The demographic situation in our country is critical, however, even in the conditions of war and security threats, 1.3 million teenagers aged 13 to 16 live and study in Ukraine. This is human capital, which should be developed by the joint efforts of the state, civil society institutions and international support. Read more about it in the article.
70% of Ukrainian teenagers (ages 13–16) cannot name the profession they would like to work in when they are 30 years old. And every fifth schoolchild (20%) has not yet thought about his future career. At the same time, 25% of teenagers are considering the possibility of going abroad.
The situation is disappointing, because the state is rapidly losing human capital. And every 4th child thinking about leaving is a signal: it is necessary to create better conditions in education and open real perspectives for the realization of youth.
To support the child in his choice of the future, to give access to modern technologies and innovative knowledge. And most importantly, to show that living in Ukraine is a value, an opportunity and an endless potential. Moreover, 82% of the surveyed teenagers remain optimistic about their own future, and 60% about the future of Ukraine.
4 out of 5 high school students of Lviv Oblast consider knowledge of the history of Ukraine important, but only 55% are interested in studying it in the school format. FAMA 83% of schoolchildren feel proud of the country, 63% are oriented towards life in Ukraine – these are the data of another study conducted in the Lviv region.
That is, the majority of high school students in Lviv Oblast feel proud of their country and plan to stay at home. In order not to lose this potential, education must become more interesting, interactive and technologically modern. Secondary, vocational and higher schools should become a real “hook”, a motivator to stay in the state, develop and build one’s future in Ukraine.
The non-governmental organization “All-Ukrainian Democratic Forum” implemented a large-scale educational project with the support of Taiwan in 2024-2025 “Leave no one behind partnership”, which directly responds to the challenges identified in these surveys.
“96 schools in Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Poltava regions received modern technical equipment for computer science classrooms. 33 teachers upgraded their qualifications at UCU in programming, robotics, and STEM. We organized and held 24 entrepreneurship and innovation camps for young people, which reached 743 high school students from 72 schools,” – the head of the organization’s board draws attention to the results of the project Iryna Handzyuk.
According to her, such initiatives help the state and strengthen it. After all, in the conditions of martial law, education receives less funding than necessary. Therefore, the support of foreign partners, assistance for educational initiatives is actually an investment in the future, in the development of the country. And it is not only about knowledge, but also about preserving human capital.
The founder of the NGO “All-Ukrainian Democratic Forum” Mykola Kniazhytskyi emphasizes that the goal of the Russians is to force Ukrainians to emigrate from their country or assimilate. They want our education, our industry, our lives destroyed.
“This is both a challenge and an opportunity. Ukraine needs a unified policy of demographic recovery after the war, a clear strategy and effective tools,” Kniazhytskyi emphasizes. “The cooperation of the NGO All-Ukrainian Democratic Forum with Taiwan in training schoolchildren and teachers, computerization of schools is only a small part of a big strategic goal: to preserve human capital and give children a future in Ukraine.”
The text uses data from the Future Index study initiated by the Olena Zelenska Foundation in cooperation with the KSE Institute and UNICEF (10,178 respondents were surveyed online in March 2025) and the survey conducted by the Fama Research Agency on the order of the Lviv Oblast Military Administration and with the support of the Kapitel Private Enterprise within the framework of the Regional Program for Promoting the Development of Information Space and Civil Society in the Lviv Oblast 2021-2025 years.
