Before the sun rises over the Ionian Sea, teenagers from the tiny Greek island of Kalamos file into a sea taxi, backpacks slung over their shoulders, to make the half-hour crossing to the mainland.
They are on their way to school, the predawn commute a glimpse of a broader problem facing most of Europe: There are fewer children to fill classrooms and remote communities like those on islands often feel the effects first.
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High school students wait for classes to begin at a school in the mainland town of Mytikas, western Greece, early Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
A high school student waits for classes to begin at a school in the mainland town of Mytikas, western Greece, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
High school student Antonis Aivaliotis, 17, center, travels with other passengers by boat across the Ionian Sea from the island of Kalamos, where he lives, to school in the mainland town of Mytikas, western Greece, early Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
High school student Panagiotis Fatouros, 16, center, travels across the Ionian Sea with other students and passengers by boat from the island of Kalamos to the mainland town of Mytikas, where the students attend school, in western Greece, early Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
The island of Kalamos is seen from Mytikas, the nearest mainland town, in western Greece, early Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Middle and high school students travel by passenger boat across the Ionian Sea from the island of Kalamos, where they live, to schools in the mainland town of Mytikas, western Greece, early Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Middle and high school students board a passenger boat on the island of Kalamos to travel to schools in the mainland town of Mytikas, western Greece, early Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
High school student John Kestegias stands on a chair while meeting friends at a snack bar on the island of Kalamos in the Ionian Sea, western Greece, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
A man rides a motorcycle along an empty street on the island of Kalamos in the Ionian Sea, western Greece, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
A woman drinks coffee at a snack bar on the island of Kalamos in the Ionian Sea, western Greece, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
A tourist sunbathes at Agrapidia Beach on the island of Kalamos in the Ionian Sea, western Greece, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
A sailboat is seen off Agrapidia Beach on the island of Kalamos in the Ionian Sea, western Greece, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
A classroom display hangs on a wall inside a kindergarten that has remained closed for a second consecutive school year because of a lack of students on the island of Kalamos in the Ionian Sea, western Greece, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
An empty classroom is seen at a kindergarten that has remained closed for a second consecutive school year because of a lack of students on the island of Kalamos in the Ionian Sea, western Greece, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
A map of Greece hangs on a wall as teacher Chryssa Ntalaka and her two sixth-grade students, the only students at Kalamos Primary School, leave their classroom on the island of Kalamos in the Ionian Sea, western Greece, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
A picture depicting Jesus Christ is displayed above a chalkboard in an unused classroom at Kalamos Primary School, which has only two students, both in sixth grade, on the island of Kalamos in the Ionian Sea, western Greece, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Teacher Chryssa Ntalaka teaches music to the two students of Kalamos Primary School, including Gerasimos Mitsopoulos, 11, right, on the island of Kalamos in the Ionian Sea, western Greece, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Gerasimos Mitsopoulos, 11, one of two students at Kalamos Primary School, plays basketball at the school on the island of Kalamos in the Ionian Sea, western Greece, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
On Kalamos, the primary school only has two students left. When they leave for middle school on the mainland next year, the island’s last working school will close.
The island has about 80 year-round residents, of whom seven are teenagers. On windy days, the sea can be too rough for the ferry to cross, and students miss class.
“There used to be a lot of children on Kalamos,” said Antonis Aivaliotis, a high school senior making the crossing who expects to leave after graduation. “It was very nice. We played together every day. We went to (primary) school every morning,”
“Of course I would like to stay here,” he said. “I love Kalamos. It is my home. But there’s no development at all.”
Chryssa Ntalaka, the island’s primary schoolteacher, has spent 20 years working in remote Greek schools, sometimes as the only teacher, combining grades and teaching everything from Greek and math to history, science and physical education.
The classroom on Kalamos is now largely empty. Nearby, the island’s kindergarten has been closed for three years, with toys still sitting on shelves.
“I will have to leave Kalamos,” Ntalaka said, adding that keeping the school open would require only two more families. “Just two families — a simple move.”
Greece is confronting a sustained population decline, recording more deaths than births every year since 2011. By 2050, Greece’s population could fall from about 10.5 million today to between 8 million and 8.5 million, with young people becoming a minority, according to Aris Alexopoulos, head of the OECD Crete Centre on Population Dynamics.
Low enrollment prompted Greek authorities to close 75 schools this year and suspend or extend the suspension of classes at more than 400 others.
Byron Kotzamanis, co-founder of the Institute of Demographic Research in Athens, said school closures in areas with few students should be made “very sparingly and carefully,” and not based on economics alone.
School closures encourage people of working age to leave remote areas and start a family elsewhere, he argued.
“Closing schools leads to young people not staying (in a remote community) and to them leaving,” Kotzamanis said. “Leaving means fewer and fewer people — fewer and fewer births. It means depopulation and dead settlements that will become nursing homes.”
This is a documentary photo story curated by AP photo editors.
High school students wait for classes to begin at a school in the mainland town of Mytikas, western Greece, early Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
A high school student waits for classes to begin at a school in the mainland town of Mytikas, western Greece, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
High school student Antonis Aivaliotis, 17, center, travels with other passengers by boat across the Ionian Sea from the island of Kalamos, where he lives, to school in the mainland town of Mytikas, western Greece, early Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
High school student Panagiotis Fatouros, 16, center, travels across the Ionian Sea with other students and passengers by boat from the island of Kalamos to the mainland town of Mytikas, where the students attend school, in western Greece, early Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
The island of Kalamos is seen from Mytikas, the nearest mainland town, in western Greece, early Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Middle and high school students travel by passenger boat across the Ionian Sea from the island of Kalamos, where they live, to schools in the mainland town of Mytikas, western Greece, early Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Middle and high school students board a passenger boat on the island of Kalamos to travel to schools in the mainland town of Mytikas, western Greece, early Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
High school student John Kestegias stands on a chair while meeting friends at a snack bar on the island of Kalamos in the Ionian Sea, western Greece, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
A man rides a motorcycle along an empty street on the island of Kalamos in the Ionian Sea, western Greece, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
A woman drinks coffee at a snack bar on the island of Kalamos in the Ionian Sea, western Greece, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
A tourist sunbathes at Agrapidia Beach on the island of Kalamos in the Ionian Sea, western Greece, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
A sailboat is seen off Agrapidia Beach on the island of Kalamos in the Ionian Sea, western Greece, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
A classroom display hangs on a wall inside a kindergarten that has remained closed for a second consecutive school year because of a lack of students on the island of Kalamos in the Ionian Sea, western Greece, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
An empty classroom is seen at a kindergarten that has remained closed for a second consecutive school year because of a lack of students on the island of Kalamos in the Ionian Sea, western Greece, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
A map of Greece hangs on a wall as teacher Chryssa Ntalaka and her two sixth-grade students, the only students at Kalamos Primary School, leave their classroom on the island of Kalamos in the Ionian Sea, western Greece, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
A picture depicting Jesus Christ is displayed above a chalkboard in an unused classroom at Kalamos Primary School, which has only two students, both in sixth grade, on the island of Kalamos in the Ionian Sea, western Greece, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Teacher Chryssa Ntalaka teaches music to the two students of Kalamos Primary School, including Gerasimos Mitsopoulos, 11, right, on the island of Kalamos in the Ionian Sea, western Greece, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Gerasimos Mitsopoulos, 11, one of two students at Kalamos Primary School, plays basketball at the school on the island of Kalamos in the Ionian Sea, western Greece, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
