Sensing population displacement from Ukraine using Facebook data: Identifying potential settlement areas within host countries

Abstract

The escalation of conflict in Ukraine has triggered the largest refugee crisis in Europe since WWII. As of mid-April 2023, over 8.2 million people have fled Ukraine. Large-scale efforts have been made to identify the major receiving countries. However, less is known about the sub-national areas within host countries where refugees have migrated. Identifying these areas is key for the appropriate allocation of humanitarian aid. By combining digital Facebook API data and traditional data from Eurostat, this paper aims to identify and characterise potential settlement areas of Ukrainians across the main destination countries in Europe. We identify high concentrations of Ukrainians in urban areas with a pre-existing diaspora and tight labour market conditions across southern, northern-west and central Poland and the city of Prague in Czech Republic. We also find potential settlements in key urban agglomerations with a moderate diaspora and high levels of unemployment in Spain. Only in Romania, refugees seem to have settled in rural areas which show a moderate diaspora but low levels of unemployment. Potential settlement areas in Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom are spread across the country. Surprisingly, we do not identify potential settlement areas in bordering regions with Ukraine within neighbouring countries, suggesting that refugees may have used them only as transit points. Our findings point out that different packages of humanitarian assistance may be needed according to the number of refugees and the characteristics of settlement areas.

Ukrainian Refugee Crisis under the Russia-Ukraine Conflict: Influences, Reflections and Suggestions on Europe

“…The most critical issue in the employment system is the issue of cultural and language barriers. Taking Denmark as an example, data surveys show that due to language barriers, the transition from a Danish-dominated language environment to a multilingual environment may challenge the social cohesion and inclusiveness of the group because Facebook's translation efficiency is low, leading to misunderstandings and possible conflict [11]. In this regard, voluntary organizations can regularly carry out cultural literacy in refugee sites.…”