Sweden’s missing piece in helping Ukraine: Supporting Ukrainians who are already here

07 April, 2025

Sweden has given strong support to Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s invasion—but there’s been far less attention on the Ukrainians who’ve fled to Sweden. A new policy brief shows that these displaced people face unclear rights and limited support, which makes it harder for them to rebuild their lives and contribute to both Swedish society and Ukraine’s future.

Key issues highlighted in the policy brief

Many Ukrainians in Sweden are unsure whether they can stay beyond 2025, which discourages long-term planning and limits their ability to contribute to Swedish society.
Sweden offers fewer benefits and support services to Ukrainian refugees than countries like Finland, Denmark, or Poland, making it one of the least attractive destinations in Northern Europe.
Despite being highly educated, many displaced Ukrainians end up in low-skilled jobs due to language barriers, lack of stable residency, and missing information about support programs.

Learn more

Meet the authors

Anna Anisimova: Researcher, Stockholm Institute for Transition Economics
Maria Perrotta Berlin: Assistant Professor, Stockholm Institute for Transition Economics
Kata Fredheim: Executive Vice President of Partnership and Strategy, Associate Professor in Economics and Business at SSE Riga and Research Fellow at BICEPS

Photo: Halfpoint, Shutterstock

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About the FREE Network Policy Brief Series

The Forum for Research on Eastern Europe and Emerging Economies (FREE Network) is a joint initiative by SITE (Stockholm), BEROC (Minsk), BICEPS (Riga), CenEA (Szczecin), ISET-PI (Tbilisi) and KSE Institute (Kiev).

Together, these research institutes form an extensive network of leading academic experts on economic issues in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. The institutes also conduct research about development, emerging markets, as well as economics in general.

By publishing the weekly FREE Policy Brief Series, these institutes provide short and informative analyses on current economic policy challenges in Eastern Europe and emerging markets. The writings are based on academic research papers or policy work. The ambition of the FREE Network is to bridge the gap between ongoing academic research and policy making, to stimulate and contribute to the international debate as well as to intensify the interaction and discussion with other researchers, policy-makers, and business representatives across the world.