Over 1.5 Million Refugees

Putin's war of choice has created a humanitarian nightmare.

The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has an informative site on the growing refugee crisis in Europe being caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. As of this writing, the number of over 1.5 million persons seeking refuge outside of the borders of Ukraine, with the bulk of those (~885,000) in Poland.

The current prediction is that up to 4 million Ukrainians may flee their homeland. That is almost 10% of the country’s population. There are at least another roughly 1.5 million internally displaced persons who have not fled the country but have fled their homes inside Ukraine.

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Steven L. Taylor
About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a Professor of Political Science and a College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog). Follow Steven on Twitter

Comments

  1. Stormy Dragon says:

    Another thing to watch out for: Ukraine is apparently the source for a big chunk of the world’s wheat exports, so if this war begins to interfere with the growing season, we could be setting up for humanitarian disasters all over the world in winter 2022-2023

  2. Michael Cain says:

    @Stormy Dragon:
    Ukraine is the fifth largest exporter globally, providing 9-10% of total exports by weight. Russia is #1, but a lot of those exports pass through the Black Sea ports and being cut off from SWIFT may make it harder for Russia to close deals. Much of the US “wheat belt” is in an ongoing drought. Both Australia and Argentina are finishing up record wheat harvests. And it’s all complicated by the fact that there are multiple wheat types that are not perfect substitutes for one another.

  3. Richard Gardner says:

    I have an old acquaintance who was living in Kiev, Kyev, Keev, from the Nordic Countries who got his masters degree from Moscow University and his wife is from the Republic of Georgia. I see they are safely evacuated, but are not giving any interviews in his home country. I read the language, but this is a small (Nordic) country and zilch about one of their folks being in (or out – which they are) of Ukraine. – normally they’d be all over it (local small country press, all tabloid level]