million Ukrainians. In 1931, the Ukrainian diaspora can be counted as follows: In the Ukrainian SSR, there were 25,300,278 Ukrainians.
1945–1991 Outside the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe After the Second World War, the Ukrainian diaspora increased due to a second wave of displaced persons. The 250,000 Ukrainians at first settled in Germany and Austria. In the mid-to-late 1940s and early 1950s, these Ukrainians were resettled in many different countries creating new Ukrainian settlements in Australia,
Venezuela, and for a time in
Tunisia (
Ben-Metir), as well as re-enforcing previous settlements in the United States, Canada (primarily
Toronto,
Ontario and
Montreal,
Quebec), Brazil (specially in the
South and
Southeast regions), Argentina and Paraguay. In Europe, there remained between 50,000 and 100,000 Ukrainians that settled in the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. This second wave of emigrants re-invigorated Ukrainian organisations in the Americas and Western Europe. In 1967, in
New York City, the
World Congress of Free Ukrainians was created. Scientific organisations were created. An Institute of Ukrainian Studies at Harvard University was also created. An attempt was made to unite the various religious organisations (Orthodox and Greek Catholic). However, this did not succeed. In the early 1970s, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the United States and Canada and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church in Europe, South America, and Australia managed to unite. Most of the other Orthodox churches maintained some religious links. The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church had to wait until 1980 until its synod was recognised by the
Vatican. The Ukrainian Evangelical and Baptist churches also created an All-Ukrainian Evangelical-Baptist Union.
Within the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe Post-Second World War, there was a strong net migration in the USSR. Most of the Ukrainian contingent that was leaving the Ukrainian SSR for other areas of the Union settled in places with other migrants. The cultural separation from Ukraine proper meant that many were to form the so-called "multicultural soviet nation". In Siberia, 82% of Ukrainian entered mixed marriages, primarily with Russians. This meant that outside the parent national republic and large cities in the Union there was little or no provisions for continuing a diaspora function. Thus Ukrainian literature and television could be found only in larger cities like Moscow. At the same time other signs of Ukrainian cultural heritage such as clothing and food were preserved. According to a Soviet sociologist, 27% of the Ukrainians in Siberia read Ukrainian printed material and 38% used the Ukrainian language. From time to time, Ukrainian groups would visit Siberia. Nonetheless, most of the Ukrainians did assimilate. In Eastern Europe, the Ukrainian diaspora can be divided as follows: • In Poland: 200–300,000 Ukrainians • In Czechoslovakia: 120–150,000 Ukrainians • In Romania: 100–150,000 Ukrainians • In Yugoslavia: 45–50,000 Ukrainians. In all these countries, Ukrainians had the status of a minority nation with their own socio-cultural organisations, schools, and press. The degree of these rights varied within the region. Yugoslavia granted Ukrainians the most rights. The largest Ukrainian diaspora was in Poland. It consisted of those Ukrainians, which were left in the western parts of Galicia that after the Second World War remained in Poland and had not emigrated to the Ukrainian SSR or resettled, and those who were resettled to the western and northern parts of Poland, which before the Second World War had been part of Germany. Ukrainians in Czechoslovakia lived in the
Prešov Region, which can be considered Ukrainian ethnographic territory, and had substantial rights. The Ukrainians in the Prešov Region had their own church organisation. Ukrainians in Romania lived in the Romanian parts of Bukovina and the
Maramureş Region, as well as in scattered settlements throughout Romania. Ukrainians in Yugoslavia lived primarily in Bačka and Srem regions of Vojvodina and Bosnia. These Ukrainians had their own church organisation as the
Eparchy of Križevci.
Size Of the countries where the Ukrainian diaspora had settled, only in Canada and the Soviet Union was information about ethnic background collected. However, the data from the Soviet Union is suspect and underestimates the number of Ukrainians. In 1970, the Ukrainian diaspora can be given as follows: • In the Soviet Union: officially 5.1 million Ukrainians • In the European part: 2.8 million Ukrainians • In the Asian part: 2.3 million Ukrainians • In Eastern Europe (outside of the Soviet Union): 465–650,000 Ukrainians • In Czechoslovakia: 120–150,000 Ukrainians • In Poland: 200–300,000 Ukrainians • In Romania: 100–150,000 Ukrainians • In Yugoslavia: 45–50,000 Ukrainians • In Central and Western Europe: 88–107,000 Ukrainians • In Austria: 4–5,000 Ukrainians • In Germany: 20–25,000 Ukrainians • In France: 30–35,000 Ukrainians • In Belgium: 3–5,000 Ukrainians • In the United Kingdom: 50–100,000 Ukrainians • In the Americas and Australia: 2.2-2.5 million Ukrainians: • In the US: 1.25-1.5 million Ukrainians • In Canada: 581,000 Ukrainians • In Brazil: 120,000 Ukrainians •
In Argentina: 180–200,000 Ukrainians • In Paraguay: 10,000 Ukrainians • In Uruguay: 8,000 Ukrainians • In other American countries: 2,000 Ukrainians •
In Australia and
New Zealand: 30,000 Ukrainians. For the Soviet Union, it can be assumed that about 10-12 million people of Ukrainian (7-9 million in Asia) heritage lived outside the Ukrainian SSR.
Post 1991 After the independence of Ukraine in 1991, many Ukrainians emigrated to Western countries because of an economic depression in the 1990s. Many Ukrainians live in Russia either along the Ukrainian border or in Siberia. In the 1990s, the number of Ukrainians living in Russia was calculated to be around 5 million. These regions, where Ukrainians live, can be subdivided into the following categories: • The northern part of
Sloboda Ukraine where Ukrainians have been living for centuries •
Siberian Ukrainians • The rest of Russia, formed from systematic migration since the start of the 19th century. Ukrainians can also be found in parts of Romania and
Slovakia that border Ukraine. The size of the Ukrainian diaspora has changed over time due to the following factors: • Growth Factors • New emigration from Ukraine • Natural Growth • Decrease Factors • Returning of emigrants to Ukraine • Assimilation
21st century As of 2020, the
European Union was host of over half a million Ukrainian citizens, according to official records of residents collected by
Eurostat. About half of the Ukrainian citizens in the EU were located in
Italy. On 24 February 2022,
Russia launched a
large-scale invasion of Ukraine, which has led to
millions of Ukrainian civilians moving to neighbouring countries. Most crossed into Poland, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic, and others proceeded to at least temporarily settle in Hungary, Moldova, Germany, Austria, Romania and other European countries. Amid the mobilization restrictions the number of illegal border crossess also grows every year, e.g. Romanian Head of the Territorial Inspectorate of the Border Police (ITPF) reported over 13,000 illegal immigrations happening in 2024.
Influence of the Ukrainian Diaspora on Global Politics The Ukrainian diaspora has played a significant role in advocating for Ukraine’s sovereignty and independence, particularly in North America and Europe. Ukrainian communities in Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom have actively supported political movements, such as the recognition of the
Holodomor as genocide and aid to Ukraine during the ongoing war with Russia.
Cultural Preservation and Revival Ukrainian diaspora communities have maintained their cultural identity through dedicated efforts in language preservation, religious institutions, and cultural organizations.
Ukrainian language schools, churches, and festivals, such as the Toronto Ukrainian Festival and the Ukrainian Village in Canada, continue to strengthen ties to Ukrainian heritage and educate future generations about their ancestry. == Extended statistics ==