Despite the war, the number of foreigners entering Ukraine is increasing. Find out how many foreigners visited the country in 2023, what their purpose was, and from which countries they came

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The rules of entry to Ukraine for foreigners (except for russian citizens) remain unchanged and foreign citizens can freely visit the country even during the war. At the same time, some countries are already easing their travel recommendations to Ukraine and allowing them to visit certain regions of the country if necessary.

According to the data provided by the State Border Guard Service at Visit Ukraine's request, the trend of people leaving Ukraine has been replaced by the trend of people entering. This means that more foreign citizens come to Ukraine than leave.

The number of foreigners who visited Ukraine in 2023 and the countries they came from most often are described below.

How many foreigners entered Ukraine in 2023 and for what purpose?

According to the official statistics received by Visit Ukraine from the State Border Guard Service, 2,451,530 foreigners crossed the state border of Ukraine from January 01, 2023 to January 01, 2024. For comparison, Latvia's population is almost 1.9 million, which is less than the number of foreigners who visited Ukraine in 2023.

At the same time, the vast majority of foreigners came to Ukraine for private purposes (over 2.3 million). Another 93 thousand people were vehicle service personnel. The rest (about 7,500) were transiting through Ukraine.

It is worth noting that over the past six months (from August 01, 23 to January 01, 24), the largest number of border crossings (by foreigners and Ukrainians) was recorded at the checkpoints:

– Shehyni - 1,020,896;

– Krakivets - 769,215;

– Rava-Ruska - 574,824;

– Porubne - 518,240;

– Ustyluh - 352,207;

– Mohyliv-Podilskyi - 328,748;

– Uzhhorod - 322,261;

– Chop (Tisa) - 314,900;

– Yahodyn - 292,358;

– Luzhanka - 243,629.

Therefore, when planning a trip to Ukraine, you should take this into account and choose the least busy checkpoints for a quick border crossing. Find out which other checkpoints are open and how to check the queues at the borders here.

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What countries do people travel to Ukraine from most often: ranking?

The absolute leader in this ranking is foreigners from Moldova, with 1,070,580 people entering Ukraine in 2023. Romania ranks second - 409,186 people, and Poland is third - 231,858 people.

In addition, many foreigners came to Ukraine from:

– Hungary - 129,811 citizens;

– Israel - 64,515 citizens (notably, 20,333 citizens from Israel visited Ukraine in the first six months of the year, and 44,182 thousand in the second half of 2023, which is most likely due to the celebration of Rosh Hashanah and the armed conflict in Israel)

– Slovakia - 58,317 citizens; 

– Turkey - 51,547 citizens; 

– USA - 50,374 citizens; 

– Germany - 47,520 citizens; 

– Great Britain - 29,349 citizens; 

– Italy - 23,263 citizens;

– - Czech Republic - 22,472 citizens; 

– Azerbaijan - 18,738 citizens;

– Syria - 16,626 citizens; 

– Lithuania - 14,513 citizens; 

– Georgia - 14,304 citizens;

– France - 13,987 citizens;

– russia - 13,657 citizens; 

– Bulgaria - 12,510 citizens; 

– Latvia - 9,853 citizens;

– Netherlands - 8,787 citizens;

– Canada - 8,776 citizens;

– India - 8,413 citizens; 

– Armenia - 7,087 citizens; 

– Belarus and Austria - 5,658 citizens each; 

– Portugal - 5,608 citizens; 

– Sweden - 5,448 citizens; 

– Egypt - 5,415 citizens; 

– Philippines - 5,414 citizens.

Please note! When planning a trip to Ukraine, first of all, you need to take care of the appropriate insurance policy, because any foreign insurance automatically terminates after crossing the Ukrainian border. In this case, we recommend that you take out insurance specifically covering military risks, which will cover not only standard medical care/treatment/diagnosis, etc. but also accidents and injuries caused by passive or direct military risks.

You can take out such insurance on the Visit Ukraine website. Follow the link and choose an insurance policy with the appropriate coverage and indemnity amount for the required period.

We remind you! The imposed martial law on the territory of Ukraine does not prohibit the entry of foreigners, but it does impose some other restrictions. Read what you need for a safe trip and what nuances you should take into account when planning a trip to Ukraine during the war in our previous article.

Photo: Vlad Vasylkevych

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