One-fifth of Ukrainians would move abroad if travel restrictions were lifted, survey shows
Some 21% of Ukrainians would want to move abroad if all travel restrictions were lifted, according to a survey by the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation and the Razumkov Center published on Jan. 21.
Men aged 18-60 are not allowed to leave the country except for specific cases since Ukraine imposed martial law at the outbreak of the full-scale invasion in 2022.
Should the borders open again for all citizens, 70% of the respondents said they would not want to move to another country for permanent residence, while 21% said they are ready to do so, according to the survey.
According to the survey, men and younger people were more keen to move abroad — 25% and 33%, respectively. Only 9% of respondents over 60 expressed willingness to move abroad.
Around 4.2 million Ukrainian refugees reside in the European Union under temporary protection status, with the largest numbers living in Germany and Poland.
The main motivations for moving abroad included "lack of opportunities for development (30.5%), threat to life due to hostilities (29%), insufficient social support from the state (29%), desire to reunite with relatives (26%), desire to take relatives who depend on the respondent away from the country (23%), and inability to find a job," the survey read.
The poll, carried out between Nov. 29 and Dec. 14, 2024, involved face-to-face interviews with 1,518 respondents from Ukrainian-controlled territories.
An exodus of the working-age population would be certain to increase labor shortages and threaten to plunge Ukraine deeper into the demographic crisis it has been facing since the start of the full-scale invasion.
The U.N. predicted that in the worst-case scenario, Ukraine's population could shrink from 37.441 million in 2024 to just 15.3 million people by 2100.
Elsa Court
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