Conceptualising and Measuring Internal Displacement in Ukraine

Orsola Torrisi , Department of Sociology, McGill University
Brienna Perelli-Harris, University of Southampton
Nataliia Levchuk, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research
Volodymyr Sarioglo, Ptoukha Institute for Demography and Life Quality Research
Maryna Ogay, Pt

Although internal displacement has become one of the most pressing humanitarian issues today, internally displaced persons (IDPs) are often invisible in international discourses, academic research, and within the societies where they live. One challenge to better understanding internal displacement is a coherent conceptual definition of who an IDP is, but also how IDPs themselves think about displacement. Existing inconsistencies raise questions about how to identify, measure, and monitor the size and composition of IDP populations. Focusing on Ukraine, we describe and compare three ways of measuring internal displacement, each with its own advantages and limitations. First, we discuss official legal registration, which allows IDPs to claim social benefits and access services such as hospital treatment. As of January 2024, 3.5 million people were officially registered as IDPs in Ukraine. Second, we examine the IOM’s General Population Study, a repeated cross-sectional panel asking respondents (N~4,800) if they had moved since Russia’s invasion in 2022. This survey estimated 3.7 million IDPs (9.7% of Ukraine’s estimated total population)in early 2024. Finally, we describe the nationally representative Household Budget Survey 2023–24 (N=18,837), which asked about displacement in four ways: whether anyone in the household was registered as an IDP (3.6%); anyone in the household received IDP benefits (4.4%); any individuals who moved after 2022 (3.9%); and any individual registered as an IDP (2.7%). Comparing these estimates over time and across geographical levels provides insights into how different measurement definitions reflect lived realities, and how they accord with academic and humanitarian concepts of displacement.

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 Presented in Session P8. Demographic Trends, History, Data and Methods