Ukrainian Refugees in Poland – Number and Distribution

Abstract

This article continues and specifies the research presented in the publication by K. Kopeć (2022). That article presented the course of refugee migration of Ukrainians to Poland in effect of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, from the perspective of several months. This article examines it from the perspective of 2025, i.e., three years since the outbreak of the war. The aim of the article is primarily to present and analyze the number and distribution of Ukrainian citizens who are refugees in Poland. The scale of Ukrainian migration to Poland and, consequently, the changes in the national structure of inhabitants of Poland that have been taking place since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, are the largest since the end of World War II. This mitigates depopulation processes in Poland but cannot reverse the negative trends in this regard. Peripheral areas, located far from agglomerations, are rarely chosen by refugees as places of residence. Among the migrants, there is an exceptionally large predominance of young and middle-aged women, and a very large proportion of children. A considerable number of refugees require support in childcare, preschool, and school education. Integrating Ukrainians living in Poland into Polish society, especially children and youth, has become a challenge. The Polish state does not want to create a situation in which Ukrainians, especially today’s children and youth, in a few years’ time will live in Poland on the margins of social and economic life due to social, educational, and economic exclusion.