Poland on the way to SDGs. Report 2025

Economic poverty risk is most often discussed in terms of three thresholds: ’legal’ (determining who is eligible for social assistance), extreme (showing who lives below the subsistence level) and relative (indicating people whose income is significantly lower than the national average). Regardless of which of these we consider, a favourable trend regarding the extent of poverty risk prevailed in Poland until 2022. In 2023, it reversed, which was the result of different factors, including high inflation. In consequence, extreme poverty risk increased and so did, although slightly, relative poverty risk. Only the scale of ‘legal’ poverty risk continued to decrease, but this resulted from the fact that the eligibility criteria for assistance remained at the same level as in 2022 (PLN 776 for a single person and PLN 600 for a person in a family). In effect, in 2023, for the first time in many years, at risk of extreme poverty rate (6.6%) was higher than at risk of ‘legal’ poverty rate (4.1%). This means that a large part of those living below the subsistence level was not eligible for social assistance benefits.

Different social benefits such as allowances, pensions, housing benefits and programmes such as ‘Family 800+’ help to stabilise the citizens’ financial situation. Without social transfers, today, as a decade ago, almost a quarter of the country's population (24% compared to 23% in 2015) would be at risk of poverty . After including these transfers in income, the poverty risk rate in Poland is 14% (16% in the EU) and is significantly lower than in 2015 (18%), which shows the importance of state support. Thanks to social transfers, such as the Family 500+ benefit introduced in 2016, the risk of poverty among children has decreased by a half. Currently, it is similar to the average for the entire population, while in 2015, it was the children who were most at risk of poverty. However, the situation of people over 65 is worrying. Even after taking social transfers into account, the risk of poverty among these people is higher today than in 2015 (15% compared to 12%). Similar trends can be seen in most EU countries: the risk of poverty after social transfers among children fell (from 21% to 19%), while among seniors, it rose (from 14% to 17%). In the EU, the youngest residents of Spain, Bulgaria and Romania (26-29%) and the oldest residents of Latvia, Estonia, Croatia and Lithuania (37-41%) are most at risk of poverty.

The risk of poverty also depends on the place of residence. In Poland, people living in rural areas are almost twice as likely to be at risk of poverty as residents of cities and towns. Currently, this applies to 21% of rural residents (compared to 29% in 2015) and 12% of urban residents (previously 15%). The greatest disparities to the disadvantage of rural residents can be seen in Romania (where 42% of rural residents and 14% of urban residents are at risk of poverty) and Bulgaria (41% and 22%, respectively). This is due to many factors, including higher unemployment in rural areas, migration to cities and more difficult access to many public services. There are also countries where the opposite is true, i.e. urban residents are more likely to be at risk of poverty than their rural counterparts. This is the case for Malta, Belgium and Austria, where the percentage of people at risk of poverty in cities is more than twice as high as in rural areas. One of the reasons behind this situation is the high costs of living in large cities and the fact that unemployed migrants and people with lower qualifications tend to settle there. In the whole EU, the differences are small, with around 20% of people struggling with the risk of poverty in both rural and urban areas.

¹ The risk of poverty refers to a situation where a person or household has an income below 60% of the national median equivalised disposable income.

In Poland, there are more than three times fewer people experiencing severe material and social deprivation today than in 2015 (2.3% compared to 7.8%). We refer to such deprivation when there are insufficient funds to meet at least 7 out of 13 basic needs. Most EU countries have also seen an improvement in this respect compared to 2015. The most significant decrease in the percentage of people struggling with extreme deprivation was recorded in Bulgaria (from 37% to 17%) and Romania (from 34% to 17%). Countries in Northern Europe (Finland and Sweden) and Western Europe (Spain, Denmark, Austria and Germany) are exceptions, as extreme deprivation affects slightly more people now than in 2015. On average in the EU, the percentage of people experiencing severe material and social deprivation fell from 9.7% to 6.4%.

Housing conditions and the technical condition of residential premises have also improved. Although Polish flats are still among the most overcrowded in the EU, the situation improved compared to 2015. Currently, a third of Polish residents (34%) live in too small flats, where the number of rooms is insufficient for the number of household members (according to Eurostat's definition). In 2015, overcrowding affected as many as 43% of Polish residents. For comparison, the percentage of people living in overcrowded premises across the EU has remained at around 17-18% for years.

Currently, half as many people in Poland experience severe housing deprivation as in 2015 (5% compared to 10%). This refers to situations where people not only live in overcrowded premises, but also without a bathroom, with a leaky roof or in poorly lit rooms. Currently, only 0.5% of people in Poland live in premises without a bathroom or toilet (compared to 3% in 2015), and 6% in poor technical condition (compared to 12%). Despite a clear improvement, the situation in Poland in this respect is still slightly worse than the EU average, according to which 4% of the EU's inhabitants are affected by severe housing deprivation (in 2015 it was 5%). Severe housing deprivation is most common among residents of Latvia and Romania (10-12%), and least common in Malta, Finland, Cyprus and the Netherlands (around 1% or less).

As in most EU countries, fewer households in Poland are struggling with excessive housing costs than a few years ago. Currently, 5% of households in Poland spend more than 40% of their disposable income on housing costs (e.g. rent, mortgage payments, utilities), while in 2015, it was 9% of households. For comparison, 8% of households in the EU are in the same situation (compared to 11% in 2015). Both in Poland and in most EU countries, the percentage of households overburdened with housing costs gradually decreased until 2020, in part thanks to a favourable economic situation. The situation changed in 2021 with the occurrence of external crises such as the pandemic, the war in Ukraine and high inflation. It was then that the housing costs began to increasingly strain household budgets. Currently, housing costs are the most burdensome for residents of Greece (where this affects nearly 30% of households), Denmark, Germany and Sweden (11-15%), and the least for those living in Cyprus, Croatia and Slovenia (2-4%).