As of June 30, 2023, 4 million 65.6 thousand non-EU citizens who fled Ukraine as a result of the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022, had temporary protection status in the EU, Eurostat reports.
“Compared to the end of May 2023, the number of recipients of temporary protection from Ukraine increased in the EU by 45,800 people (+1.1%). The largest increase was observed in Germany (+21,830; +2.0%), the Czech Republic (+9,050; +2.7%) and Ireland (+3,100; +3.7%),” the statistical agency said.
According to its data, the main EU countries hosting recipients of temporary protection from Ukraine were Germany (1 million 133.4 thousand people; 28% of the total), Poland (977.74 thousand people; 24%) and the Czech Republic (349.14 thousand people; 9%).
On the other hand, Eurostat added, four countries saw a decrease in the number of persons enjoying temporary protection: Poland (-4,700; -0.5%), Portugal (-2,520; -4%), Estonia (-1,885; -5%) and France (-985; -1%).
The agency recalled that in May the number of recipients of temporary protection from Ukraine increased by 57.3 thousand people (+1.4%) in the EU, and in April – by 51.0 thousand (+1.3%). In all three months of the second quarter, the largest increase was observed in Germany – a total of 65.7 thousand people, followed by the Czech Republic – 23.9 thousand, while Poland was the leader in the reduction in all three months, by 22.0 thousand.
In general, in the second quarter of this year, the number of recipients of temporary protection from Ukraine increased in the EU by 154.1 thousand (+3.9%), and in the first half of the year – by 239.0 thousand (+6.2%). The main inflow was provided by Germany – 165.7 thousand people for the first half of the year (+17.1%).
Eurostat clarified that, compared to the population of each EU member state, the largest number of temporary protection beneficiaries per thousand people in June 2023 was observed in the Czech Republic (32.2), Poland (26.6), Estonia (25.8), Bulgaria (24.9) and Lithuania (24.7), while the corresponding figure at the EU level was 9.1 per thousand people.
It is also said that as of June 30, 2023, Ukrainian citizens accounted for more than 98% of the beneficiaries of temporary protection.
According to the data provided, more than 100 thousand refugees from Ukraine with temporary protection status in the EU as of the middle of this year were also in Spain – 180.2 thousand, Bulgaria – 160.7 thousand, Italy – 157.3 thousand, Romania – 133.5 thousand, the Netherlands – 125.8 thousand and Slovakia – 104.0 thousand.
Between 50 thousand and 100 thousand of them were in Ireland – 86.9 thousand, Austria – 75.8 thousand, Lithuania – 70.7 thousand, Belgium – 67.7 thousand, France – 67.3 thousand (data on children are mostly not included – Eurostat), Switzerland – 65.2 thousand, Finland – 56.1 thousand and Portugal – 55.4 thousand.
Eurostat clarified that all the above data relate to the granting of temporary protection on the basis of EU Council Decision 2022/382 of March 4, 2022, which establishes the existence of a massive influx of displaced persons from Ukraine due to Russia’s military invasion and entails the introduction of temporary protection.
According to the UN, a total of 5.88 million refugees from Ukraine were registered in Europe as of August 8, and 6.24 million worldwide.
