Full participation in social life and ability to exercise one’s rights is dependent on whether one has a legal identity. It is estimated that approximately 1 billion people in the world are not recorded in any official registers. The lack of birth registration is still a major problem in many regions. It is estimated that worldwide, only 73% of children up to the age of 5 are in official records. The worst situation in this respect is in sub-Saharan Africa, where only 45% of all births are being officially recorded. A low percentage of registered births is also observed in Oceania, Southern Asia, South-Eastern Asia and Western Asia.

Proportion of children under 5 years of age whose births have been registered with a civil authority (%)

The data includes cumulative registration estimates for the period from 2010 to 2019.

Poland is perceived as a safe country: 92% of its inhabitants declare that they feel safe in their place of residence, which is more than the EU average. Only 4% of Poles notice instances of crime, violence or vandalism in their neighbourhood, which marks a fall since 2010, when 7% felt threatened with violence. In the EU, on average 13% of inhabitants feel in danger in their neighbourhood, and 14% felt so in 2010. The worst situation in this respect is observed in United Kingdom and Bulgaria, where over 20% of inhabitants notice dangerous situations in their neighbourhood.

Official statistics indicate a slight improvement as regards the safety of the inhabitants of Poland compared to the beginning of the millennium. Then, almost 20 out of a 1 million inhabitants were killed each year. In the current decade, this figure has gone down to 7-11 victims per 1 million inhabitants a year, which is similar to the EU average.

Crime, violence or vandalism in the area (%)

Institutions which operate effectively make it possible to efficiently cater to citizens’ needs and foster their trust. Poland saw an improvement in citizens’ level of trust for public institutions (local municipal or commune authorities): at present, 65% of citizens declare their trust in them, while in 2010 it was 55%.

A slight improvement in the effectiveness of governance, as well as of the quality of law made in Poland has been reflected in the World Bank evaluations. On the basis of the opinions of inhabitants as well as entrepreneurs and experts from the private, public and NGO sectors, the World Bank calculates the Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) for over 200 countries in the world. These indicators measure six dimensions of governance, i.e. 1) regulatory quality, 2) government effectiveness, 3) voice and accountability, 4) political stability and absence of violence, 5) rule of law, and 6) control of corruption. The values of these indicators range from -2.5 (low level of good governance) to +2.5 (high level of good governance).

According to the most recent evaluation by the World Bank, the indicator for the regulatory quality (which assesses the government’s capability of making and implementing regulations favourable for the private sector) for Poland is 1.01 points, which marks a slight improvement since 2010, when it was 0.98 points. Poland ranks 17^th among all EU Member States as regards the quality of law, having been promoted from the 20^th place it occupied in 2010. Among all EU Member States, law made in the Netherlands is assessed as being of the best quality (1.86 points), and law made in Romania – as being of the worst quality (0.46 points). The indicator for the government effectiveness, which measures categories such as the quality of public services, the quality of bureaucracy, competences of public officials and the public administration’s independence from politics, has improved in Poland from 0.64 points in 2010 to 0.66 points at present. Finland, of all EU Member States, can boast the most effective governance (1.98 points), while the governance in Romania (-0.25 points) is the least effective.

Regulatory Quality

Corruption is a problem afflicting many countries. It is counteracted at a global level by Transparency International, an independent non-governmental organization. Every year, Transparency International publishes a report which features opinions of experts, analysts and entrepreneurs on the scale of the phenomenon in approximately 180 countries in the world. Their opinions are the basis for the calculation of the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) for each country. The CPI assumes values from 100 (the fullest transparency of the system) to 0 (the highest level of corruption). The value of this indicator for Poland has been fluctuating around 60 points for many years. On the contrary, the world’s rating, led by countries with the most transparent systems, such as Denmark, New Zealand or Finland, puts Poland at the 41st place. In the EU, Poland currently ranks 17th (just as in 2012¹).

Corruption is still perceived as a problem by Poles, but from year to year less so. According to Public Opinion Research Center data, 76% of inhabitants of Poland believe corruption is a big problem in their country (87% in 2010), and 31% perceive it as a very big problem (44% in 2010).

¹Since 2012, the indicator has been calculated on the basis of a new methodology, therefore it is impossible to use the year 2010 for comparison.

Corruption Perceptions Index