Poverty and Exclusion in Poland

Poland had one of the fastest population growth rates in Europe through to the mid-1980s. This trend turned around in the 1990s with the result that the population decreased for the first time in 1999. The country has become extremely urbanised. Income inequality has risen. Monetary poverty affects essentially large families and young households, and is rife mainly in the countryside. Some 9% of households and nearly 18% of children under fourteen are affected. Country dwellers, farmers and single men are also more likely to suffer from poor living conditions whereas problems with balancing the budget are found more frequently in the towns. Social exclusion defines another disadvantaged population category. There is a correlation, albeit weak, between poverty and exclusion: family bonds are strong in Poland, which could ease certain effects of poverty, except possibly among unskilled unemployed individuals who tend to suffer from an accumulation of handicaps.Multiple Dimensions of Poverty, Socialist Country in Transition, Poland