Ukrainians enjoyed a giant rise in wages in the last 25 years. In fact, in 2020 people earn 140 times more than in 1995. Obviously, the prices in the country also went up substantially as compared to the decade of 1990s, and a large part of this increase in the size of the average pay check is due to inflation.

Ukrainians earn 140 times more than 25 years ago

It’s hard to believe, but in 1995 the average Ukrainian salary was only 73 hryvnia. By 2019 it went up to 10,497 UAH, Finance.ua reported.

The information on how salaries in UAH and USD changed in the last 25 years was published on the official website of the department of statistics Ukrstat.

To be precise, the national currency hryvnia was only introduced in 1996. The data for 1995 is the transfer into rubles according to the exchange rate of the following year.

Fluctuations in the currency exchange reflected inflation in the country. The highest inflation rates were from 2013 to 2016, the time of economic crisis in the country, caused by the conflict with Russia and annexation of Crimea, with the beginning of the separatists movements in the East (Donetsk and Luhansk).

• In US dollars, wages in Ukraine went up by 5.9 times: from $69 in 1996 to $406 in 2019.
• According to Ukrstat, the average pay check in Ukraine increased by 56% in 2016-2019. The average wage in 2019 was nearly 20% higher than in 2013 (in 2014 there was a big drop in real wages due to inflation).
• In January 2020 the average wage in Ukraine was 10,727 hryvnia ($428).

The numbers below are averaged for the year: Both earnings and the USD to hryvnia exchange rates.

In March 2020, the exchange rate between USD and hryvnia went up sharply from 24 to 28 UAH per 1 USD, due to the uncertain economic situation worldwide.

President Zelensky, who was elected in April 2019, promised to raise salaries in Ukraine to the level of workers in Poland during his time in the office.

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