Eduardo González
Spain is the fourth country in Europe to host Ukrainian refugees under temporary protection, with more than 230,000, according to Eurostat data for February of this year, published this Thursday.
Just over 4.3 million third-country nationals who fled Ukraine as a result of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine had temporary protection status in the EU on February 28, 2025.
Ukrainian citizens accounted for more than 98.4% of the beneficiaries of temporary protection in the EU. Adult women made up almost half (44.7%) of the beneficiaries, minors accounted for almost a third (31.8%), and adult men accounted for less than a quarter (23.4%) of the total.
The EU countries that hosted the largest number of beneficiaries of temporary protection from Ukraine were Germany (1,177,800 people; 27.3% of the EU total), Poland (994,790; 23.1%), and the Czech Republic (397,750; 9.2%). Spain is in fourth place with 231,550.
Compared to the end of January 2025, the total number of people under temporary protection in the EU at the end of February increased by 21,015 (+0.5%). The largest absolute increases in the number of beneficiaries were observed in Germany (+7,550; +0.6%), the Czech Republic (+2,765; +0.7%), and, in third place, Spain (+1,885; +0.8%). The number of people under temporary protection decreased only in Austria (-430; -0.5%) and France (-410; -0.7%).
The temporary protection mechanism was activated on March 4, 2022, just days after the Russian armed forces launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine, and has since been automatically extended for one-year periods. On June 25, 2024, the European Council extended temporary protection from March 4, 2025, to March 4, 2026.
Temporary protection is an EU emergency mechanism activated in exceptional circumstances of mass influx of people. The EU Temporary Protection Directive was adopted in 2001, following the mass displacements that took place in Europe due to the armed conflicts in the Western Balkans, particularly from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo.
The mechanism provides immediate and collective protection (i.e., without the need to examine individual applications) to displaced persons who are unable to return to their country of origin. The aim is to relieve pressure on national asylum systems and allow displaced persons to enjoy harmonized rights across the EU, including rights of residence, access to the labor market and housing, healthcare, social assistance, and access for minors to education.
