At the close of the 16th century, there were about 45,000 Jews living in the eastern regions of Poland which were inhabited by Ukrainians. In the census of 1764, 258,000 Jews were enumerated although actual number was probably in excess of 300,000. In 1847, official sources put the Jewish population at 600,000 in the Ukrainian regions belonging to Russia. According to the census of 1897, there were almost 2,000,000 Jews in these regions (9.2 % of the total population). By the census of 1926, various provinces had been detached and incorporated in Poland. According to this census, there were about 1,600,000 Jews in the Ukrainian Republic of the USSR (about 5.43% of the total population). The census of 1939 showed about 1,530,000 Jews in the Ukraine (about 4.9% of the total population).
During World War II, over half of the Jewish population of the Ukraine was murdered by the Germans. According to the 1959 census, there were about 840,000 Jews in the Ukraine (about 2% of the total). As a result of significant emigration, the Jewish population is now estimated at about 310,000, which still makes the Ukraine the third largest Jewish community in Europe and the fifth largest in the world.
Encyclopedia Judaica, CD-Rom Edition, Keter Publishing
Copyright © 1998-99 Edward Victor