Almost a year and a half after the start of the war in Ukraine, the Ministry of the Interior has announced that since the activation of this extraordinary protection mechanism at the beginning of March last year, the Asylum and Refuge Office (OAR) and the National Police have processed and granted a total of 180,785 protections to Ukrainians fleeing their homeland.
Of the total Ukrainians temporarily settled in Spain, 27% are in the Valencian Community, with more than 50,000, and Torrevieja has become the safe haven for many of those.
According to the most recent figures published by the Institute of National Statistics (INE), on 1 January 2022 (so likely to be different to date), there were 5,771 Ukrainians in Torrevieja, surpassing Russians, with 4,932, and the previous number one spot holder, though now in considerable decline, the Brits with 4,815.
Regarding the autonomies, the Valencian Community specifically has 50,066 Ukrainian refugees; Catalonia, 41,343; Andalusia, 25,952 and Madrid 24,972. These are the autonomous communities in which more temporary protections have been processed and granted.
The majority of those who are temporarily settled are women, with 62 percent (112,591) and 38 percent are men (68,194). By age group, 32 percent are under 18 years of age; 26 percent, between 19 and 35 years; 35 percent, between 36 and 64; and 7 percent are over 65 years of age.
In addition, most of the people who have obtained temporary protection, 98.1 percent, are citizens of Ukrainian nationality, while the remaining 1.9 percent correspond to citizens of other nationalities who were legally residing on Ukrainian territory when war broke out.
It should be noted that the status of these immigrants is considered temporary, as they are expected to return to their homeland once the war is over, as is the population growth, applauded by some political leaders, although the situation could lead to an extension of the scheme, or they could apply to become permanent residents.
