4.2 million people under temporary protection

Brussels: Almost 4.2 million non-EU citizens, who fled Ukraine as a consequence of the Russian invasion on 24 February 2022, hace temporary protection status in EU countries.

The main EU countries hosting beneficiaries of temporary protection from Ukraine were Germany (1 194 900 people; 28.3% of the total), Poland (958 655; 23.1%) and Czechia (357 960; 8.8%).

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%).

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

Data presented in this article refer to the attribution of temporary protection status based on the Council Implementing Decision 2022/382 of 4 March 2022, establishing the existence of a mass influx of displaced persons from Ukraine due to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, and having the effect of introducing temporary protection. On 28 September 2023, the European Council agreed to extend the temporary protection for people fleeing from Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine from 4 March 2024 to 4 March 2025.

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 Czechia (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.

On 30 September 2023, 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.