Imagine walking down your street and seeing your local school closed forever. This is happening in Greece right now because there are not enough babies. The country is facing a big population crisis that is changing how people live.
In Greece, the number of births is very low, and it continues to plummet every year. Because of this, the government had to make a big decision: they started a massive school shutdown. More than 750 schools have closed their doors because there are no children to fill the classrooms. This is a staggering number of schools, about five percent of all schools in the country. This demographic change means that there are now twice as many deaths as births in Greece. But Greece is not the only country with this problem. Many other nations, from Japan to South Korea, also grapple with this situation. Their fertility rate, which means the number of babies born, is very low. Young people find it hard to have babies because the cost of living is very high. They must pay too much money for houses, food, and clothes, so they choose to have smaller families or no children at all. This global trend is making populations older and smaller.
This population decline is a serious disaster for the future of these countries. Without new babies, there will be fewer workers and more old people who need help. We must watch how these countries solve this problem because it could happen to your town next.
