Salaries are up to €2,000 and pensions are €1,500: Kim believes that in 10 years Mykolaiv region will be second in the world in terms of happiness

Vitalii Kim, head of the Mykolaiv Regional State Administration, screenshot from YouTube by KSHDA Media

Vitalii Kim, the head of the Mykolaiv Regional State Administration, believes that in ten years the average salary in Mykolaiv region could reach two thousand euros, and the pension could reach one and a half thousand euros.

In an interview with KShDU Media, he said that the region should become the second happiest in the world after Denmark.

«I want the average salary in Mykolaiv region to be about two thousand euros. Everything else will be fine. When the pension is one and a half thousand euros, everyone will buy a little bit of everything they need for the rest of their lives, cover their basic needs, start having a rest, travelling abroad, seeing the world, and so on. This is what Mykolaiv region, Ukraine, will look like in 10 years' time, with a «Good» index, the second happiest in the world after Denmark,» Kim said.

He believes that material stability will allow people to focus on development:

«When you spend 80% of your time paying the utility bills, buying food or dressing your children, you have no time for development and pleasure — you are blue. And when you realise that everything is fine and you have another 300 euros left over every month, you can plan your life, where to go, where to barbecue, where to spend time with your children, and you develop. That's how I see Mykolaiv region and Ukraine in 10 years' time».

Salaries in Mykolaiv region increased by almost 60%: what is known

In Ukraine, salaries have changed unevenly over the first nine months of 2025, with the largest growth recorded in advertising, design, IT, education, translation, and entry-level positions.

In the south of Ukraine, particularly in Mykolaiv region, median salaries increased significantly in September:

• In the field of cleaning and domestic staff, they rose to 9.6 thousand hryvnias (+63% since the beginning of the year).
• In the category of call centres and telecommunications, they rose to 20 thousand hryvnias (+43%).