Ukrainian IDPs experiencing growing need for financial assistance - IOM study

MOSCOW. July 14 (Interfax) - The number of internally displaced persons (IDP) in Ukraine keeps growing having reached about 5.1 million as of June 14, 2023, with 80% saying financial support was a key need, according to an International Organization for Migration (IOM) survey.

The 13th survey of the Ukrainian population conducted by the IOM from May 11 to June 14, 2023, found there are currently nearly 5.1 million people displaced across Ukraine. The survey results, as reported by Ukrainian media, show that another 4.76 million people have returned home from displacement, including 1.1 million from abroad. The number of IDPs has been steadily increasing, with 80% of them citing financial assistance as a key need, the IOM press release on the survey results said.

The latest findings reveal that 65% of IDPs live in households with a monthly income level per household member equal to or less than 4,666 hryvni ($126), which was the real subsistence minimum as of January 2022.

"Around a quarter of the internally displaced population reported that they were considering leaving their current location, and 3.3 million people intend to eventually return. The primary reason being the desire to resume a normal life or missing home and other sentimental reasons (64%), followed by the intention to reunite with their family (25%), owning a property in the place of origin (22%), economic reasons such as the possibility of earning an income (21%) and low perception of security in the current location (3%)," the press release said.

Nearly half of IDPs returned from another region within Ukraine, one-third from within their own home region, particularly the Chernigov, Nikolayev, and Kharkov regions. The top three regions where people are returning to are the city of Kiev and the Kiev and Kharkov regions, while the areas they are returning from are the city of Kiev and the Lvov and Vinnitsa regions, the survey found.

Of the 1.1 million who returned from abroad, most came from Poland (39%), followed by Germany (9%), Italy (7%), the Czech Republic (6%), and Bulgaria (5%).

Half of all the people remaining internally displaced are concentrated in five regions, i.e. the Kharkov, Dnepropetrovsk, Kiev, and Odessa regions and the city of Kiev, which have remained the top five hosting locations since January 2023.

More than a quarter of IDPs have stayed within their home region or even district when possible, some hoping to return once safe enough to do so, while others had no means to travel further. The majority of IDPs originated from eastern Ukraine.

The survey of 5,297 unique and anonymous respondents 18 years of age and older staying currently in Ukraine was conducted using the random digit dialing (RDD) method.

The IOM data and analytics team is working in Ukraine with support from the European Union and the governments of Canada, South Korea, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and Belgium.