Hromada
Third-level administrative divisions of Ukraine
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In Ukraine, a territorial hromada (територіальна громада [ɦrɔˈmadɐ]; lit. 'territorial mcommunity') is the main type of municipality and the third level local self-government in Ukraine. The current hromadas were established by the Government of Ukraine on 12 June 2020.[1]
A municipality is designated urban hromada if its administration is located in a city; settlement hromada if it is located in a settlement (selyshche), and rural hromada if it is located in a village (selo) or a selyshche.[2] Hromadas are grouped to form raions (districts); groups of raions form oblasts (regions). Optionally, a municipality may be divided into starosta okruhs (similar to civil parishes in Great Britain or frazioni in Italy), which are the lowest level of local government in Ukraine.
Similar terms exist in Poland (gromada) and in Belarus (hramada). The literal translation of this term is "community", similar to the terms used in western European states, such as Germany (Gemeinde), France (commune), Italy (comune), and Portugal (freguesia), or in several English-speaking countries (township).
List of hromadas
In total, there are 1469 hromadas (as of 1 October 2023), including:
- 409 urban hromadas (Ukrainian: міська громада),
- 435 selyshche hromadas (Ukrainian: селищна громада),
- 625 rural hromadas (Ukrainian: сільська громада).
| Region | Number of hromadas | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hromada type | Total | |||
| urban | settlement | rural | ||
 Zakarpattia Oblast |
11 | 18 | 35 | 64 |
 Cherkasy Oblast |
16 | 10 | 40 | 66 |
 Chernivtsi Oblast |
11 | 7 | 34 | 52 |
 Chernihiv Oblast |
16 | 24 | 17 | 57 |
 Donetsk Oblast |
43 | 14 | 9 | 66 |
 Dnipropetrovsk Oblast |
20 | 25 | 41 | 86 |
 Kharkiv Oblast |
17 | 26 | 13 | 56 |
 Kherson Oblast |
9 | 17 | 23 | 49 |
 Khmelnytskyi Oblast |
13 | 22 | 25 | 60 |
 Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast |
15 | 23 | 24 | 62 |
 Kyiv Oblast |
24 | 23 | 22 | 69 |
 Kirovohrad Oblast |
12 | 16 | 21 | 49 |
 Luhansk Oblast |
20 | 12 | 5 | 37 |
 Lviv Oblast |
39 | 16 | 18 | 73 |
 Mykolaiv Oblast |
9 | 14 | 29 | 52 |
 Odesa Oblast |
19 | 25 | 47 | 91 |
 Poltava Oblast |
16 | 20 | 24 | 60 |
 Rivne Oblast |
11 | 13 | 40 | 64 |
 Sumy Oblast |
15 | 15 | 21 | 51 |
 Ternopil Oblast |
18 | 16 | 21 | 55 |
 Vinnytsia Oblast |
18 | 22 | 23 | 63 |
 Volyn Oblast |
11 | 18 | 25 | 54 |
 Zaporizhzhia Oblast |
14 | 17 | 36 | 67 |
 Zhytomyr Oblast |
12 | 22 | 32 | 66 |
 Ukraine |
409 | 435 | 625 | 1469 |
History
Prior to 2020, the basic units of administrative division in Ukraine were rural councils, settlement councils and city councils, which were often referred to by the generic term hromada.
The concept of modern hromadas was developed as part of the decentralization reform initiated in the mid-2010s. In June 2014, President Petro Poroshenko proposed constitutional amendments to reorganize the administrative divisions of Ukraine into oblasts, raions and hromadas.[3]
On 5 February 2015, the Ukrainian parliament adopted the law "On voluntary association of territorial communities", which enabled the creation of amalgamated hromadas (Ukrainian: об'єднана територіальна громада). These were formed through the voluntary merger of existing local councils (rural, settlement, and cities of district significance) into larger administrative units intended to improve governance capacity and financial sustainability.[4]
Amalgamated hromadas became the key instrument of decentralization reform. They were granted expanded powers and resources, taking over many responsibilities previously held by raions, including education, healthcare, cultural services, and social welfare.[5] They also gained increased fiscal autonomy, collecting and managing local taxes more effectively than the former fragmented system.[6]
The formation of amalgamated hromadas progressed rapidly between 2015 and 2020, primarily on a voluntary basis. New local elections were held in these units as they were established. By March 2020, 1,045 amalgamated hromadas had been created, with plans to complete nationwide coverage.[7]
On 12 June 2020, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approved a comprehensive reform of the administrative-territorial structure at the basic level. This reform established a unified system of hromadas covering the entire territory of Ukraine (except Crimea). All previously existing amalgamated hromadas, along with older local councils, were incorporated into the new system of hromadas (territorial communities).[1]
Initially, 1,470 hromadas were approved. On 12 August 2020, the Sokoliv hromada of Cherkasy Oblast was merged into the Zhashkiv hromada, bringing the total number to 1,469.[8]
The Constitution of Ukraine and the law "On local self-governance" define the rights and responsibilities of hromadas as the primary units of local self-government in Ukraine.
Administrative tasks and objectives
Each hromada carries out two types of task: own and commissioned. Own tasks are public tasks exercised by self-government, which serve to satisfy the needs of the community. The tasks can be twofold:
- compulsory – where the municipality cannot decline to carry out the tasks, and must set up a budget to carry them out in order to provide the inhabitants with the basic public benefits.
- optional – where the municipality can carry them out in accordance with available budgetary means, set out only to specific local needs (on the hromada's own responsibility and budget).
Own objectives
Own high objectives include matters such as spatial harmony, real estate management, environmental protection and nature conservation, water management, country roads, public streets, bridges, squares and traffic systems, water supply systems and source, the sewage system, removal of urban waste, water treatment, maintenance of cleanliness and order, sanitary facilities, dumps and council waste, supply of electric and thermal energy and gas, public transport, health care, welfare, care homes, subsidised housing, public education, cultural facilities including public libraries and other cultural institutions, historic monuments conservation and protection, the sports facilities and tourism including recreational grounds and devices, marketplaces and covered markets, green spaces and public parks, communal graveyards, public order and safety, fire and flood protection with equipment maintenance and storage, maintaining objects and devices of the public utility and administrative buildings, pro-family policy including social support for pregnant women, medical and legal care, supporting and popularising the self-government initiatives and cooperation within the commune including with non-governmental organizations, interaction with regional communities from other countries, etc.
Commissioned tasks
Commissioned tasks cover the remaining public tasks resulting from legitimate needs of the state, commissioned by central government for the units of local government to implement. The tasks are handed over on the basis of statutory by-laws, charters and regulations, or by way of agreements between the self-government units and central-government administration.
