The actual population of the region, according to the All-Ukrainian Population Census‘ 2001 data, accounted for 2,914.2 thousand people.

The number of the urban population, according to the All-Ukrainian Population Census data, accounted for 2,288.7 thousand persons, or 78.5%, and that of the rural population 625.5 thousand people, or 21.5%.

According to the All-Ukrainian Population Census data, the number of men totaled 1,339.5 people, or 46%, that of women - 1,574.7 thousand people, or 54%.

The total number of towns, according to administrative and territorial division on the Crnsus Day, amounted to 17. Among them 14 towns numbered more than 50,000 inhabitants. Besides Kharkiv city numbered more than 1,470.9 thousand inhabitants.

The permanent population of the region as of 5 December 2001 totaled 2,895.8 thousand people - 1,328.9 thousand people were male, or 45.9%, and 1,566.9 thousand people were female, or 54.1%, the urban population – 2,266.4 thousand people, or 78.3%, the rural population – 629.4 thousand people, or 21.7%.

The age structure of the population is characterized by the reduction of the part of children in total population, while the part of the persons at the older than able-to-work age has increased. These factors considerably complicate present demographic situation in the region and leads to the growing ageing of the population.

The characteristic property of the national structure of the population of Kharkiv region is its multinational composition. According to the All-Ukrainian Population Census data, the representatives of more than 111 nationalities and ethnic groups live on the territory of the region.

The language structure of the region, according to the All-Ukrainian Population Census‘ 2001 data, is characterized by the following data: the part of those whose mother tongue is Ukrainian totals 53.8% of the population of the region, this is by 3.3 percentage points more than in 1989. The part of those whose mother tongue is Russian totals 44.3% of the population, comparatively with the data of previous census this index has decreased by 3.8 percentage points.

The All-Ukrainian Population Census‘ 2001 results testified to the tendency to the rise of the educational standard of the population and the increase in the number of people with higher and complete secondary education.

According to the All-Ukrainian Population Census‘ 2001 data, of married men and women accounted for 1,386.1thousand persons.