4.31 million non-EU citizens had temporary protection at the end of 2023, representing an increase of almost half a million in one year in the European Union.
The EU granted temporary protection to anyone fleeing Ukraine following Russia's invasion of the country on 24 February 2022. Since then, the number of people falling under this category increased by 486,715 (12.7%).
The highest concentration of people is in Germany (1,251,245), Poland (954,795) and the Czech Republic (373,035). Germany, the Czech Republic and Spain saw the highest increase of non-EU citizens under temporary protection since November 2023. Meanwhile, Italy, France and Poland experienced slight decreases.
Ukrainian citizens constitute the bulk of temporary protection beneficiaries (98%). Adult women made up 46.2% of the total number while 33.2% were children and 20.6% were adult men.
Unique legislation
The EU introduced the Temporary Protection Directive in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The legislation intends to safeguard the human rights of international protection applicants in the event of a mass influx of migrants into Europe.
However, no such measures were taken during the migrant crisis of 2015 and European institutions have been accused of favouring Ukrainian war refugees over those coming from African or other regions.
There are currently 12,600 Ukrainians living in the Brussels-Capital Region, representing 22% of Ukrainians in Belgium. The number of Ukrainians in the country has increased by 560% since February 2022.
Credit: Eurostat
