More than 760 schools across Greece will suspend operations in the new academic year due to plummeting student numbers, the Financial Times reports.
The closures, affecting over 5% of the country’s schools, extend beyond remote villages and islands to parts of Attica, with officials warning of a looming “demographic collapse.”
“Our classrooms mirror the situation in our maternity wards and the number of births, which, unfortunately, has been falling for decades in our country,” said Education and Religious Affairs Minister Sofia Zacharaki.
Ministry data shows primary school enrolment has dropped by over 111,000 pupils in seven years, a 19% fall since 2018.
“The fall is very rapid, and in Greece it is particularly steep,” noted Alexandra Tragaki, professor of economic demography at Harokopio University.
This year, 766 of Greece’s 14,857 schools will close for falling short of the 15-student minimum. Exceptions remain in some border regions, such as Pserimos, where a school is reopening to teach just five children.
Greece’s population decline accelerated during the debt crisis, when mass emigration and a sharp drop in births reshaped demographics.
By 2022, annual births fell below 80,000, while deaths nearly doubled in 2023. Fertility now stands at 1.35, among Europe’s lowest.
Officials admit closures hit rural families hardest, with some children facing commutes of up to 80km, while experts caution that financial incentives alone may not reverse the trend.
