Total wage arrears in Ukraine in 2015 increased by UAH 561 million, or 42.5%, to UAH 1.881 billion, the State Statistics Service has reported.

According to its data, in December 2015 the debt decreased by 6.5%, or UAH 130.2 million, returning to the level of early June 2015.

Wage arrears at economically active enterprises in the past year increased by 36%, to UAH 1.303 billion, but in December it decreased by 8.5%, or by UAH 120.4 million.

The agency notes that the largest increase in wage arrears in 2015 was recorded in Luhansk region by 8.1 times, to UAH 506.8 million, in particular at economically active enterprises by 11.5 times, to UAH 496 million.

It is followed by Odesa region, where wage arrears rose by 2.3 times, to UAH 52.9 million, however in absolute terms Donetsk region ranks second, although wage arrears there decreased by 0.9%, to UAH 360.6 million.

Altogether Luhansk (27%), Donetsk (19.2%) and Kharkiv regions (8.6%) account for more than half of the debt.