Three years on from start of war, thousands of Ukrainians still move to Catalonia each year

Registrations of Ukrainians newly living in Catalonia have not stopped since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion, which began three years ago.

In 2024, there were a total of 4,228 newly registered Ukrainians living in Catalonia, according to data from Spain's National Statistics Institute. This means that a total of 28,800 Ukrainians moved to the territory since March 2022.

Not all 28,800 are necessarily still living in Catalonia, though, as the data only tracks registrations with local councils - known as the "empadronament" in Catalan. In fact, no official data has emerged on the number of Ukrainians who have returned to their country.

However, several indicators suggest that the community continues to grow in Catalonia, as school enrollments have grown by 50% in the last year to 6,824 and social security registrations by 7%.

The majority of the 28,800 Ukrainians who have registered in municipal logs since early March 2022 came during the first months of the conflict. That month, 6,763 Ukrainians fleeing hostilities registered, and half of the total who have signed up so far did so in the first five months of the war.

In Spain as a whole, there are 134,643 Ukrainians who have registered with the city councils between March 2022 and December 2024, with 21.4% of whom doing so in Catalonia.

The Ukrainian community in Catalonia is predominantly female, as 61.7% of those registered with a health card in Catalonia at the beginning of this year were women.