223,000 More People Leave Ukraine Than Return in Six Months
Around 223,000 more people left Ukraine than returned to the country during the first six months of 2026, Russian news agency TASS reported. The figure was calculated based on data from Ukraine’s State Border Guard Service.
According to the TASS report, around 7.13 million exits from Ukraine and approximately 6.907 million entries were recorded from January to June. This means the number of people leaving the country was around 223,000 higher than the number entering during the period.
However, the figure cannot be directly considered the number of people who permanently left the country. Border-crossing statistics may include the same person leaving or returning multiple times. Therefore, the gap mainly represents the difference between the numbers of exits and entries.
The movement of people out of Ukraine has continued for several years. According to TASS figures, around 7-8 million people left the country in 2022. The figure was around 180,000 in 2023, around 460,000 in 2024 and around 302,000 in 2025.
However, figures for the first half of 2026 vary somewhat among different sources. According to Ukrainian data analytics company Opendatabot, around 7.13 million Ukrainians left the country between January and June, while 6.89 million returned. This puts the gap between exits and returns at around 244,300.
The border-crossing statistics cannot accurately determine how many Ukrainians have permanently moved abroad. There is also no precise figure for the country’s current population.
Source: TASS
