Greece took in more than 7,700 Ukrainian refugees in April
A total of 7,759 refugees fled the war in Ukraine for Greece last month and 20% of them were below the age of 18, the Migration and Asylum Ministry said on Tuesday. The majority of the arrivals, just under 54%, were aged over 35 years old and 26% were in the 18-34 age group, it added.
From the start of the Russian invasion on February 24 and until April 30, the ministry also received 13,147 applications from Ukrainian nationals requesting temporary protection. Most of these applications, 56%, were filed with the asylum office in the Greek capital and 29% were in Thessaloniki in the north.
Not a single Ukrainian citizen was staying at the short-term accommodation facility in Serres on April 30, the ministry added, saying that 164 refugees were at its long-term housing facilities in the same part of northern Greece on that date. An additional 133 Ukrainians had been put up in apartments in Elefsina, in Attica, via the EU-funded Hestia program.
Overall in April, Greece was hosting 917,218 million migrants and refugees, 70% of which were nationals of third countries with valid residence permits and 24% European Union nationals or ethnic Greeks.
Moreover, the backlog of pending asylum applications last month was 52% down compared to April 2021 and the ministry issued 4,699 decisions, of which 45% were approvals and 19% rejections.
