Joint research project launched: IAB-BiB/FReDA-BAMF-SOEP survey of 6,000 refugees from Ukraine

More than 950,000 refugees from Ukraine have sought protection in Germany since the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022. The project “Refugees from Ukraine in Germany” is the first com-prehensive, representative social science survey of this group. It is being conducted by the SOEP in partnership with the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) of the Federal Employment Agency (BA), the Federal Institute for Population Research (BiB), the Family Research and Demographic Analysis (FReDA) project, and the Research Center of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF-FZ).

Many Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion have sought protection in neighboring countries and nearby EU states. This is in part for reasons of geographical proximity, but also because EU countries offer refugees from Ukraine visa-free entry and temporary residency without having to apply for asy-lum. Many of the refugees who have recently arrived from Ukraine—most of them women, children, and the elderly—have relatives or friends in Germany who they can turn to for help. Due to these unique conditions, findings on previous waves of refugee migration are only partly applicable to the present situation. The study “Refugees from Ukraine in Germany” seeks to close this research gap by creating the first representative database on refugees from Ukraine, on the conditions that led them to flee, and on their integration into German society. The findings drawn from these data will lay the foundation for groundbreaking policy research and politi-cal decision-making.