A person handing his passport

On 29 February 2024, 4.2 million non-EU citizens, who fled Ukraine as a consequence of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine that began on 24 February 2022, had temporary protection status in the EU.

At the end of February 2024, the EU countries hosting the highest number of beneficiaries of temporary protection from Ukraine were Germany (1 286 580 people; 30.4% of total EU), Poland (957 200; 22.6%) and Czechia (385 075; 9.1%).

Compared with the end of January 2024, the largest absolute increases in the number of beneficiaries were observed in Germany (+16 430; +1.3%), Poland (+5 640; +0.6%), and Czechia (+3 885; +1.0%).

The number of beneficiaries decreased in 5 EU countries, namely Austria (-1 420 people; -1.7%), France (-685; -1.1%), Estonia (-550; -1.5%), the Netherlands (-120; -0.1%), and Malta (-20; -1.0%).
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 Russian 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 Russian war of aggression against Ukraine from 4 March 2024 to 4 March 2025.

Non-EU citizens who fled Ukraine and were under temporary protection at the end of February 2024. Map. For more information click dataset below.

Source datasets: migr_asytpsm and migr_asytpspop

Compared with the population of each EU country, the highest numbers of total temporary protection beneficiaries per thousand people at the end of February 2024 were observed in Czechia (35.6), Lithuania (26.5) and Poland (26.0), whereas the corresponding figure at the EU level was 9.4 per thousand people.

On 29 February 2024, Ukrainian citizens represented over 98% of the beneficiaries of temporary protection. Adult women made up almost half (46.0%) of temporary protection beneficiaries in the EU. Children accounted for almost one-third (32.9%), while adult men comprised slightly more than a fifth (21.2%) of the total.

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Methodological notes

  • France: in most cases, minors can stay in France without a permit. Therefore, minors fleeing the war in Ukraine and seeking protection in France are generally not included in statistics on temporary protection.
  • Data on the number of persons under temporary protection at the end of the month, until September 2023 (for the Netherlands) and until January 2024 (for Bulgaria), include some persons whose temporary protection status was no longer valid and are not comparable with data of the following reference periods.
  • Ireland, Hungary: data on temporary protection broken down by age group are not available. 
  • Structures of beneficiaries by age and sex have been calculated based on available data while disregarding the unknown category.
  • Temporary protection is a procedure provided only in the event of a mass influx or imminent mass influx of displaced persons from third countries who are unable to return to their country of origin. These people are granted immediate and temporary protection, particularly if there is also a risk that the asylum system will be unable to process the influx without adverse effects for its efficient operation, in the interests of the persons concerned and other persons requesting protection.
  • Data presented in this article refer to the granting of temporary protection and not to the registrations for temporary protection, which may precede the process of granting the status. Therefore, the data may not present all persons fleeing Ukraine since the beginning of Russian war of aggression against Ukraine and who have registered but not yet formally received temporary protection.

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