After the Cabinet of Ministers allowed men aged 18–22 to cross the border without hindrance, more and more Ukrainian university students began taking academic leave or switching to online studies to go abroad. This trend is causing concern among demographers and economists.
According to Oleksandr Gladun, deputy director of the Mykhailo Ptukha Institute of Demography and Research of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, this decision could have serious consequences. He emphasizes that the generation of boys born during the demographic crisis is extremely important for the future of the country. If they leave, a significant part of them is unlikely to return.
Gladun believes that young people could contribute to victory by doing auxiliary work in the rear, but not leaving the country completely. Otherwise, it turns out that some generations are fighting, while others are not involved in the common struggle at all.
The director of the Center for Economic Strategy, Hlib Vyshlinsky, emphasizes that the mass exodus of students will not cause a serious blow to the economy. In Ukraine, there are about 700,000 men aged 18–22, of whom only 200–300,000 actually work. This is 2–3% of the economically active population, which numbers approximately 13 million people.
The main risk is a shortage of personnel in those sectors where young people traditionally worked part-time: retail, construction, logistics, production in simple specialties. The biggest problems may arise in companies with salaries up to 15,000 UAH. At the same time, employees with incomes of 35,000–55,000 UAH mostly remain to work in Ukraine.
Thus, the economic consequences of the youth exodus will be relatively limited, but the demographic consequences will be much more serious. After all, we are talking about a generation that should become the foundation for the country's post-war reconstruction.
