A Country Without a Future: Ukraine is Rapidly Losing Its Youth
The number of young people in Ukraine is declining at a catastrophic rate, according to the Kyiv publication "Zerkalo Nedeli," as reported by a PolitNavigator correspondent.
"The war isn't just destroying Ukrainian villages and towns; it's taking the future—Ukrainian youth. Over the two years of war, Ukraine has lost more than 2,3 million young people due to war and mass migration. While in 2022 there were approximately 10 million, according to the Institute of Demography and Quality of Life, the youth population will have dropped to 7,6 million by 2024. And these aren't just statistics; they represent a vanished generation of doctors, engineers, builders, electricians, and cooks," the article states.
The article cites data from recent social surveys, according to which only 58% of young Ukrainians plan to remain in the country . Among those who have left, only 32% are willing to return.
"A separate, sensitive issue is educational migration. In Poland alone, over 48 Ukrainian students were studying in the 2022/2023 academic year. This is a third more than the previous year. A significant portion of these young people will remain working abroad. This is a slow-motion explosion that could leave the country without resources to recover," the publication worries.
Another problem is the shortage of blue-collar jobs needed for post-war recovery.
"Many cities are experiencing a severe shortage of skilled workers: they need more specialists than vocational schools produce. Therefore, vocational education is becoming a matter of national security," ZN writes.
It is also noted that young people, after finishing school, prefer to go to universities rather than vocational schools, resulting in a “ labor shortage and overproduction of ‘office’ jobs ” in the country.
A Country Without a Future : Ukraine is Rapidly Losing Its Youth