13 December 2018

Despite the economic challenges, internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Ukraine tend to stay in their current places of residence and build relationships with host communities, revealed the latest IOM survey, the National Monitoring System, funded by the EU. The survey results have been jointly presented in Kyiv on 13 December by the UN Migration Agency (IOM), the Ministry of Temporary Occupied Territories and the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine.

Close to two-thirds (62%) of the IDPs interviewed by IOM reported that they have been staying in their current place of residence for over three years. During three past rounds of the survey, more than one-third (38%) of the IDPs interviewed nation-wide have been stating that they would not return to their places of origin even after the end of the conflict. In some regions, such as Kyiv, Chernihiv, Volyn and Chernivtsi, this share is 60 per cent and higher. The share of displaced persons who stated their intention to return home after the end of the conflict decreased by 8 per cent over the past year, from 32 per cent in September 2017 to 24 per cent in September 2018.

The interest of Ukrainian IDPs to seeking employment abroad remains low, with only one per cent of those surveyed by IOM through December 2017 – September 2018 declaring that they had already found a job abroad and were about to move.
The share of those having an intention to find a job abroad also stays unchanged since the end of the last year at five per cent.

The level of IDPs’ self-assessment of integration has been quite high over several rounds of the NMS, with up to 80 per cent of the respondents declaring that they have fully or partially integrated into the local communities. Over a half (54%) of the IDPs surveyed in the latest round stated that they have enough trust to the locals in their current place of residence.

Displaced persons continue to rely heavily on government support, which is the second most frequently mentioned source of their income after salary. Fifteen (15%) per cent of surveyed IDPs stated they live in their own housing, an increase from 10 per cent recorded in September 2017. Over a half (59%) of displaced persons continue renting flats, houses or rooms. 

“While the UN Migration Agency continues regularly updating and analysing comprehensive data from the National Monitoring System Report, we also provide direct assistance to displaced and conflict-affected people in Ukraine,” said IOM Ukraine’s Chief of Mission, Dr. Thomas Lothar Weiss. “Since 2014, with the support of our donors, we were able to assist close to 300,000 people through our humanitarian, economic empowerment and social cohesion programmes, and we are committed to continue our work as needs of conflict-affected people in Ukraine remain high,” he added.

IOM has been conducting surveys on the situation of IDPs in Ukraine on a regular basis since March 2016. The research presents integrated data of face-to-face and telephone interviews with IDPs, returnees, key informants and people crossing the contact line as well as focus groups discussions. In the latest, 11^th round, conducted in September 2018, a total of 2,405 respondents were interviewed face-to-face, and 4,025 by telephone. In the latest report, data from telephone and face-to-face interviews collected in Round 9, Round 10 and Round 11 was accumulated to ensure a sufficient sample size to conduct analysis at the oblast level, as well as with particular groups of interest, such as IDPs from Crimea or returnee households with children.

Background information: The EU-funded IOM project “Supporting Recovery and Sustainable Solutions for Internally Displaced Persons and the Conflict-Affected Population in Ukraine” is providing livelihood assistance to conflict-affected people in Ukraine, fostering social cohesion and community development, collecting reliable data on IDP situation and needs, as well as supporting the government entities in the registration of displaced persons.