Proportion of Male Ukrainian Refugees in Germany on the Rise
There are currently more men among the refugees from Ukraine than at the beginning of the war. This is one finding of the ifo Institute’s fourth survey of Ukrainians in Germany, which this time had 1,517 participants. For the latest survey wave, 21% of respondents were men, compared with just 7 percent in May/June 2022. The share of single Ukrainians increased from 16% to 24%. “Women who fled with their children to Germany at the beginning of the war are returning to their families, if possible,” says ifo researcher Tetyana Panchenko.
Ukrainians from severely affected regions are coming to Germany more often now than at the outset of the war. Over time, this has had the effect of slightly reducing the overall level of education and affluence among Ukrainian refugees. Some of the refugees who are unable to maintain their accustomed standard of living in Germany are now already returning to Ukraine.
“The study also shows what makes for successful integration of refugees,” Panchenko says. Those Ukrainians who have fled to Germany and found employment consider their financial situation to be better. If they find a full-time job or work in their own profession, their satisfaction increases further. However, they always assess their financial situation as worse than it was in Ukraine before the war. The refugees are much more satisfied with their housing situation in Germany. This is virtually independent of their employment situation in Germany or how they lived in Ukraine. The only ones to rate their present housing situation as worse are those who consider the current financial situation to be very bad or who plan to return soon.
Refugees’ fears of not being able to return to Ukraine outweigh any concerns they have about staying in Germany. “The results show that Ukrainians have been received very kindly,” Panchenko says. Refugees from Ukraine currently do not need to go through elaborate asylum procedures or have individual applications examined. In the European Union, they are under temporary protection until March 2025.
The ifo Institute conducted this fourth survey wave from May to July 2023. Respondents were approached through social media. The survey rounds were conducted independently with separate groups of respondents. Depending on the wave, between 9 and 14% of respondents indicated that they had participated in one or more of the previous waves. The samples are not statistically representative because participants were recruited as a random sample as well as through snowball sampling.
Wie geht es ukrainischen Geflüchteten in Deutschland? Ergebnisse von ifo-Umfragen
ifo Institut, München, 2023
ifo Schnelldienst, 2023, 76, Nr. 10, 52-62
