The temporary protection visas enable refugees to have access to the public health insurance, education and labour market. Photo credit: HZS Praha.
Prague, Feb 23 (CTK) – The 10.5-million Czech Republic has the highest number of refugees from Ukraine with the temporary protection status per population out of the European Union countries, the Interior Ministry told CTK today, referring to the Eurostat European statistical office’s data.
At the end of last year, there were more than 3.5 million temporary protection holders from Ukraine in the EU countries. A half of them stayed in Germany and Poland, roughly one quarter in each, followed by the Czech Republic with 11 percent share of these refugees per population.
Ukraine has been defending itself against the Russian aggression for a about a year. Shortly after the start of the invasion on February 24, 2022, the EU decided in March to activate for the first time the rules enabling refugees to get temporary protection.
The temporary protection visas enable refugees to have access to the public health insurance, education and labour market. The EU countries first introduced temporary protection for one year, but in view of the continuing fights in Ukraine, they decided to extend the status last October until March 2024.
In Germany and Poland, 968,000 and 961,000 Ukrainian refugees, respectively, enjoyed the temporary protection status at the end of last year. The Czech Republic provided temporary protection to more than 432,000 refugees then, the Eurostat data show.
According to the Interior Ministry data, almost 500,000 war refugees from Ukraine have received the temporary protection visas in the Czech Republic. The ministry estimated at the end of 2022 that about one-fifth of them had already returned home.
The temporary protection extension will help gain more precise data on the real number of refugees staying in Czechia. As of February 20, 230,000 asked for the protection extension, ministry spokeswoman Klara Dlubalova said. Refugees from Ukraine may seek the extension of their temporary protection status in the Czech Republic by the end of March.
Number of active temporary protection holders in EU at the end of 2022*:
| Germany | 967,715 |
| Poland | 961,340 |
| Czechia | 432,415 |
| Spain | 160,995 |
| Bulgaria | 147,385 |
| Italy | 145,800 |
| Netherlands | 109,640 |
| Romania | 100,955 |
| Slovakia | 95,550 |
| Austria | 87,570 |
| Ireland | 70,495 |
| France | 68,430 |
| Latvia | 65,425 |
| Belgium | 63,210 |
| Portugal | 55,920 |
| Sweden | 46,295 |
| Finland | 45,215 |
| Estonia | 38,385 |
| Latvia | 35,856 |
| Denmark | 32,155 |
| Hungary | 28,905 |
| Greece | 21,530 |
| Croatia | 18,970 |
| Cyprus | 12,610 |
| Slovenia | 7,675 |
| Luxembourg | 4,655 |
| Malta | 1,515 |
| Total | 3,826,611 |
Source: Eurostat, data as of Dec 31, 2022,
*Final data on the number of temporary protection holders may still change.
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