Close to 4.2M who fled Russia’s war on Ukraine have temporary protection in EU
As of August 31 2023, almost 4.2 million non-EU citizens, who fled Ukraine as a consequence of the Russian invasion on 24 February 2022, had temporary protection status in EU countries, EU statistics agency Eurostat said on October 6.
The main EU countries hosting beneficiaries of temporary protection from Ukraine were Germany (1 175 695 people; 28 per cent of the total), Poland (960 550; 23 per cent) and Czechia (365 085; 9 per cent).
Compared with the end of July 2023, the number of beneficiaries of temporary protection from Ukraine in the EU increased by 41 275 (+1.0 per cent). The largest absolute increases were observed in Germany (+21 830; +1.9 per cent), Czechia (+7 545; +2.1 per cent) and the Netherlands (+2 635; +1.7 per cent).
On the other hand, three countries saw a decrease in the number of people under temporary protection: Poland (-10 530; -1.1 per cent), Italy (-550; -0.3 per cent) and France (-420; -0.6 per cent).
Compared with the population of each EU member, the highest numbers of total temporary protection beneficiaries per thousand people at the end of August 2023 were observed in Czechia (33.7), Estonia (26.2), Poland (26.1), Bulgaria (25.6) and Lithuania (25.3), whereas the corresponding figure at the EU level was equal to 9.3 per thousand people.
On August 31 2023, Ukrainian citizens represented over 98 per cent of the beneficiaries of temporary protection, Eurostat said. Adult women made up almost half (46.5 per cent) of temporary protection beneficiaries in the EU. Children accounted for slightly more, the statistics agency said.
(Archive photo from March 2022: UNHCR/Chris Melzer)
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