Editing Ukrainian language (section)

===Independence in the modern era===
[[File:Ukraine census 2001 Ukrainian.svg|thumb|right|upright=1.35|Percentage of people with Ukrainian as their native language according to 2001 census (by region)]]
[[File:Inf board metro.JPG|thumb|upright=1.35|Modern signs in the [[Kyiv Metro]] are in Ukrainian. The evolution in their language followed the changes in the language policies in post-war Ukraine. Originally, all signs and voice announcements in the metro were in Ukrainian, but their language was changed to Russian in the early 1980s, at the height of Shcherbytsky's gradual Russification. In the [[perestroika]] liberalization of the late 1980s, the signs were changed to bilingual. This was accompanied by bilingual voice announcements in the trains. In the early 1990s, both signs and voice announcements were changed again from bilingual to Ukrainian-only during the [[De-Russification|de-russification]] campaign that followed Ukraine's independence.{{citation needed|date=October 2023}} Since 2012 the signs have been in both Ukrainian and English.]]

Since 1991, Ukrainian has been the official state language in Ukraine, and the state administration implemented government policies to broaden the use of Ukrainian. The educational system in Ukraine has been transformed over the first decade of independence from a system that is partly Ukrainian to one that is overwhelmingly so. The government has also mandated a progressively increased role for Ukrainian in the media and commerce.{{citation needed|date=October 2023}}

In the [[Ukrainian Census (2001)|2001 census]], 67.5% of the country's population named Ukrainian as their native language (a 2.8% increase from 1989), while 29.6% named Russian (a 3.2% decrease).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://2001.ukrcensus.gov.ua/eng/results/general/language/ |title=About number and composition population of UKRAINE by All-Ukrainian population census 2001 data |access-date=11 April 2021 |archive-date=24 September 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140924081100/http://2001.ukrcensus.gov.ua/eng/results/general/language/ |url-status=live }}</ref> For many Ukrainians (of various ethnic origins), the term ''[[native language]]'' may not necessarily associate with the language they use more frequently. The overwhelming majority of ethnic Ukrainians consider the Ukrainian language ''native'', including those who often speak Russian.<ref name=2001ukrcensusKievLang/>

According to the official 2001 census data, 92.3% of Kyiv region population responded "Ukrainian" to the ''native language'' (''ridna mova'') census question, compared with 88.4% in 1989, and 7.2% responded "Russian".<ref name=2001ukrcensusKievLang>{{cite web |url=http://2001.ukrcensus.gov.ua/eng/results/general/language/Kiev/ |title=About number and composition population of Kiev Region by data All-Ukrainian census of the population 2001 |access-date=11 April 2021 |archive-date=11 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210411075657/http://2001.ukrcensus.gov.ua/eng/results/general/language/Kiev/ |url-status=live }}</ref> 

In 2019, the [[law of Ukraine "On protecting the functioning of the Ukrainian language as the state language"]] was approved by the parliament, formalizing rules governing the usage of the language and introducing penalties for violations.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.Kievpost.com/ukraine-politics/parliament-passes-ukrainian-language-bill.html?cn-reloaded=1|title=Parliament passes Ukrainian language bill|author=Oleg Sukhov|date=25 April 2019|newspaper=Kiev Post|access-date=2 May 2019|archive-date=8 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308204648/https://www.Kievpost.com/ukraine-politics/parliament-passes-ukrainian-language-bill.html?cn-reloaded=1|url-status=live}}</ref>