The attitude of Ukrainian society towards migration: results of a nationwide survey

Donors, performers and partners

The study was carried out as part of the participation of the Institute of Sociology of the NAS of Ukraine in the work of the World Association for Public Opinion Research.

The survey on which this report is based was conducted by the Centre for Sociological Surveys of the Institute of Sociology of the NAS of Ukraine in the course of the research project “The national resilience of Ukraine during the Russian-Ukrainian war: social configurations”. Funding was received from the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine under the budget spending line “Support for research and scientific and technical (experimental) development of priority importance for the state” of budget programme KPKVK 6541230.

The presentation was prepared by Serhii Dembitskyi, Deputy Director of the Institute of Sociology of the NAS of Ukraine, Doctor of Sociological Sciences. The presentation and discussion of the survey results with representatives of the state authorities and the civic sector were prepared and conducted by the Frontier Institute.

Technical support (access to IP telephony) was provided by the research agency Research UA, a partner of the Institute of Sociology of the NAS of Ukraine.

Parameters of the study

The research instrument was developed by researchers of the GRIT Committee of the World Association for Public Opinion Research. To take account of the specifics of migration processes in Ukraine, individual questions were added by Serhii Dembitskyi and Olha Burova (Institute of Sociology of the NAS of Ukraine).

The results of the survey represent the adult population of Ukraine (aged 18 and over), excluding the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the temporarily occupied territories of the south and east of Ukraine.

The survey was conducted by computer-assisted telephone interviews (CATI) using a random sample of mobile numbers.

The fieldwork stage of the study ran from 4 to 17 December 2025.

For a sample of 1,007 respondents, the statistical margin of error at a 95% confidence level and a design effect of 1.1 does not exceed 3.2%.

Key findings

1. An absolute majority of Ukrainians believe that people leaving Ukraine does the country some (26%) or considerable (34%) harm. At the same time the group of those who see neither benefit nor harm in Ukrainians going abroad is fairly large (22%).

When it comes to the consequences of people arriving for life in Ukraine, respondents mostly speak of benefit. In the case of people from other countries (NOT Ukrainians), they speak far more often of some (42%) than of considerable (14%) benefit. As for Ukrainians who return, the assessments are distinctly positive — two thirds of all respondents (67%) see considerable benefit in this and a further 22% speak of some benefit.

2. Among the main reasons why Ukrainians leave the country, respondents name the absence of safety (51%) and economic (23%) and political (15%) circumstances. In present conditions both economic and political circumstances are themselves derived from the situation of war (that is, from the absence of safety).

As for foreigners who come to live in Ukraine, in respondents' view this immigration is driven mainly by economic circumstances (37%), family reunification (20%) and political circumstances (11%). Here the first and second reasons can confidently be linked in causal chains.

3. In assessing migration as a whole, respondents largely agree that migration is an important problem in today's world (58%) and that migrants face growing difficulties (64%). At the same time very few respondents believe that Ukraine obstructs the entry of migrants (13%). Ukrainian society is thus inclined to think that, despite the existence of problematic aspects of migration globally, Ukraine is not part of that problem when it comes to accepting immigrants.

4. Considerable attention in the study was given to immigration and immigrants in Ukraine. Assessing immigration in general, respondents largely agree that immigrants are treated well in Ukraine (70%) and that immigration will grow (61%). It is telling, though also to be expected, that a far smaller number of respondents (22%) agreed with the statement that it is easy to immigrate to Ukraine without documents. The latter is consistent both with the situation of war in the country and, possibly, with a selective attitude among Ukrainians towards the people our country will accept.

In the context of perceptions of immigrants through the prism of positive and negative stereotypes, a majority of Ukrainians fully or rather share the positive stereotypes (from 56% to 63%) and a minority the negative ones (from 30% to 42%).

Categorising respondents simultaneously by their agreement and disagreement with various stereotypes about immigrants makes it possible to distinguish three broad groups: those with a positive attitude towards immigrants (52%), a mixed one (27%) and a negative one (21%). Among them, 43% share the positive stereotypes and do not share the negative ones, and 15% hold diametrically opposite views.

5. Despite the very widespread belief among respondents that Ukrainians are leaving for other countries to live (86%), only about 10% of them state plans of their own to leave the country within the next three years. But their number varies substantially by sex and age group. Among young men (aged 18–29) it is 23%, whereas among older men (aged 56 and over) it is only 3%. Variation by age is also observed among women, but it is far smaller (with the highest figure not exceeding 12%).

The full presentation is here.