In 2008, the combined wealth of Ukraine's 50 richest oligarchs was equal to 85% of Ukraine's GDP.[3] In November 2013, this number was 45% (of GDP).[4] Ukrainian GDP fell by 7% in 2014, and shrank 12% in 2015.[5] By 2015, due to the Russo-Ukrainian War, the total net worth of the five richest and most influential Ukrainians at that time (Rinat Akhmetov, Viktor Pinchuk, Ihor Kolomoyskyi, Henadiy Boholyubov and Yuriy Kosiuk) had dropped from $21.6 billion in 2014 to $11.85 billion in June 2015.[6] According to a research by The New Voice of Ukraine in November 2023 there were only two billionaires left in Ukraine, these being Rinat Akhmetov ($6.59 billion) and Viktor Pinchuk ($1.72 billion).[7] In November 2022 they had counted nine billionaires.[7] The February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and its negative impact on the economy of Ukraine led to the decline in billionaires.[8]
Usage
Oligarchs were usually defined as businessmen with direct influence on both politics and the economy. During the 1990s, oligarchs emerged in Ukraine as politically-connected nouveau riche whose wealth came through ties to the corrupt — but democratically elected — government of Ukraine in its transition to a market economy. Later, numerous Ukrainian business people took control of a political party. The Party of Greens of Ukraine, Labour Ukraine and Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (united) are examples of this,[1] while other oligarchs started new parties to gain seats and influence in the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian parliament).
The rise of the oligarchs has been connected to the privatization of state-owned assets, the distribution of property titles to state-owned enterprises, land, and real estate, on an equal basis to the entire population of the country, through instruments such as privatization vouchers, certificates, and coupons. Given different levels of risk-aversity, property titles were easily re-sold. Businessmen who could provide initial investment capital were able to collect these property titles and thus take control over of formerly public holdings.
Various Western nations have raised national security concerns over the oligarchic kleptocracy since the early 2000s but these gained greater salience after the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine raised the national security implications of a great deal of money—sourced from Ukraine or Russia but spent in the West—finding its way into matters of national security.[9]
The oligarchs' influence on the Ukrainian government was extreme. In 2011 some analysts and Ukrainian politicians believed that some Ukrainian businesses tycoons with "lucrative relations" with Russia were deliberately hindering Ukraine's European Union integration.[10]
In 2021 Ukraine passed a law that defined an oligarch as someone fulfilling three of the following four criteria:
They have a fortune of $80 million (€75 million) or more;
They exert political influence
Own media outlets
Have beneficial ownership of a monopoly
There is a requirement to register on the "register of oligarchs". They are then banned from financing political parties, cannot participate in the privatisation of major companies and must submit a special declaration of their income.[11]
List of oligarchs by wealth
In total, in September 2021 the top 100 wealthiest business people in Ukraine controlled around $44.5 billion, according to Forbes,[12] 27% of Ukrainian GDP.[13]
The top 5 Ukrainian oligarchs with net worth of at least $1 billion in 2024 were identified as:[13][14]
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