People wait at the reception centre for refugees from Ukraine at the Berlin Central Station.
© dpa
The Berlin Senate assumes that several tens of thousands of Ukrainian refugees are now living in the German capital.
"Our assumption is that there are definitely 50,000 to 60,000 people currently in our city," said Governing Mayor Franziska Giffey on Tuesday (05 April 2022) after the Senate meeting.
According to the SPD politician, this rough estimate is based on two sources. On the one hand, about 20,000 applications for residence permits for about 35,000 people have been submitted to the State Office for Immigration so far. It can be assumed that the applicants want to stay in Berlin for the time being. On the other hand, 32,410 Ukrainians have applied for social assistance in the Berlin districts.
Both figures are reliable, Giffey said. Although it is unclear how many people have registered twice, initial conclusions concerning the approximate total number of Ukrainian refugees in the city can be drawn. However, it is not yet clear exactly how high the exact number is. It is likely that many new arrivals have not submitted any applications yet.