Ukrainians leaving Poland? Many people withdrew from ZUS

After Russia attacked Ukraine militarily in February 2022, many Ukrainians — especially women and children — left the country, often seeking help in neighboring Poland. However, not everyone plans to stay with us permanently. The flow of Ukrainians from Poland to other European countries has begun to increase in recent months.

According to ZUS data, 759 thousand people with Ukrainian citizenship paid contributions in December 2023. This is 6.9 thousand. Lower compared to November. A larger decline occurred earlier in January last year, when it reached 8.2 thousand. The Ukrainians were withdrawn from the ZUS. However, the total number of insured Ukrainians in Poland increased by 13.4 thousand in 2023.

Ukrainians leave Poland for Germany, the Netherlands and Norway

Meanwhile, Business Insider Polska points out that there is another indicator proving the gradual influx of Ukrainians from Poland. We are talking about Eurostat data on beneficiaries of temporary aid in individual EU countries. According to statistics, at the end of December 2023, 951.4 thousand people lived in Poland. These people are from Ukraine, which means a decrease of 5.3 thousand. Compared to the same month of the previous year.

Eurostat data also shows which countries recorded the largest influx of Ukrainians who were beneficiaries of temporary aid, and this may indicate where people with Ukrainian passports are emigrating to and leaving Poland. It is not surprising that Germany tops the podium – the number of Ukrainians in our western neighbor increased by 275.4 thousand in December. every year. The next countries are the Netherlands (an increase of 35.5 thousand) and Norway (an increase of 33.2 thousand). The EU country with the fastest loss of Ukrainians is the Czech Republic – in November 2023, 55,000 emigrated from there. People who hold a Ukrainian passport year after year.