Number of Ukrainian refugees under temporary protection drops only in 3 EU countries in May - Eurostat

MOSCOW. July 11 (Interfax) - A total of 4,263,200 citizens of non-EU countries who left Ukraine since the beginning of the crisis in February 2022 enjoyed temporary protection status in the EU countries as of May 31, 2024 compared to 4,198,490 citizens month-on-month, Ukrainian media reported citing Eurostat.

"Compared with the end of April 2024 [...] the largest absolute increases in the number of beneficiaries were observed in Germany (+14,250, +1.1%), Czechia (+11,000, +3.2%), Romania (+3,715, +2.4%)," Eurostat said in a statement.

The number of beneficiaries decreased only in three EU countries, namely France (-1,005, -1.6%), Poland (-675, -0.1%) and Latvia (-15, -0.03%), it said.

While the April statistics lacked fresh data for Germany and Spain, the May statistics lacked updated data for Spain, which at the end of March was fourth in terms of the number of citizens with temporary protection status (203,300), and for Switzerland, which had 65,000 citizens with temporary protection status at the end of April, it said.

As of the end of May 2024, the EU countries hosting the highest number of beneficiaries of temporary protection from Ukraine were Germany (1,332,515 people, 31.3%), Poland (953,255, 22.4%) and the Czech Republic (356,405, 8.4%), it said.

The highest ratios of temporary protection beneficiaries relative to the population of each EU member state was 32.9 per thousand people in the Czech Republic, 27.2 in Lithuania, and 25.9 in Poland, while the corresponding figure at EU level was 9.5 in March 2024, Eurostat said.

As of April 30, 2024, Ukrainian citizens accounted for more than 98% of temporary protection beneficiaries, it also said. Adult women accounted for almost half (45.6%) of temporary protection beneficiaries in the EU, children for almost a third (32.5%), while adult men for slightly more than a fifth (21.9%) of the total. The proportion of women was 46.6%, children 34.6% and adult men 18.8% a year earlier.

Italy remained fifth in the number of Ukrainian refugees under temporary protection in the EU in May with 165,130, which is 500 more than in March, Eurostat said.

Over 100,000 such persons at the end of May 2024 were also in the Netherlands with 113,290, Slovakia with 121,160 and Ireland with 105,620, it said.

There were from 50,000 to 100,000 such individuals in Belgium with 79,560, Lithuania with 77,810, Austria with 76,170, Norway with 71,880, Finland with 62,440, France, where according to Eurostat, data of children are mostly not included, with 61,900, Portugal with 61,340 and Bulgaria with 53,910.

They are followed by Latvia with 44,950, Sweden with 40,150, Hungary with 36,050, Estonia with 33,620, Denmark with 33,010, Greece with 29,770, Croatia with 24,250, Cyprus with 20,440, Luxembourg with 4,240, Iceland with 4,440, Malta with 2,040 and Liechtenstein with 630.

All the data refer to the granting of temporary protection based on the EU Council Decision of March 4, 2022, establishing the existence of a mass influx of displaced persons from Ukraine due to the crisis, Eurostat said.

According to the updated statistics of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the number of Ukrainian refugees in Europe was estimated at 5.997 million and at 6.555 million globally as of June 13 this year, which is 55,000 and 81,000 more month-on-month.

According to the latest UN data as of April, there were 3.548 million internally displaced persons in Ukraine itself, which is 141,000 fewer than at the beginning of the year.

The return of every 100,000 Ukrainians to their homes gives a 0.5% increase in GDP, Deputy Economy Minister Sergei Sobolev said last March. The Economy Ministry planned the return of 1.5 million to Ukraine in its macro forecast for 2024.

At the same time, the National Bank of Ukraine, on the contrary, downgraded its forecast of outflow from Ukraine this year from 0.1 million to 0.2 million in its April inflation report, which matches last year's figure. According to the bank's baseline forecast, 0.4 million and 0.8 million migrants are expected to return to Ukraine in 2025 and 2026, respectively, but rather slowly due to increasing adaptation to life abroad, and the risks of non-return of a substantial part of citizens remain high.