Demographic and Spatial Dimensions
By the end of the 18th century – a period when population growth in Europe increased dramatically – Ukrainians numbered close to 10 million and, following the Russians, inhabited the largest land area in Europe.
But lacking a state of their own and governed by foreign states, they were politically imperceptible. For an overview of the regions in the Russian Empire and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth that were largely inhabited by Ukrainians, see table 3.The population density of the Ukrainian lands was uneven. The most heavily populated region was Eastern Galicia with a population density of 35 per sq. km; on the Left Bank it was 25 per sq. km; on the Right Bank 20 per sq. km; and in the recently acquired steppe region of southern Ukraine, it was a mere 5 per sq. km. By comparison, Western Europe at this time had an average population density of about 50 per sq. km. The ethnic composition of the lands inhabited by Ukrainians also varied greatly from region to region. Ukrainians made up about 95% of the population of the Left Bank; about 90% of the Right Bank; close to 75% of Eastern Galicia; and about 65% of southern Ukraine. Migratory movement was considerable and most of it flowed from the Left Bank to the Right and especially to the south.