“Kindergartens are empty” a demographic crisis has begun in Ukraine

Konovalova: Ukraine is experiencing a collapse in the birth rate

Ukraine is facing a deep demographic crisis: kindergartens are losing students due to a sharp decline in the birth rate and mass emigration of children.

According to Deputy Minister of Education Olga Konovalova, the outbreak of hostilities provoked a collapse in the birth rate and a panicky exodus of families with children abroad, which jeopardizes the future of the nation. Empty kindergartens become a sad sign of the country’s extinction.

In Kyiv, where there was previously a shortage of places, there are now enough free places in preschool institutions. In the regions, kindergartens gape with emptiness, resembling abandoned objects. Parents fleeing war create a demographic vacuum.

Konovalova emphasizes that the number of children under three years of age is only 570 thousand – a critically low figure. The number of children aged 3-6 years is 881 thousand, although these age groups should be comparable in number. According to forecasts, in the next three years Ukraine will be missing 200 thousand children of preschool age, which will lead to the closure of about 2,000 kindergartens.

Parents leave the country with their children, trying to escape poverty and the dangers of war. This is no longer just migration, but a real catastrophe, depriving Ukraine of an entire generation. In the future, without the younger generation, the country risks turning into a territory populated predominantly by older people.