Countries across Europe have spent more than €43 billion in aid for Ukrainian refugees since the beginning of the Russian invasion in February last year, but no country has spent more than Poland.
The estimate was detailed in a report by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy into how European neighbors have received and catered to those fleeing the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
More than a quarter of the total sum has been spent by the Polish government, which allocated €12 billion to Ukrainian refugees, closely followed by Germany, which has spent €11 billion.
The Czech government has spent €2.9 billion, followed by Spain (€2.2 billion), France (€2 billion), Romania (€1.3 billion), and Switzerland and Italy both with €1.2 billion.
The figures focus solely on government spending and do not include the personal expenditures of individual citizens who have volunteered accommodation and supplies for new arrivals, nor financial donations made to charitable organizations.
Financial outlays recorded in the estimates include direct financial payments towards accommodation and subsistence, medical care, education, and the provision of other basic necessities. This data is according to a statement published on Tuesday by Ukraine’s Ministry for Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories.
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The latest United Nations data published in June showed 5.98 million Ukrainians have fled to Europe since the outbreak of the war, with Poland receiving the largest number of new arrivals.
More than 1.6 million Ukrainian nationals have applied for asylum in Poland, followed by Germany with 958,000 and Czechia with 528,000.
Last month, Polish President Andrzej Duda praised his country’s response to the humanitarian crisis at its eastern border, revealing that financial assistance to Ukraine last year had been equivalent to approximately 1.5 percent of Poland’s GDP.
