4 May 2018

54% of internally displaced persons (IDPs) have funds only for food or have to limit expenses even for food, according to an EU-funded survey conducted in March 2018. This is a 10% increase from the previous round of the survey in December 2017. The National Monitoring System surveys are conducted by IOM, the UN Migration Agency. For the last round, 2,420 IDPs were interviewed face-to-face, and 3,611 IDPs were interviewed by phone.

According to the survey, current average monthly income per IDP household member is UAH 2,239 (EUR 71), a little less then UAH 2,446 recorded in December 2017. It stays lower than the actual subsistence level calculated by the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine in March at UAH 3,215 (EUR 102). 1/4 the IDP households, surveyed by IOM, have monthly income up to UAH 3,000 (EUR 95), while almost half of IDP families live on UAH 3,000 – UAH 7,000 (EUR 95 – EUR 222) per month.

“The conflict in eastern Ukraine and its impact on Ukraine’s economy over the past years has eroded people’s coping capacity, exacerbating their vulnerabilities,” Dr. Thomas Lothar Weiss, IOM Ukraine’s Chief of Mission, said.

The survey revealed that healthcare currently appears to be unaffordable for many IDPs due to the cost of medicine and services. The share of IDPs satisfied with accessibility of health care services drastically declined from 85% in December 2017 to 62 % in March 2018.

At the same time, situation with IDPs’ employment has remained relatively stable since June 2017, with 48% of displaced persons having a job. 12% of IDPs are currently actively seeking employment. Among them, the overwhelming majority (78%) are women, and up to 40% complain about the lack of vacancies.

“Having assisted over 220,000 conflict-affected people in Ukraine, IOM is committed to working with the Government and civil society of Ukraine, donors, Humanitarian Country Team and other international partners in order to build resilience of most vulnerable populations affected by the conflict in the East,” Thomas Weiss said.

"The conflict in Eastern Ukraine continues to trigger new humanitarian needs, to damage local infrastructure and negatively affect incomes of many families. Unfortunately, displacement and lack of opportunities forces many internally displaced to return to insecure areas and risk their lives,” Ambassador Hugues Mingarelli, Head of EU Delegation to Ukraine, noted. “The EU, as the largest donor, will continue doing everything in its power to improve the conditions of IDPs and increase their access to employment and basic services,” Ambassador Mingarelli added. He explained that thousands of IDPs have already benefitted from EU's assistance for accommodation; many more are receiving much needed trainings and small grants for starting their own business. Apart from grants and humanitarian aid, European Investment Bank, the EU’s bank, is providing Ukraine loans for reconstruction projects in the five Eastern regions.

Background information: The “Supporting Recovery and Sustainable Solutions for Internally Displaced Persons and the Conflict-Affected Population in Ukraine” project is designed for about 1.5 years from January 2017 to July 2018. Its goal is to provide livelihood assistance to conflict-affected people in Ukraine, foster social cohesion and community development, collect reliable data on IDP situation and needs, as well as to support the government entities dealing with the registration of displaced persons. The project is funded by the European Union and implemented by IOM.