Minister of Migration Anders Ygeman (S) and the Swedish Migration Agency's Director General Mikael Ribbenvik held a press conference on Wednesday about the reception of refugees due to the war in Ukraine.
- We see that there has been a slowdown in Putin's warfare in Ukraine in recent weeks and that there has also been a slowdown in the number of people fleeing Ukraine to Europe and thus to Sweden.
We also see that a certain return has begun, Ygeman said at the press conference.
According to the Minister of Migration, approximately 34,400 Ukrainian refugees have so far sought refuge in Sweden.
Of these, 1,800 have applied for asylum and 32,900 have applied under the Refugee Directive.
80 percent of the registering applications have resulted in a residence permit.
Lower forecast than before
At the press conference, the Swedish Migration Agency's Director General Mikael Ribbenvik presented the latest forecasts for the reception of refugees.
- Now we have ten weeks of data from Sweden and other countries.
What we leave to the government today is a main scenario of 80,000 for the full year.
It is based on the fact that approximately 8 million will leave Ukraine this year to join the EU.
The forecast is lower than the previous main scenario, which was 76,000 until the end of the first half of the year.
At the press conference, Ribbenvik stated that there are two more scenarios, a lower one where it is estimated that 50,000 people flee to Sweden and a higher one based on 10 million people fleeing Ukraine, of which 200,000 to Sweden.
Reception in municipalities
A couple of weeks ago, a new proposal was presented for a more even reception of refugees across the country than during the refugee flow in 2015. The Swedish Migration Agency may appoint a municipality to arrange housing and the municipalities will in turn receive compensation for costs.
In total, according to the UNHCR, more than five million people have fled Ukraine since the invasion began on February 24.