Update on IDP Figures in Ukraine 5 April 2022 [EN/UK]

The beginning of the war in Ukraine (24 February) triggered massive and rapid displacement within and outside the country, adding to the already existing 854,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) within Ukraine. While the centralized IDP registration system (administered by the Ministry of Social Policy) in place since 2014 is not yet able to capture all new IDPs in the country, IOM, REACH, UNHCR, OCHA, and the Protection Cluster agreed to work together to ensure the humanitarian community receives credible and harmonized population figures for IDPs in Ukraine.

Since 9 March, IOM rolled out a survey of the general population in Ukraine to gather insights into internal displacement and mobility flows. The results of the survey were presented to the Protection Cluster, UNHCR, REACH and OCHA, and after a collective review of the methodology and findings, the group agreed that the figures provided by IOM are a good representation of the scale of internal displacement in Ukraine. On 16 March, the results of the first round of IOM’s survey indicated that 6.48 million persons were internally displaced persons in Ukraine

The latest round of IOM’s survey was completed and presented on 5 April, leading to the updated population figure of 7.1 million IDPs in Ukraine (10% increase compared to the previous round). The second round also observed an increase of IDPs coming from Northern areas (Sumy, Zhytomyr, Chernihiv) and Kyiv.

It is worth noting the remarkable ongoing efforts by Ukrainian authorities to expedite the registration of IDPs through their Unified IDP Registry, administered by the Ministry of Social Policy. The Government registration system has been in place since 2014 but was not initially enforced after the war started due to high numbers of new IDP arrivals and overstretched capacities in areas receiving IDPs.

On 13 March 2022, however, authorities amended the Resolution 509 on IDP registration to adapt the system to the current context, including the delegation of authority of registration of IDPs to new and additional Government staff working in social protection institutions, centers for provision of administrative services (TSNAPs, in Ukrainian acronym), and executive authorities in villages and territorial communities. The Government registration system aims at confirming the internal displacement, assessing the needs of the IDP and allowing access to targeted assistance and services. Finally, since 4 April, Ukrainians are also allowed to record their change of residence through the digital application Diia, which will allow IDPs to alert the Government of their forced displacement and boost registration efforts.

As of 5 April, in consultation with authorities, REACH reported that 1.6 million IDPs were already registered by authorities in 13 Oblast administrations of Ukraine. The humanitarian community remains committed to supporting the registration efforts of the Government, to allow official IDP figures to be duly updated. In this regard, Protection Cluster partners will provide technical assistance, equipment and capacity building to local authorities involved in IDP registration; as well as information dissemination and individual counselling to unregistered IDPs.