Population changes as litmus paper of the socio-economic development level of small towns in Poland

The main aim of the author was to analyse the population changes of small towns in Poland between 2002 and 2012. Small towns’ reaction to the global and regional demographic trends confirms their position between the rural areas and the urban municipalities. The differences between separate towns are significant, however those located within the metropolitan areas in Poland show a positive population dynamics, natural growth and migration balance net indexes. The image of small towns in terms of demographic changes is for that reason adequate to their socio-economic situation. However the question of the development of small satellite towns is asked as the functions are often leached to the core areas of the metropolis. The emerging problem of the depopulation of the vast majority of towns is also stressed in the paper. The depopulation types (in Webb typology) concern nearly 72% of all Polish small towns