Language

Ukrainians constitute the largest ethnic group in Kiev learn to speak russian, and they account for 2,110,800 people, or 82.2% of the population. Russians comprise 337,300 (13.1%), Jews 17,900 (0.7%), Belarusians 16,500 (0.6%), Poles 6,900 (0.3%), Armenians 4,900 (0.2%), Azerbaijanis 2,600 (0.1%), Tatars 2,500 (0.1%), Georgians 2,400 (0.1%), Moldovans 1,900 (0.1%). Both Ukrainian and Russian are commonly spoken in the city; the Russian language is more widely used despite the fact that Ukrainian is claimed as their native language by almost three times as many residents as those who claim Russian. According to a 2006 survey, Ukrainian is used at home by 23% of Kievans, as 52% use Russian and 24% switch between both. Russian knowledge should be available. At least if students are able to read the Cyrillic alphabet they will find there way. In the streets only a few people are able to speak English, but almost everybody speaks Russian.