Administratively Urban, Functionally Rural: Misclassification of Ukraine’s Territorial Communities and Implications For Governance and EU Integration

Abstract

This article examines the functional rurality of Ukraine’s territorial communities by applying European approaches to territorial classification. Specifically, it applies Eurostat- and OECD-based criteria, namely population density (the OECD threshold of 150 inhabitants per square kilometre) and the share of the rural population, to the level of local administrative units (territorial communities), drawing on pre-war 2020–2021 data. It shows that more than 90% of communities have a rural or mixed urban-rural character, encompassing over 95% of the rural population, although current administrative and statistical categories do not reflect this reality. This mismatch weakens the visibility of rural needs in local governance and complicates the targeting of rural development policy. The findings are particularly relevant in the context of Ukraine’s EU integration and post-war reconstruction, where a function-based understanding of territorial communities is essential for effective governance and policy design.