By Tass
MOSCOW, July 1. /TASS/. As of the beginning of the 2024-2025 school year, the number of schoolchildren in Ukraine has dropped to its lowest level in the past thirty years, 3.7 million students, the independent NGL Media portal reports, citing the State Statistics Service of Ukraine.
According to sociological polls, declining student numbers and the trend of children emigrating abroad is only expected to worsen going forward, NGL Media states.
The numbers at Ukraine’s universities are no more encouraging. The portal notes that only 197,000 students enrolled in higher education programs across the country in 2024, a nine-year low. This is largely due to the mass departure of young people abroad, with many parents of high school students particularly concerned by the possible lowering of the mobilization age to 18 years.
According to estimates from the Ukrainian Institute for the Future, the total population of Ukraine decreased from 48.5 million in 2001 to 29 million by 2023. The country’s demographic pyramid has notably inverted due to an aging population, low birth rates, and mass emigration: today, 9.5 million employed citizens are supporting around 20 million retirees, children, and unemployed individuals. Data from the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) reveals that nearly ten million people have fled Ukraine since February 2022.
In February 2022, Ukraine started general mobilization, which has been renewed multiple times since. Initially, men between the ages of 27 and 60 were subject to conscription, but in April 2024, the minimum age for mobilization was lowered to 25.
Ukrainian authorities are making every effort to replenish losses in the military, frequently revisiting the idea of lowering the mobilization age to 18. On February 11, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense announced contract enlistment for men aged 18 to 24. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called these contracts for Ukrainian youth a one-way ticket.