Number of Ukrainians under temporary protection in EU increased by 32,000 in a month

The temporary protection status in EU countries has been granted to 4.2 million people who fled Ukraine as a consequence of Russia’s full-scale invasion.

This is evidenced by data provided by Eurostat, Ukrinform reports.

The main EU countries hosting beneficiaries of temporary protection from Ukraine were Germany (1.19 million people; 28.3% of the total), Poland (958,655; 23.1%) and the Czech Republic (357,960; 8.8%). 

It is noted that in late September compared with the end of August 2023, the number of beneficiaries of temporary protection from Ukraine in the EU increased by 31,920 (+0.8%). The largest absolute increases were observed in Germany (+19,205; +1.6%), the Netherlands (+3,685; +2.8%) and Ireland (+2,875; 3.2%). 

At the same time, five countries saw a decrease in the number of people under temporary protection: the Czech Republic (-7,125; -2%), France (-2,155; -3.2%), Poland (-1,895, -0.2%), Slovenia (-405; -4.6%) and Luxembourg (-10; -0.2%). 

According to Eurostat, compared with the population of each EU country, the highest numbers of total temporary protection beneficiaries per thousand people at the end of September 2023 were observed in the Czech Republic (33.1), Estonia (26.2), Poland (26.1), Bulgaria (25.8) and Lithuania (25.5), whereas the corresponding figure at the EU level was equal to 9.3 per thousand people.

In late September, Ukrainian citizens represented over 98% of the beneficiaries of temporary protection. Adult women made up almost half (46.5%) of temporary protection beneficiaries in the EU. Children accounted for slightly more than one-third (33.7%), while adult men comprised less than a fifth (19.9%) of the total.

As reported by Ukrinform, in October, the EU Temporary Protection Directive, which gives Ukrainian refugees the right to legally stay in the EU member states, was officially extended until March next year.

Photo: Jonas Walzberg, dpa