On the tiny Aegean island of Thymaina, six-year-old Giorgos and his older cousin Minas are the entire primary school. Their sole teacher covers everything from maths to music, and when the pair run out of playmates, that's that. Their story has become a small-scale portrait of a much bigger problem: Greece is running out of children.

The education ministry is closing 43 nurseries and 32 primary schools this year because of "very low to non-existent" enrolment, with another 70 nurseries merged. Nationwide, births fell below 66,000 last year, down from more than 107,000 in 2005, and the population is projected to drop by over a million to 9.2 million by 2050. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis calls it a "national danger" and has promised tax breaks for parents of three plus extra cash for larger families. Nisyros, a Dodecanese island of about 1,000 people, has gone further, offering 3,000 euros per child born to permanent residents.

Thymaina, part of the Fournoi archipelago off Samos and just 40km from the Turkish coast, shows how isolated communities feel it first. The nursery has shut, the high school closed years ago, and six teenagers now commute by boat to Fournoi each morning. Older residents remember when the school had nearly 70 pupils. Getting there is part of the challenge: just two ferries a week connect the island to Athens, a trip of at least eight hours with a change at Fournoi, and bad weather can strand islanders for days.

There's a defiant streak of history here, though. The Fournoi islands' secluded coves sheltered pirates for centuries — the cantina owner's family claims descent from the region's last known pirate, executed in the 1860s. Better still for travellers, the waters hold more than 60 known shipwrecks dating back to the 6th century BCE. Municipal officials hope the first of three planned underwater archaeology parks, part of a decade-long culture ministry initiative, will open next year and pull in divers and history-minded visitors. Whether tourism can shore up communities losing their schools is another question — but for now, Fournoi is one of the few genuinely unspoiled corners of the Aegean.

For travellers, the piece of good news is that islands like Thymaina and Fournoi still feel like a step back in time: portside cantinas, backgammon, family tavernas and coves you may have to yourself. Go before the ferries get busier. Just check sailing schedules carefully — this is not a place for tight connections.