Passenger traffic across the Ukrainian border in the week of January 25-31 dropped by another 4% compared to the previous week, to 435 thousand, while net inflows to Ukraine have been recorded for the third consecutive week as the holidays come to an end.
According to the State Border Guard Service’s Facebook page, the number of crossings for exit decreased from 220,000 to 213,000, while the number of crossings for entry decreased from 233,000 to 222,000.
The number of vehicles crossing the checkpoints decreased from 119,000 to 115,000 over the week, while the flow of vehicles with humanitarian cargo decreased from 586 to 493.
According to the State Border Guard Service, as of 12:00 this Sunday, there were small queues of 5 cars only at the Luzhanka and Vylok checkpoints on the border with Hungary.
The total number of people crossing the border this week in 2025 is higher than last year’s: 205 thousand people left Ukraine and 202 thousand entered during the same seven days, with a traffic flow of 112 thousand cars. Last year, this week, passenger traffic stabilized and remained at this level almost until the spring school holidays.
As reported, on May 10, 2022, the outflow of refugees from Ukraine, which began with the outbreak of war, was replaced by an influx that lasted until September 23, 2022 and amounted to 409 thousand people. However, since the end of September, possibly under the influence of news about mobilization in Russia and “pseudo-referendums” in the occupied territories, and then massive shelling of energy infrastructure, the number of people leaving has been exceeding the number of people entering. It temporarily stopped in the second half of December and early January during the holidays, but then resumed again and reached a total of 223 thousand people from the end of September 2022 to the first anniversary of the full-scale war.
During the second year of the full-scale war, the number of border crossings to leave Ukraine, according to the State Border Guard Service, exceeded the number of crossings to enter by 25 thousand, while since the beginning of the third year, the number of crossings has increased by another 188 thousand.
As Deputy Economy Minister Serhiy Sobolev noted in early March 2023, the return of every 100,000 Ukrainians home results in a 0.5% increase in GDP.
In its January inflation report, the National Bank estimated the outflow from Ukraine in 2024 at 0.5 million (0.315 million according to the State Border Guard Service). In absolute terms, the number of migrants staying abroad will increase to 6.8 million in 2024. The NBU also maintained its outflow forecast for 2025 at 0.2 million.
According to updated UNHCR data, the number of Ukrainian refugees in Europe as of January 16, 2025, was estimated at 6.303 million, and 6.863 million worldwide, which is 49 thousand more than as of December 16.
In Ukraine itself, according to the latest UN data, 3.6 million internally displaced persons (IDPs), including approximately 160,000 people, were displaced from the frontline areas in the east and south between May and October 2024 due to the intensification of hostilities.
