Survey Shows Only Oldest and Poorest Ukrainian Refugees Want to Return Home

However, a sociological study among Ukrainian refugees in Poland shows that only the oldest and poorest want to return to Ukraine.

Up to a third of Ukrainian refugees are children under the age of 18, and people over sixty are represented among them by only six percent.

According to statistical information announced by the Ukrainian paper European litigation also, on average, war refugees have a better education and a higher income than the rest of the Ukrainian population.

In December 2023, the Institute for Behavioral Studies at the American University in Kyiv conducted a survey of Ukrainians living in Poland to record their opinions regarding a possible return.

Based on the results published by the paper last week, it then identified three groups: in the first there are refugees with a clear intention to return to Ukraine in the future, the second is made up of those who want to stay abroad, and the third group includes those who have not decided yet.

The group of those who expressed a clear desire to return after the war is 45 percent. These people feel homesick and lonely, they have the highest level of national identity and pride in Ukraine, mostly speak Ukrainian and are in contact with Ukrainian authorities.

Many of them come from the south of Ukraine, having experienced life under occupation, having lost their property or caused damage in Ukraine. At the same time, this is the poorest and oldest group among refugees, with an average age of 40.

At the same time, the group shows the most optimistic view of the future: they believe in the end of the war within a year or two and in the return of the occupied territories, including Crimea.

Ukrainian refugees who wish to live abroad permanently, on the other hand, are among the youngest and most financially secure refugees. They make up a fifth of the Ukrainian refugees living in Poland.

Compared to the others, this second group also has the highest proportion of men and people involved in business. They have the lowest level of national identity and pride in their country, they usually speak Russian and do not have strong religious feelings.

Up to forty percent of them come from the east of the country, one in four lost their property there and feel hostility towards the residents of Ukraine, according to a summary of the results of the aforementioned study. They have the most pessimistic view of the development of the war out of all the groups mentioned.

Financial situation is important to them. It is not so much about financial support from the state, but more about the opportunity to get a job that matches their qualifications and the level of income required.

The group of undecided people – this is 35 percent of refugees – is represented mostly by women between the ages of 30 and 39 with school-aged children. Uncertainty and fear of the future prevent them from planning and estimating the future, researchers say.

They are more grateful to the local population than other groups and usually work in Polish companies. Their main language of communication is Ukrainian.

The majority do not identify with any religion (28%) or belong to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (24%). In terms of home country pride and feelings of national identity, they are somewhere in the middle between the three groups mentioned.

According to Ukrainian sociologists, it is exactly this group that Kiev should focus on in its efforts to attract refugees back.

However, the document says “the return policy should focus not only on Ukrainian citizens who fled abroad after the beginning (Russian military – right note.) aggression as a whole, but also on those who left earlier and on representatives of the Ukrainian diaspora”.

According to the data of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, in 2019 the largest Ukrainian diaspora was located in the Russian Federation (according to official data, there were almost two million people at the time, up to ten million to non- official), Canada (1.2). million) and the US (900 thousand to 1.5 million).