The number of schools in Russia has fallen by 45% since the start of the century, with rural communities losing the most, according to a report by the Higher School of Economics published this month. Russia's secondary school network has shrunk from 68,800 institutions in 2000 to just under 38,000 in 2026, the report says. The school-age population has fallen by around 13.5% over the same period, from 20.5 million to 17.7 million children.
Russia now has fewer schools than Germany, even though its population is roughly half the size. Germany has more than 40,000 schools in 2026. Closures have been most severe in rural areas, where the number of state schools has fallen from more than 45,000 to around 21,000, a reduction of more than half.
Urban schools have also declined, from 22,700 in 2000 to 16,300 today. The number of pupils each school serves has grown substantially over the same period: from around 300 pupils per school 15 years ago to around 470 today. Private schools have increased in number, from 635 in 2000 to 982 in 2026, but account for only 2.5% of total provision.
The closures stem from an optimisation programme launched in 2001 that remains ongoing. A shift to per-pupil funding made smaller schools financially unviable: the fewer children a school enrolled, the less state money it received. Schools were merged with neighbouring institutions or closed outright.
By 2010, 26% of Russia's schools had shut. Around 10,000 more closed in the 2010s, and a further 2,300 since the early 2020s. Teachers and parents protested the mergers.
They argued that large consolidated institutions were harder to manage, that neighbourhood schools with distinct characters were being lost, and that overcrowded classes would reduce educational quality. Sociologists have also linked school closures to village depopulation, according to a 2026 study published in the Russian magazine Nozh. The study found that when a village school closes, families typically split — one parent relocates to a town with the children while the other stays to work — and the separation becomes permanent.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
