Refugees from Ukraine in Germany

Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine has led to a continuous and rapidly increasing influx of people who have fled to Germany from the war zones in Ukraine since the beginning of 2022. In order to meet the challenges of reception and (temporary) integration, comprehensive knowledge about the refugees from Ukraine is essential. Against this background, the panel survey "Refugees from Ukraine in Germany" was developed. This has created a unique social science database that makes it possible, on the one hand, to provide policymakers with information about refugees from Ukraine who have fled to Germany on the basis of valid data and to derive recommendations for action from this. On the other hand, it also creates an infrastructure that enables scientifically sound research into this type of migration and integration and a comparison with other migration and integration processes. In addition to a description, impact analyses in selected areas are also being sought.

The aim of the project is to investigate the individual consequences of flight for family structures, health and the labour market situation, among other things. In particular, the needs and problems associated with refugee migration are to be mapped on the basis of high-quality data and also made analysable at the level of individual life courses. Initial qualitative studies and migration statistics show that many Ukrainian refugees are involved in circular and transnational exchange and migration processes between Ukraine and Germany, i.e. they return to Ukraine for a limited period of time and then come back to Germany.

The project focuses on analysing the migration dynamics from Ukraine to Germany and the consequences of forced migration on the individual lives of the refugees. It is based on a register-based random sample based on the residents' registration offices, which enables representative results on Ukrainians registered in Germany since the beginning of the war. The panel survey was established in summer 2022 in cooperation between the BiB, the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin), the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) and the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF).

The study is based on a randomised sample. This makes it possible to make well-founded and representative statements about the Ukrainian refugees registered in Germany. To this end, around 100 municipalities in Germany were selected from the Central Register of Foreigners, in which many Ukrainian refugees are registered. Refugees were randomly selected from these municipalities on the basis of data from the population registers and contacted with a request to take part in the survey. From August to October 2022, interviews were conducted with 11,225 refugees of Ukrainian nationality aged between 18 and 70 (paper questionnaire and online). A second survey wave is planned for 2023 (online only). Both surveys are being conducted by infas - Institute for Applied Social Science. Since the completion of the second survey wave in March 2023, the panel study has been continued in the long term as part of the Family Demographic Panel - as a FReDA-related study. The data set for the first and second waves was published in July 2024 and is available free of charge.