Two thirds of Ukrainian refugees in Germany, Poland Czech Republic satisfied with their living conditions, half can return home
Most of the surveyed Ukrainian refugees in Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic (66%) are rather or completely satisfied with their current living conditions in the new country, according to the results of a study conducted on April 20-26 by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) commissioned by the Forum Center for Strategic Communications.
However, 28% of them are completely satisfied, and the remaining 38% are rather satisfied. Dissatisfied with living conditions - 26% of respondents.
Among the respondents, 7% claim that they already have the citizenship of another country (except Ukraine), and another 12% have submitted documents and are waiting for a decision. They have not filed and do not plan to do so - 34%. At the same time, almost half of respondents (45%) did not submit documents, but in general would like to obtain citizenship of another country.
In addition, when asked respondents under what conditions they would return to Ukraine. Relatively most respondents spoke about the normal operation of critical infrastructure (34%) and security (34%). This is followed by housing (26%) and ending a full-scale invasion (26%). Fewer respondents spoke about the possibility of finding a job (16%) and the conditions for children to attend school/kindergarten (13%).
“It is clear that while large-scale hostilities continue (with an uncertain outcome), any estimates are indicative and it is impossible to determine exactly how many Ukrainians will actually return … We started from the fact that it is more likely that those who do not have and have not submitted documents for the citizenship of another country, are not completely satisfied with the living conditions in a new country, express certain conditions for return. According to this approach exactly half of the respondents (50%) are those who are more likely to return to Ukraine. However, taking into account the respondents' answers to the questions below regarding interest in Ukraine, the indicated assessment is rather an optimistic scenario in the current conditions,” the press release reads.
Some 23% of respondents stated a positive attitude towards the bill on multiple citizenship, 34% – a negative one, 37% have a neutral attitude. If parliamentary elections were announced in Ukraine, 31% would vote in them, another 33% answered "it's hard to say for sure," the rest would rather or definitely not vote. Some 56% of respondents replied that they receive information about Ukraine, 34% directly replied that they are not interested in information about Ukraine.
Among the respondents, 57% now communicate mainly in Ukrainian at home. 19% mainly communicate in Russian, and 21% communicate equally in Ukrainian and Russian. Another 3% speak the language of the country where they currently live.
"A significant part of Ukrainian refugees are losing (or have already lost) contact with Ukraine. Unfortunately, this was absolutely expected and in any case we would have lost some of our citizens. However, the question remains open as to how many citizens can be returned and what makes sense to do so … On a personal level, many Ukrainians abroad face a difficult decision – to take root in a new place or wait for a certain moment to return. However, the decision must be honest with oneself, with Ukraine and Ukrainians. If a sincere desire to return prevails, then the government and Ukrainian society should show support," said Anton Hrushetsky, Executive Director of KIIS.
Bythemethodofcomputer-assistedwebinterviews(CAWI) 801 respondents (adult citizens aged 18 and older) who left Ukraine after February 24, 2022 and currently live in Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic were interviewed. Formally, under normal circumstances, the theoretical statistical error of such a sample (with a probability of 0.95) did not exceed 3.5%. At the same time, it is necessary to take into account the lack of reliable statistical data on the number and resettlement of Ukrainian refugees, the lack of data on their sex-age structure, the rooting of individual Ukrainian refugees and, as a result, less interest in participating in Ukrainian surveys, the peculiarities of the online interview method.