In 2024, Ukrainian citizens crossed the country’s borders 30.11 million times, according to the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine. At the same time, about 2% of those who left the country did not return, which amounts to approximately 443 thousand people. This is three times more than in 2023, when the number of non-returns was 134 thousand, according to Opendatabot.
The trend was particularly noticeable in June, when 194 thousand people did not return to the country. At the same time, only three months — April (+58 thousand), July (+23 thousand) and August (+89 thousand) — showed a positive trend, when the number of returnees exceeded the number of those who left.
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Over the three years of full-scale war, approximately 3 million Ukrainians have not returned home. This is almost as many as in the 11 years before the war (from 2011 to 2021), when the difference between those who left and those who returned was 3.3 million people.
Data from the State Border Guard Service reflects only officially registered departures through checkpoints. There is currently no information on Ukrainians who left the temporarily occupied territories or left illegally.
As of 31 August 2024, 4.2 million Ukrainians had temporary protection status in the European Union. Germany (1.1 million), Poland (975 thousand) and the Czech Republic (376 thousand) have sheltered the largest number of our fellow citizens, which is 60% of all refugees.
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