Currently, 17% of Ukrainian refugees are undecided about their return.
25% of the polled Ukrainians in Lithuania said that financial stability remained to be a major challenge, 21% named the language barrier, 19% long-term rental of accommodation and 19% named employment.
Although Ukrainian refugees identified financial stability as the primary issue in Lithuania and Latvia (25% and 38% respectively), yet in Estonia the language barrier was the main problem (42%). Long-term rental of accommodation was an issue in Latvia and Estonia as well (17% and 21%), as were challenges with employment (31% in Latvia and 33% in Estonia).
Head of IOM Lithuania Eitvydas Bingelis says integration challenges have replaced the issue of the basic needs of Ukrainian refugees.
According to the organisation, in the first months since Ukrainian refugees arrived in Lithuania, they mostly needed financial aid and medical services. After the first year, they primarily identified employment challenges and Lithuanian language courses. Already 400 Ukrainians have taken part in language courses.
The DTM poll in the Baltics was carried out 4 times in 2023 and summary results are provided.
Since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, nearly 84,000 Ukrainian refugees have arrived in Lithuania.
