As of November 30, 2024, 4 million 234.49 thousand citizens of non-EU countries who were forced to leave Ukraine due to the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022 have received temporary protection status in the EU countries.
This is 36,010 people, or 0.9%, more than a month earlier, according to Eurostat.
The largest increase in Germany, the Czech Republic and Poland
According to Eurostat data, the largest absolute increase in beneficiaries of temporary protection status was recorded in Germany (+11,915 people; +1.0%), the Czech Republic (+5,820 people; +1.5%) and Poland (+4,045 people; +0.4%).
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At the same time, a decrease in the number of such persons was observed in Italy (-1,270 people; -0.8%), France (-695 people; -1.2%) and Luxembourg (-15 people; -0.4%).
Earlier, Deputy Minister of Economy Serhiy Sobolev noted that the return of every 100,000 Ukrainians home increases Ukraine's GDP by 0.5%. However, in its October report, the National Bank revised its outflow forecasts: for 2024 – from 0.4 million to 0.5 million, and for 2025 it reduced the outflow estimate from 0.3 million to 0.2 million people.
The predicted start of the mass return of Ukrainians is expected in 2026, but the net inflow forecast has also been reduced from 0.4 million to 0.2 million people.
Germany has accepted the most refugees
Germany remains the country that has accepted the largest number of migrants from Ukraine in the EU. As of the end of November 2024, there were 1 million 152.62 thousand refugees here, which is 27.2% of the total number in the EU.
Second place goes to Poland with 987,93 thousand people (23.3%), and third place goes to the Czech Republic with 385,19 thousand people (9.1%). There are significantly fewer refugees in countries such as Spain (224,29 thousand), Romania (177,61 thousand) and Italy (164,41 thousand).
Eurostat clarifies that the data for Spain, Greece and Cyprus include some people whose temporary protection status has already expired.
Per 1,000 population, the largest number of beneficiaries of temporary protection live in the Czech Republic (35.3), Poland (27.0) and the Baltic countries, such as Latvia and Estonia (25.5 each). For comparison, the EU average is 9.4.
Demographic portrait of beneficiaries
As of 30 November 2024, over 98.3% of beneficiaries of temporary protection were citizens of Ukraine. Among them:
- Adult women – 44.9%;
- Children – 32%,
- adult men – 23.1%.
It is worth noting that in 2023, the share of women was 46.3%, children – 33.3%, and adult men – only 20.4%.
The situation in other European countries
In addition to these leaders, more than 100 thousand beneficiaries of temporary protection are in Slovakia (130.47 thousand), the Netherlands (120.55 thousand) and Ireland (109.18 thousand).
From 50 to 100 thousand people are registered in Belgium (85.44 thousand), Austria (109.18 thousand), and (84.60 thousand), Norway (78.10 thousand), Finland (68.78 thousand), Bulgaria (67.54 thousand), Switzerland (67.45 thousand), Portugal (64.78 thousand) and France (59.13 thousand).
Less than 50 thousand people are in Lithuania (48.01 thousand), Latvia (47.65 thousand), Sweden (46 thousand), Denmark (38.92 thousand), Hungary (38.89 thousand), Greece (32.37 thousand), Estonia (35.12 thousand) and other countries.
Context and future prospects
Recall that on March 4, 2022, the EU Council adopted a decision 2022/382, which establishes temporary protection for displaced persons from Ukraine. On 25 June 2024, the European Council extended this status until 4 March 2026.
According to UNHCR, as of 16 January 2025, the number of Ukrainian refugees in Europe reached 6.303 million people, and 6.863 million worldwide.
At the same time, 3.6 million internally displaced persons have been recorded in Ukraine, with 160 thousand of them being displaced from frontline areas in May-October 2024 due to the escalation of hostilities.
The European Commission extended the temporary protection for people forced to flee Russian aggression in Ukraine for another year – from 5 March 2025 years until March 4, 2026.
