Populated places in Ukraine are systematized into two major categories: urban and rural. Urban populated places can be either cities or urban settlements, while rural populated places can be either villages or rural settlements. According to the 2001 Ukrainian Census there are 1,344 urban populated places and 28,621 rural populated places in Ukraine. All populated places are governed by their municipality, may it be a village, a city or any settlement. A municipality may consist of one or several populated places and is either a constituent part of a raion or separated from its surrounding raion becoming the equivalent of a raion. Certain city municipalities may be constituents of an oblast or the whole Ukraine such as Kiev or Sevastopol. Kiev and Sevastopol are the only populated places that also have local state administrations. In 1995 there was created a special category for mountainous populated places in Ukraine. Mountainous status is received by populated places located in mountainous area, have inadequately developed sphere of employment and social services as well as a limited transportation access.
Urban populated places
Cities
Cities compose a unique subcategory of populated places in Ukraine. This subcategory is divided into several classes depending on level of administration in Ukraine.
City of district significance is treated as a subdivision of district, may it be a regular raion, raions in city or simply a city of regional significance. Any city that is not a city of regional significance nor with special status is of district significance.
Cities most often serve as administrative centers of regions or districts. Cities are administrated by city councils, while selected cities may have State Regional Administration. Unlike other populated places in Ukraine, a city always has its own council. City status a settlement receives on a decision of the Supreme Council of Ukraine - Verkhovna Rada. Cities that have population of less than 50,000 are considered to be small cities and fall under a special state program in development of small cities. According to the 2001 Ukrainian Census there are 454 cities in Ukraine, among which two with special status, 178 of regional significance and 274 of district significance.
Urban-type settlements
Urban settlement is a Soviet invented term for a populated place with some degree of urbanization or in proximity to an urbanized area. In the Constitution of Ukraineurban settlement is mentioned simply as selysche, which also adds another ambiguity to the administrative territorial system of Ukraine. The term selysche is also used to some smaller populated places which often part of silrada, while can be found within other administrative territorial subdivisions. Those settlements implicitly known as rural settlements, while often presented simply as settlements giving impression of an urban settlement. Urban settlements sometimes may serve as administrative centers of districts. Unlike cities, urban-type settlements do not necessarily have an associated settlement council. While some are governed by local settlement councils, others are administered from the district or city level of governance. According to the 2001 Ukrainian Census there are 890 urban settlements in Ukraine and only 783 settlement councils.
Rural populated places
Rural populated places or rural localities can refer to two different types of inhabited places: villages and rural settlements. Rural populated places in Ukraine are very underdeveloped and often lack basic types of infrastructure: transportation, utilities and others.
Villages
Village as a term became systematic for a conventional rural populated place and most numerous out of all terms used for populated places in a country. It is administrated by silrada and is the lowest level and most common form of territorial administration at that level. A rural council may be composed of a single village or group of villages. According to the 2001 Ukrainian Census there are 27,190 villages in Ukraine that organized into 10,278 rural councils.
Rural settlements
The term selysche has a double meaning in the administrative-territorial system of Ukraine. It may be used either for urban-type settlements or for some smaller populated places which often part of silrada, while can be found within other administrative territorial subdivisions. Those settlements are implicitly known as rural settlements while often presented simply as settlements which might give the impression of an urban settlement. Most often rural settlements are constituent parts of adjacent village, urban settlement or city, while on some occasions may be administrated by their own rural council. Unlike villages, a rural settlement may be part of a city or another settlement council. According to the 2001 Ukrainian Census there are 1,266 rural settlements in Ukraine.
