Poverty in Ukraine in 2026 has affected the majority of families in central, eastern, and southern regions — according to a new survey by the International Organization for Migration. According to the twenty-fourth round of the General Population Survey (GPS), in most of the covered regions, more than two-thirds of people live on an amount less than the official subsistence minimum, and among internally displaced persons, this figure reaches nine out of ten in some areas.
The data was collected between April and June 2026. A telephone screening survey covered 40,004 people, and in-depth interviews were conducted with 1,453 internally displaced persons (IDPs), 1,064 returnees, and 1,669 non-displaced residents. The results are representative at the regional level with a minimum confidence level of 90% and an error of 10%. The survey covered the entire territory of Ukraine, except for the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the Russian-occupied districts of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia regions, where Ukrainian mobile operators’ services are not available.
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Poverty has become almost a universal phenomenon
The indicator that unites all thirteen profiles is the share of people with a total monthly income per person below 10,275 hryvnias, i.e., below the subsistence minimum as of May 2026. In Sumy Oblast, this threshold is not exceeded by 87% of the population, in Kirovohrad Oblast — 81%, in Odesa Oblast — 78, in Cherkasy Oblast — 77, and in Poltava and Mykolaiv oblasts — 75 each. Even in the relatively protected rear, the picture is similar: Vinnytsia Oblast shows 71%, Lviv Oblast — 51, and only the city of Kyiv stands out with a figure of 38%.
Among displaced families, the situation is even more acute. In Sumy Oblast, 92% of IDPs live below the subsistence minimum, in Zaporizhzhia Oblast — 91, in Kirovohrad Oblast — 87, and in Poltava Oblast — 87. These figures remain consistently high regardless of whether it’s a frontline region or a region that has accepted displaced persons.
Families save on health, utilities, and housing
Reducing spending on basic medical needs has become a widespread survival strategy. In Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, 44% of the population did so, in Kharkiv Oblast — 48, in Mykolaiv Oblast — 53, and in Odesa Oblast — 39. Among IDPs, the figures are higher: in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, 67% of displaced families reduced medical expenses, in Mykolaiv Oblast — 61, and in Sumy Oblast — 62.
People also limit their consumption of utilities — electricity, gas, water, and solid fuel. In Kharkiv Oblast, 60% of the population did so, in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast — 56, and in Mykolaiv Oblast — 55. Some families have moved to lower-quality housing, and here the gap between groups is particularly noticeable: among non-displaced residents of Cherkasy Oblast, only 1% did so, while among IDPs — 27.
Reliance on cash or in-kind humanitarian aid remains uneven. In Kharkiv Oblast, 22% of the population resorted to it over the last thirty days, in Zaporizhzhia Oblast — 22, while in Poltava and Cherkasy oblasts — only 7-8 each. Official housing assistance for IDPs is received by a tiny fraction of displaced persons: from 1% in the city of Kyiv and Lviv Oblast to 11% in Kharkiv Oblast.
Mental health under pressure from displacement
The survey uses the short PHQ-2 scale to assess the risk of depression, where a score of three or more is considered a threshold for increased likelihood of a depressive state. Among displaced persons, this risk is consistently higher than among the rest of the population. In Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, half of the IDPs and more — 58% — are in the high-risk zone, in Cherkasy Oblast — 51, in Mykolaiv Oblast — 53, in Odesa Oblast — 50, and in Zaporizhzhia Oblast — 49.
Awareness of where to seek professional psychological support varies from region to region. In Lviv Oblast, 68% of those surveyed know where to turn, in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast — 55, while in Cherkasy Oblast this figure drops to 46. The gap between need and access to services is evident in almost every profile.
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Damaged homes and the geography of displacement
Data on the condition of housing at the place of origin was collected only for IDPs and returnees. The share of families whose homes were damaged — from partially damaged and habitable to completely destroyed — reaches the highest values where hostilities were most intense. In Kyiv Oblast, 72% of displaced persons reported damaged housing, in Kharkiv Oblast — 69, in Sumy Oblast — 69, in Kirovohrad Oblast — 73, and in Zaporizhzhia Oblast — 60.
The profiles clearly divide the regions into two categories by the origin of displacement. In frontline regions, the majority of IDPs are people displaced from their own region: in Sumy Oblast, 81% of displaced persons come from the same oblast, in Kharkiv Oblast — 75, and in Zaporizhzhia Oblast — 86. In contrast, in central and western oblasts, the majority are IDPs from other regions: in Cherkasy Oblast, 97% are from other regions, in Kirovohrad Oblast — 99, and in Poltava Oblast — 98.
A significant share of those whose pre-war place of residence is located in currently occupied territories is also notable. In Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, 60% of IDPs reported this, in Zaporizhzhia Oblast — 60, in the city of Kyiv — 45, and in Cherkasy Oblast — 44.
Intentions to stay and slow integration
Short-term plans of the majority of the population tend towards stability. The share of those planning to move within the next three months is almost everywhere at the level of a few percent: 2% in Cherkasy Oblast, 3 in Kharkiv Oblast, 4 in the city of Kyiv. Intentions to return within the next three to six months among IDPs are even lower and in many oblasts reach zero.
Long-term decisions of displaced persons are distributed unevenly. In Kyiv Oblast, 54% of IDPs plan to settle and integrate in their current location, in the city of Kyiv — 47, and in Kharkiv Oblast — 46. Some displaced persons choose a waiting position: in Lviv Oblast, 27% of IDPs intend to stay for now but without the intention of integrating, and in Mykolaiv Oblast — 29.
Zaporizhzhia as a special case
The profile of Zaporizhzhia Oblast stands out because most estimates of population size are marked with a dash due to limitations related to occupied districts and insufficient data for extrapolation. Percentage indicators are still provided, and they show the region under strong pressure: 91% of IDPs live below the subsistence minimum, 76% rent housing, 44% rely on humanitarian aid. The only indicator with absolute numbers provided — damaged housing — was reported by 60% of displaced persons, which translates to 136,000 people.
The full set of profiles covers Cherkasy, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Kirovohrad, Kyiv, Lviv, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Poltava, Sumy, Vinnytsia, and Zaporizhzhia oblasts, as well as the city of Kyiv.
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