The Internet in Ukraine is well developed and steadily growing.
, Ukraine was ranked 9th in the "Top 10 Internet countries in Europe", with then 33.9% Internet penetration and 15.3 million users; growing to 36.8% in 2012. However, about 30 million Ukrainians (85% of the country's population older than 15) were Internet users.
In 2011, online retailing turnover in Ukraine exceeded US$2 bn. For 2012, it was expected to reach US$4 bn. Online payments in the country in 2011 where estimated at US$400 million, 200% growth compared to 2010.
, Ukraine ranked 59th among the world's countries by the fixed broadband Internet access speed, with an average download speed of 59.13 mbit/s, and 80th by the mobile network Internet access speed with 25.63 mbit/s.
Freedom House concluded that the Internet in Ukraine is "Partly Free" in 2019 and 2020. There is no completely free internet in Ukraine - Freedom House, Ukrayinska Pravda (14 October 2020)
A Research & Branding Group February 2021 poll found that for the first time Ukrainians preferred the Internet as their primary news source instead of television (51% preferred the Internet and 41% TV).
During the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Internet was partly provided by the Starlink satellite service.Elon Musk says SpaceX's Starlink satellites active over Ukraine after request from embattled country's leaders, The Independent (26 February 2022)
Internet audience According to GlobalLogic, 85% of Ukraine's population older than 15 have had access to Internet in January 2021.Internet users growing to 20% in 2021
Data from database: World Development Indicators Last Updated: 10/14/2016 indicates the data below
Year Population Penetration Internet Users Change from previous year200049,175,8480.72%352,189200148,683,8651.24%603,07671.2%200248,202,5001.87%903,25949.8%200347,812,9503.15%1,505,21366.6%200447,451,6003.49%1,655,81310.0%200547,105,1503.75%1,766,3326.7%200646,787,7504.51%2,108,31419.4%200746,509,3506.55%3,046,36244.5%200846,258,20011.00%5,088,40267.0%200946,053,30017.90%8,243,54162.0%201045,870,70023.30%10,687,87329.7%201145,706,10028.71%13,121,42722.8%201245,593,30035.27%16,080,75722.6%201345,489,60040.95%18,629,86915.9%201445,362,90046.24%20,973,97912.6%201545,198,20049.26%22,264,6336.2%201644,194,41352.5%23,202,0674.2%
Internet services In 2011, the number of subscribers to Internet service providerswhich is significantly lesser that the number of individual Internet users in Ukraine had increased compared to 2010 by 13.3% to 4,148,658. Більше половини українців не користуються інтернетом, Ukrayinska Pravda (2012-07-29) After the 3rd quarter of 2012, the number of broadband subscribers alone exceeded that figure, grown to 6,700,000. 2011 revenues from Internet service providing in Ukraine reached ₴4.75 billion (US$595 million). It is unclear whether these numbers include mobile Internet services which are provided by all of Ukraine's mobile phone operators.
Access technologies All existing standards of Internet access are available in Ukraine, with broadband services mostly limited to cities.
Mobile GPRS access is available in vast majority of Ukraine's territory, including all urban areas and airports, most roads and railway lines, many coastal waters. 3G mobile access market is steadily developing. Public Wi-Fi hotspots are widespread throughout cities. There are plans and projects for providing mass wireless broadband access in urban open spaces, on Ukrzaliznytsia long-distance trains and in urban public transport vehicles. According to Ericsson ConsumerLab, 36% of Ukraine's urban population access the Internet via mobile phone or smartphone.
According to the iKS-Consulting, there were 6 700 000 broadband subscribers in Ukraine as of 3Q 2012; 5.97 million of them were households, which amounts to 34% broadband Internet penetration of all country's households. The consultancy estimated broadband providing revenues in the 3rd quarter of 2012 at ₴1.36 billion (US$167 million), which is the growth 13.7% compared to 3Q 2011 results.
Thousands of national, regional and local ISP operate in Ukraine, with as much 14 ISPs competing for every household client in the capital city Kyiv.У Києві інтернет - мов у Голландії, а на Рівненщині - як в Афганістані (2012-7-29 )
Major Internet service providers According to Expert & Consulting (E&C), the top-10 Ukrainian fixed Broadband Internet service providers had about 3.36 million subscribers as of the 2nd quarter of 2012; as of the 3rd quarter, that figure rose to about 3,46 million subscribers. According to estimations of Expert & Consulting (E&C), there were 7,06 mln. subscribers of fixed Broadband Internet at the end of 1st half of 2013.
Ukrtelecom is the largest Internet access provider (as well as fixed telephone provider) and was the only UMTS 3G provider in Ukraine until 2015, when all three major operators (Vodafone, Kyivstar and Lifecell) have gained the licensing and set up their own 3G networks. In particular, it was serving over 1.4 million DSL/ISDN fixed access clients in June 2012.Укртелеком склав іспит на відмінно: УЄФА ЄВРО 2012 забезпечено телекомунікаціями найвищого рівня! (2012-7-29) The second-largest provider Volia is a major player specializing in cable access combined with TV signal. Both MTSПідключення and KyivstarБезлімітний Інтернет. Технологія (Ukraine's largest mobile phone operators) also offer fixed broadband access along with their mobile Internet services.
