Illustrative photo: Depositphotos

The number of students in Ukrainian schools has been declining for the third year in a row since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion. This is evidenced by data obtained at the request of LIGA.net from the Ministry of Education and Science.

According to the agency, in the 2020-2021 school year, there were 4,149,233 schoolchildren in Ukraine, and next year there will be more – 4,188,403.

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However, already in 2022-2023, the number of students decreased to 4,003,173, and the same trend continued in subsequent years – 3,867,801 in 2023-2024 and 3,753,514 students at the beginning of the 2024-2025 school year.

According to current data, in the current school year, 2025-2026, approximately 3.5 million students are enrolled in education (about 250,000 fewer than last year); another 302,889 students are abroad and continue to study at Ukrainian schools remotely.

The Ministry of Education and Science also shows that the number of first-graders in 2022, after the full-scale invasion of Russia, decreased by 77,853 students compared to the previous year. In the following year, their number decreased by only 8,039 children.

At the same time, the same data do not indicate a radical decrease in the number of 11th graders in the first two years after the invasion: in the 2021-2022 school year, there were 224,521 of them, in the following year the number decreased to 221,434 (by 3,087 students), and a year later it increased to 240,220 (by 18,786 people).

The Ministry of Education did not provide information for the 2024-2025 academic year broken down by grade level, as data processing is ongoing. You can learn more about the indicators for previous years in the screenshot below:

Screenshot: LIGA.net