Greek demographic decline and school closures

Greek islands such as Thymaina and Kalamos are experiencing significant school closures driven by a broader national demographic crisis. On Thymaina, the primary school serves only two students, forcing local teenagers to commute by boat to neighboring islands for secondary education. Similarly, Kalamos faces the potential mothballing of its school as enrollment dwindles, with the island’s year-round population having fallen to approximately 80 people.

Recent developments on Kalamos indicate that the primary school currently has only two students remaining. Once these students transition to middle school on the mainland next year, the local institution is expected to be mothballed. This situation serves as a microcosm for a broader demographic crisis facing Europe, particularly in Southern Europe where many nations are among the oldest in the world.

These local developments reflect a wider trend in Greece, where a significant gap between deaths and births has led the Ministry of Education to close 75 schools and suspend classes at more than 400 others across the country. In Greece, the number of deaths has exceeded births annually since 2011. Experts, including Byron Kotzamanis of the Institute of Demographic Research, suggest that these closures may trigger a self-perpetuating cycle of depopulation: as essential services disappear, young people are more likely to leave, further accelerating the aging of the population and potentially transforming settlements into nursing homes.