contrast, the monthly wage in the city of Kyiv was 18,869 hryvnias per month, and in Kyiv oblast – 13,259 per month. In 2013, outside of the capital city of Kyiv, the wealthiest region was Donetsk Oblast with annual income 31,048 hryvnias. But as of 2017, Donetsk Oblast ranks as the second poorest after Luhansk Oblast with annual incomes 25,278 hryvnias and 16,416 hryvnias respectively. Both are in the eastern Ukraine and have sustained direct losses as a consequence of military actions. Ukraine recorded one of the sharpest declines in poverty of any transition economy in 2001–2016 years. The poverty rate, measured against an absolute poverty line (below $1.25 per day in dollars, based on World Bank) fell from a high of 32 percent in 2001 to 8 percent in 2005. In terms of poverty rates, the central and northern regions have the country's highest poverty rates – 10.0%. The western and southern regions – 9.1% and 9% respectively. Kyiv City had the lowest poverty rate – 1.4%. Percent of population living under $5.50 a day was 19% in 2005 and dropped to 4.0 percent in 2018. Urbanization Migration Emigration Ukraine is the major source of migrants in many of the member states of the European Union. During the 1990s and early 2000s, Ukraine's sputtering economy and political instability contributed to rising emigration, especially to nearby Poland and Hungary, but also to other countries like Italy, Portugal, Spain, Israel and Canada. Although estimates vary, approximately two to three million Ukrainian citizens are currently working abroad, in construction, service, housekeeping, and agriculture industries. Between 1991 and 2004, the government counted 2,537,400 individuals who emigrated; 1,897,500 moved to other post-Soviet states, and 639,900 moved to other, mainly Western, states. By the early 2000s, Ukrainian embassies reported that 300,000 Ukrainian citizens were working in Poland, 200,000 in Italy, approximately 200,000 in the Czech Republic, 150,000 in Portugal, 100,000 in Spain, 35,000 in Turkey, 20,000 in the United States and small significant numbers in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK. The largest number of Ukrainian workers abroad, about one million, are in the Russian Federation. Since 1992, 232,072 persons born in Ukraine have emigrated to the US. From the point of view of the economic impact on natives, more appropriate than the absolute numbers is the volume of immigration as a proportion of the native population. Italy has the highest