Social networks
Facebook There were 1,686,500 Facebook users in Ukraine in 2011 and over 3,000,000 in October 2013. According to the Internet Association of Ukraine 13 million Ukrainians used Facebook in 2019. In 2018, this number had increased by 3 million or 30%, and in the previous five years by 9.8 million or 306.2%. Three years without VKontakte: what social networks do Ukrainians prefer, Ukrayinska Pravda (14 November 2019) The Internet Association of Ukraine claimed in November 2019 that Facebook was the most popular social network of Ukraine.
Twitter According to the Google Analytics, in 2012 the number of daily Twitter visitors from Ukraine reaches 120,000 while the "Yandex.Ukraine" estimated the number of Ukrainian users at 500,000, and GfK Ukraine, a market research company, found that a quarter of Ukrainian Twitter users ignore their accounts completely, while 28 percent check them only occasionally.Ukraine is not a tweeting nation yet, but give it time, Kyiv Post (2012-4-5) Ukrainian politician Yulia Tymoshenko was the most followed Twitter user in Ukraine as of early 2012, with 91,547 followers.
A Research & Branding Group February 2021 poll found 6% of Ukrainians used Twitter.
Instagram According to research by PlusOne Communications Group in March 2019 Ukraine had 11 million Instagram users. Ukrainians under the age of 30 used Instagram more than Facebook.Instagram - social network N1 for Ukrainian youth under the age of 30, Interfax-Ukraine (26 March 2019) According to the Internet Association of Ukraine 3.8 million people used the network in 2017, in 2018 this had been 7.3 million people.
Telegram A Research & Branding Group February 2021 poll found 17% of Ukrainians used Telegram. According to the pollster the number of its users in Ukraine had tripled since 2018.
VK According to Alexa Internet ranking, in 2013 VK was the most visited website in Ukraine. According to the company, in January 2012 VK had more than 20 million registered users from Ukraine (out of a total of 155 million users worldwide); 6.6 million of them visited the site daily.Vkontakte.ru opens representative office in Ukraine, East-West Digital News (25 January 2012), translation from the original: , VK's mean daily audience in Ukraine grew to 9.35 million (according to LiveInternet), which amounted to 20.2% of the network's mean daily global traffic.
On 16 May 2017, President Poroshenko signed a decree requiring providers to block access to VK, as it was claimed they participated in an information war against Ukraine.
According to the Internet Association of Ukraine the share of Ukrainian Internet users who visit VK daily had fallen from 54% to 10% from September 2016 to September 2019. For 2019 VK appeared as the most visited social network in Ukraine according to Alexa. The Internet Association of Ukraine claimed in November 2019 that Facebook was the most popular social network of Ukraine. A Research & Branding Group February 2021 poll found 5% of Ukrainians continued to use VK.In a first, internet bypasses TV as main news source for Ukrainians, UNIAN (23 February 2021)
Internet-based commerce and trade
Online retail According to the 2013 TEMAX index by the GfK, Ukraine's online house appliances and consumer electronics market is the second fastest-growing in Europe (after the Turkish), with estimated 2012 size of . There were estimated 5,000–7,000 online shops in operation across the country, with about 1,300 of them working in the house appliances and consumer electronics sector.
Online ticketing E-ticketing is rapidly growing in Ukraine, being recently boosted by the Ukrzaliznytsia national railway operator's implementation of its own online booking system, available in Ukrainian and English. Tickets for all regular airline flights and vast majority of the intercity bus services are also available for booking or purchase through independent online service providers.
Online banking The vast majority of Ukraine's banks offer online banking (usually free of charge). Payments for vast and growing number of services are accepted online (both through the ATM card payments systems and the independent electronic money facilitators); all possible payments from a person are typically accepted online in big cities.
Internet censorship and surveillance
In December 2010 the OpenNet Initiative found little evidence of Internet filtering in Ukraine in all four areas (political, social, conflict/security, and Internet tools) they tested."ONI Country Profile: Ukraine", OpenNet Initiative, 21 December 2010
In its Freedom on the Net report covering the period from May 2012 to April 2013, Freedom House found the internet in Ukraine to be "largely unhindered" and rated the internet in Ukraine as "Free" with an overall score of 28, on a scale from 0 (most free) to 100 (least free). The report said that "there is no practice of institutionalized blocking or filtering, or a regulatory framework for censorship of content online", but "there have been attempts at creating legislation which could censor or limit content" and would "present indirect threats to freedom of information online.""Ukraine" , Freedom on the Net 2013, Freedom House, 30 September 2013. Retrieved 5 February 2014.
Access to the internet in Ukraine remains largely unfettered. Ukraine possesses relatively liberal legislation governing the Internet and access to information. The Law on Protection of Public Morals of 20 November 2003, prohibits the production and circulation of pornography; dissemination of products that propagandize war or spread national and religious intolerance; humiliation or insult to an individual or nation on the grounds of nationality, religion, or ignorance; and the propagation of "drug addiction, toxicology, alcoholism, smoking and other bad habits."
While there are no government restrictions on internet access, law enforcement bodies are known to using online monitoring, at times without permission. Bloggers and online publications have accused law enforcement agencies of interference."Ukraine", Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2012, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, U.S. Department of State, 15 April 2013. Retrieved 5 February 2014.