The number of decisions to grant temporary protection to refugees from Ukraine in European Union countries has decreased significantly in 2025. According to Eurostat, in the first quarter of this year, 136,110 Ukrainians received this status, which is 30.9% less than in the same period in 2024.
In total, 780,280 Ukrainian citizens who were forced to leave the country due to the war were granted temporary protection in EU countries in 2024. This is 26.1% less than in 2023.
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A similar trend can be observed in the total number of asylum applications. In the first quarter of 2025, the number of applications submitted decreased by 23.5% to 183,810. For the whole of 2024, this figure fell by 13.1% to 912,420.
According to Eurostat statistics, the highest number of asylum applications is recorded in Cyprus, Greece, Ireland and Spain. Among the countries where the largest number of people received temporary protection in relation to the population, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland are in the lead.
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According to official data, as of the end of April 2025, more than 4.26 million refugees from Ukraine had temporary protection status in European Union countries. In April, their number increased by only 500 people, which indicates a gradual slowdown in the pace of granting such status.
In addition, Eurostat reported that Ukrainians remain one of the most successful groups in terms of recognition of the right to asylum in the EU. In particular, in 2024, Ukrainians submitted about 25,000 such applications, of which 87.2% were approved after the first review. This is significantly higher than the average of 51.4%.
For comparison, the highest levels of positive decisions on granting asylum in 2024 were recorded for citizens of Syria (91.5%), Afghanistan, Eritrea, Somalia, Venezuela and Palestine. On the other hand, citizens of Colombia, Georgia, Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia and some other countries received positive decisions much less frequently.
Syrians submitted the most asylum applications in the EU in 2024 — over 148,000. They were followed by citizens of Venezuela, Afghanistan, Colombia and Turkey.
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