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On 31 May 2024, approximately 4.3 million non-EU citizens, who fled Ukraine as a consequence of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, had temporary protection status in the EU.

At the end of May 2024, the EU countries hosting the highest number of beneficiaries of temporary protection from Ukraine were Germany (1 332 515 people; 31.3% of the EU total), Poland (953 255; 22.4%) and Czechia (356 405; 8.4%).

Compared with the end of April 2024, the largest absolute increases in the number of beneficiaries were observed in Germany (+14 250; +1.1%), Czechia (+11 000; +3.2%) and Romania (+3 715; +2.4%). The number of beneficiaries decreased only in 3 EU countries: France (-1 005; -1.6%), Poland (-675; -0.1%) and Latvia (-15; -0.03%).

Non-EU citizens who fled Ukraine and were under temporary protection at the end of May 2024, ratio per 1 000 people and total. Map. See link to full datasets below.

Source datasets: migr_asytpsm and migr_asytpspop

Compared with the population of each EU country, the highest numbers of temporary protection beneficiaries per thousand people at the end of May 2024 were observed in Czechia (32.9), Lithuania (27.2) and Poland (25.9), whereas the corresponding figure at the EU level was 9.5 per thousand people.

On 31 May 2024, Ukrainian citizens represented over 98% of the beneficiaries of temporary protection. Adult women made up almost half (45.6%) of temporary protection beneficiaries in the EU. Children accounted for almost one-third (32.5%), while adult men comprised slightly more than a fifth (21.9%) of the total.

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 the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, and having the effect of introducing temporary protection.

On 25 June 2024, the European Council agreed to extend the temporary protection for these people from 4 March 2025 to 4 March 2026.

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Methodological notes

  • Data for Spain is not available for May 2024. At the end of April, Spain hosted 206 455 people. EU total number of persons under temporary protection at the end of May 2024 is calculated with data for Spain at the end of April 2024. 
  • Data on the number of persons under temporary protection at the end of the month in Greece, Spain, Cyprus and Iceland include some persons whose temporary protection status was no longer valid.
  • Data for Czechia corresponds to the number of persons under temporary protection on 14 June instead of 31 May.
  • 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.
  • 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 the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine and who have registered but not yet formally received temporary protection.

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