LONDON

Nearly 4.2 million Ukrainian refugees live in EU countries under the bloc’s temporary protection scheme, the EU’s statistical office announced on Friday.

"Almost 4.2 million non-EU citizens who fled Ukraine as a consequence of the Russian invasion on 24 February 2022, had temporary protection status in EU Member States," Eurostat said in a statement.

According to the latest data compiled on Sept. 30, Germany, Poland, and the Czech Republic are hosting the largest communities of Ukrainian refugees with 1.194 million, 958,000, and 357,000 people, respectively.

During the third quarter of the year, a total of 256,860 decisions granted temporary protection to people having fled Ukraine in EU member states, meaning a 1.3% decrease compared with the second quarter of 2023.

Compared with their total population, Poland and the Czech Republic welcomed the most Ukrainians.

At 46.5%, adult women made up the greatest share of Ukrainian refugees in the 27-member bloc, while the second-biggest group was children, representing 33.7%.

On March 4, 2022, the European Council unanimously adopted temporary protection for people fleeing Ukraine as a consequence of Russia's war on Ukraine.