Pafos Live 8 July 2023
More than four million non-EU citizens who became refugees following Russia's invasion of Ukraine had been granted temporary protection status in EU countries by the end of May this year, according to data released by Eurostat, the EU's statistical office.
In Cyprus, the number of people from Ukraine who received temporary protection status was 16,710 at the end of May 2023, an increase from April (15,980). In proportion to the population, there were 18.5 persons with temporary protection from Ukraine per 1000 persons in Cyprus during the same period.
The main countries where refugees from Ukraine received temporary protection status were Germany (1,111,590 people, 28% of the total), Poland (991,375 people, 25%) and Czechia (340,090 people, 8%).
Compared to the end of April 2023, the number of beneficiaries of temporary protection from Ukraine increased by 57,300 across the EU (+1.4%). The largest increases were observed in Germany (+21,355; +2.0%), Czechia (+8,240; +2.5%) and Romania (+3,825; +3.0%).
At the same time, there was a decrease in the number of persons under temporary protection in Poland (-3,660; -0.4%), Portugal (-470; -0.8%), France (-170; -0.3%) and Estonia (-30; -0.1%).
The data refer to recipients of temporary protection based on the decision of the Council of the EU in March 2022, a few days after the start of the Russian invasion.
Compared to the population of each EU Member State, the highest number of total beneficiaries of temporary protection per thousand persons in May 2023 was observed in Czechia (32.3 per thousand persons), Estonia (26.4), Poland (26.3), Lithuania (24.9), Bulgaria (23.1) and Latvia (22.5), while the corresponding number at EU level was equal to 9.0 per thousand persons.
By the end of May 2023, Ukrainian citizens made up 98% of beneficiaries of temporary protection. Half of beneficiaries across the EU were adult women (46.6%, with the majority aged between 35 and 64). Children made up 34.6% of the total, and adult men 18.8%.
