Millions of Ukrainians have had to leave their homeland since the beginning of Russia's war against Ukraine in February 2022. Many of them found refuge in European countries, including Austria. Their arrival raises questions not only about integration and support, but also about their attitudes toward key social issues: How liberal or traditional do refugees view the role of men and women in family and society? What are their views on democracy and international institutions? And how do their beliefs differ from those of people in Ukraine and in their new home?

Researchers from the Institute of Demography at the Austrian Academy of Sciences (OeAW) and the Research Institute for Migration and Refugee Research and Management (FORM) at WU Wien are now providing empirical answers to these questions for the first time, which have been published in the journal “Genus”. The analysis is based on three large data sets: a survey of Ukrainian arrivals in Austria in spring 2022, the World Values Survey for Ukraine from 2020, and the European Values Study for Austria from 2018.

Between liberal and conservative

When it comes to gender roles, it is striking that Ukrainian refugees are more liberal than the population in their home country, but more conservative than Austrians. In Ukraine, 28% agree with the statement that men should be given priority when jobs are scarce, compared to only 12% of refugees in Austria – similar to the Austrian population. However, there are clear differences in rejection: while almost half of Austrians, 45% to be precise, vehemently disagree, only 23% of refugees do so.

Whether people think more liberally or traditionally has a lot to do with age, education, and marital status: “Our findings suggest that refugees represent a socio-demographically selected group – mostly younger, better educated and more often childless – and are therefore more liberal than the average population of their country of origin,” explains Bernhard Riederer, lead author of the study and demographer at the Austrian Academy of Sciences.

Strong trust in the European Union

When it comes to democracy, the attitudes of Ukrainian refugees are more similar to those in Ukraine than to those in Austria. While 69% of the Ukrainian population rated democracy positively in 2020, the figure among refugees in Vienna in 2022 was as high as 82%. However, approval is significantly higher in Austria, where 94% consider democracy to be a good system.

What is striking, however, is their significantly higher level of trust in the European Union: over 90% of refugees said they had a high or fairly high level of trust. By comparison, 46% of the population in Ukraine trusted the EU, and only 41% in Austria. This finding remains stable even when socio-demographic characteristics such as education, income, or age are taken into account.

“Apparently, structural factors play less of a role here than the formative experiences of war and the international support that Ukraine has received since 2022,” says co-author and OeAW researcher Isabella Buber-Ennser.

Little change as the war drags on

“In particular, the pronounced pro-European attitude could not only facilitate integration in Austria in the long term, but also support the democratisation process in Ukraine,” says co-author and WU researcher Judith Kohlenberger. A renewed survey of Ukrainian refugees in the summer of 2025 shows that although trust in the EU has declined by a few percentage points, it remains very high.