As of the end of 2023, 4 million 303.12 thousand non-EU citizens who fled Ukraine as a result of the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022, had temporary protection status in EU countries, Eurostat reports.
“Compared to the end of December 2023, the largest absolute increase in the number of beneficiaries was observed in Germany (+18,905; +1.5%), the Czech Republic (+8,155; +2.2%) and Spain (+2,830; +1.5%),” the statistical agency said.
“The number of beneficiaries decreased in 5 EU countries, namely Italy (-18,125 people; -11.2%), Poland (-3,235; -0.3%), Estonia (-225; -0.6%), France (-205; -0.3%) and Luxembourg (-10; -0.2%),” Eurostat added.
As of the end of December, the European statistical office reported a slightly higher number of refugees with temporary protection status – 4 million 312.22 thousand, but the decrease in the total figure for the month is due to a decrease in data for the Netherlands – from 145.62 thousand at the end of December to 116.86 thousand at the end of January.
Over the past ten months, the largest increase was observed in Germany – a total of more than 204 thousand people, followed by the Czech Republic – 70.7 thousand.
According to Eurostat, as of the end of January 2024, the main EU countries that received recipients of temporary protection from Ukraine were Germany (1 million 270.15 thousand people; 29.5% of the total), Poland (951.56 thousand people; 22.1%) and the Czech Republic (381.19 thousand people; 8.9%). The total share of these three countries is 60.5%.
Eurostat specifies that, compared to the population of each EU member state, the largest number of temporary protection beneficiaries per thousand people in January 2024 was observed in the Czech Republic (35.2), Bulgaria (26.7), Estonia (26.4), Lithuania (26.2) and Poland (25.9), while the corresponding figure at the EU level is 9.6.
It is also said that as of January 31, 2024, Ukrainian citizens accounted for more than 98% of the beneficiaries of temporary protection. Adult women accounted for almost half (46.1%) of temporary protection beneficiaries in the EU, children for slightly more than a third (33.2%), while adult men accounted for slightly more than a fifth (20.7%) of the total. Eight months earlier, the share of women was 46.6%, children 34.6% and adult men 18.8%.
According to the data presented, in January, Spain remained the fourth largest country in the EU with the status of temporary protection for refugees from Ukraine – 197.75 thousand, and Bulgaria closed the top five with 172.28 thousand.
As of the end of January 2024, there were also more than 100 thousand such persons in Romania – 147.52 thousand, Italy – 143.25 thousand, the Netherlands – 116.86 thousand, Slovakia – 116.01 thousand, and Ireland – 102.80 thousand.
Between 50 thousand and 100 thousand of them were in Austria – 83.56 thousand, Lithuania – 75.35 thousand, Belgium – 75.76 thousand, Norway – 68.15 thousand, France – 64.73 thousand (data on children are mostly not included – Eurostat), Finland – 64.95 thousand and Portugal – 59.46 thousand.
This is followed by Latvia – 44.14 thousand, Sweden – 44.39 thousand, Estonia – 35.72 thousand, Denmark – 36.64 thousand, Hungary – 34.25 thousand, Greece – 27.10 thousand, Croatia – 23.18 thousand, Cyprus – 19.53 thousand, Luxembourg – 4.22 thousand, Iceland – 3.98 thousand, Malta – 1.99 thousand and Liechtenstein – 0.57 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 updated UNHCR data, the number of Ukrainian refugees in Europe as of February 15 this year was estimated at 6.004 million, and 6.480 million in the world as a whole, which is 29 thousand and 30 thousand more than at the beginning of the year, respectively.
In Ukraine itself, according to the UN, as of November 6, there were 3.674 million internally displaced persons (IDPs), compared to the previous estimate of 5.088 million. “This (significant reduction) is not due to a significant return of IDPs, but rather, first of all, to a change in the methodology for calculating the number of IDPs. The new baseline population figure used to extrapolate IDP estimates now takes into account the absence of some 6.2 million refugees from Ukraine who are no longer in the country,” UNHCR explains.
As noted by Deputy Economy Minister Serhiy Sobolev in early March last year, the return of every 100,000 Ukrainians home results in a 0.5% increase in GDP. The Ministry of Economy has included in its macroeconomic forecast for this year 1.5 million people returning to Ukraine, while the National Bank, on the contrary, expects an outflow of 0.1 million from Ukraine after 0.2 million in 2023.
