Fact-checking 2019 presidential campaign

In Corruption Perceptions Index published by Transparency International in 2013, Ukraine scored 25 points of 100 and was ranked 144th among 175 countries and territories. In 2018, Ukraine earned 32 points and placed 120th among 180 countries and territories.

Switzerland doesn’t hold as many referendums. Since 2011, there have been a total of 73 referendums (roughly nine per year), according to the Federal Council website.

As of 2017, there were 5.9 million migrants from Ukraine, according to United Nations estimates. The UN counts as emigrants all people born in a particular country who no longer live there. For example, in Russia after the collapse of the USSR there were three million Ukrainians. The International Organization for Migration in 2016 reported somewhat higher figures. They estimated that there are about 8.2 million people of Ukrainian descent living outside Ukraine, citing foreign censuses.

Natural gas production in Ukraine has been increasing since 2016. In 2015, it was at 19.9 billion cubic meters, Naftogaz reported. In 2016, this number increased by 200 million cubic meters, and in 2017 - by 450 million more. 

There are no official statistics on the labor migration of medical workers abroad. The State Statistics Service estimated that the number of physicians of all specialties remained practically at the same level during 2014-2017 (186,000 people). During this period, however, the number of nurses, medical assistants and midwives decreased by 19,000.

In fact, the World Bank ranked Ukraine the 60th among the nations with its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) worth $112 billion in 2017. For correct comparison, it is worth ranking countries when their GDP is adjusted by purchasing power parity (PPP) per person. By GDP (PPP) Ukraine is ranked 116th, ahead of 73 countries.

For the 2014 presidential election, almost 34.7 million ballots were produced. As of Dec. 31, some 35.6 million voters are listed in the State Registry of Voters. But this is not the final count, according to Oleksandr Stelmakh, the head of the State Registry of Voters, as the number includes a million of voters who are no longer registered and some 4.6 million of people who reside on the territories that are not controlled by Ukraine. At the same time, mortality does exceed birth rates in Ukraine. According to the State Statistics Service, in January-November 2018, the number of deaths in Ukraine reached 535,104 when the number of newborns was 1,7 times lower - standing at 312,603.

Ukraine indeed ranks 71st in the 2019 Ease of Doing Business ranking. In 2012 report, the country was placed 152nd. Ukraine managed to strengthen its position and climb 81 places in not four but seven years. The bigger gain, however, was for Russia and Uzbekistan, which climbed 89 and 90 points respectively.   Between 2007 and 2014, Rwanda successfully improved its rating and jumped 126 positions up in the ranking. The swiftest progress was made by Georgia, from 100th place in 2006 to 37th in 2007. In the 2013 report, it was among the top 10 countries. Somalia was first included in the ranking in 2017 and is currently ranked 190th among 190 economies in the Ease of Doing Business, according to the latest World Bank annual rankings.

Murayev was probably referring to the research by the Rating Group commissioned by the International Republican Institute. According to the research, 43 percent of respondents agree with the statement that “Ukraine has to abandon integration with the European Union and the Customs Union along with Russia.”  At the same time, 58 percent supported integration into the EU and 20 percent agreed that Ukraine needed to integrate with the Customs Union. So a part of the respondents chose two variants simultaneously, although they are contradictory. One would be more correct to consider the polls where only one response is possible. They showed a lower number of people who want a neutral status for Ukraine. In the poll conducted by the Democratic Initiatives Foundation, 24.1 percent of the respondents said a non-aligned status would be best way for ensuring Ukraine’s security. And in the poll by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, 30.1 percent of the respondents said that Ukraine should join neither the EU, nor the Customs Union.