Fewer Ukrainians in Germany in 2023 But Post-War Net Migration Remains High

Around 277,000 Ukrainian nationals came to Germany throughout 2023 and over 56 per cent of them left the country by the end of the year. This comes to a total of 121,000 Ukrainians still living in Germany, which at the same time represents the net migration rates.

The data was shared by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), which also reveals that net migration has dropped by 87 per cent in the one-year period, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.

In 2023, the net migration rate was 121,000, whereas in the previous year, which marks the year when the war in Ukraine happened, net migration almost reached one million – 1.1 million Ukrainians came to Germany, around 138,000 left and 960,000 remained in the country.

War in Ukraine Continues Driving Migration Rates to Germany

Although migration rates from Ukraine have decreased gradually over the two-year period, those will not see numbers recorded before the war. Net migration to Germany – 121,000, remained higher than those recorded in the previous years; 6,000 in 2021 or even 7,000 in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic occurred.

Two years after the Russian invasion of Ukraine started (February 24, 2022), the German Interior Minister reinstated the country’s support for Ukrainian nationals.

We protected 1.4 million people from this terrible war. 1.14 million are still in Germany, including a particularly large number of women and children. Accommodating them, integrating the children and young people into schools and daycare centres – all of this remains a huge effort. I am very grateful to all government agencies and the countless helpers for this. We can be very proud of this great humanitarian achievement.

Majority of Ukrainian Immigrants to Germany Are Women & Children

According to the preliminary results from the micro census, 61 per cent of immigrants from Ukraine in both 2022 and 2023 were female, with minors constituting 34 per cent of the total.

In 2023, a new trend emerged with approximately 40 per cent of immigrants being single parents with their children.

The age of Ukrainian immigrants in 2023 is also different from those that came to the country in 2022. While the majority of immigrants were still women and girls, their proportion decreased from 63 per cent in 2022 to 53 per cent in 2023.

In addition, the share of minors coming to the country decreased from 35 per cent in 2022 to 28 per cent in 2023, while those aged between 18 and 60 represented 61 per cent of the population, up from 54 recorded in 2022. The proportion of immigrants that were aged 60 and over, had not changed in this two-year period, standing at 11 per cent.

Ukrainians in Germany Now Represent 1.4% of Population

From 138,000 Ukrainians living in Germany throughout January of 2022, the figure rose to 1.15 million individuals in October 2023. This means that Ukrainians went from representing 0.2 per cent of the population to 1.4 per cent.

North Rhine-Westphalia, Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, and Lower Saxony are the most populated German states by Ukrainians.  However, the proportion of the Ukrainian population differs as it is mainly concentrated in Hamburg, Berlin, and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, while Rhineland-Palatinate, Schleswig-Holstein, and Brandenburg had the lowest proportions.