Poland on the way to SDGs. Report 2025

Poland stands out among European countries because of its high level of food security, and the problem of lack of access to sufficient quantities of food of adequate quality is much less prevalent there than in developing countries. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 3.4% of Poland's population experiences moderate or severe food insecurity. This is significantly less than in 2015 (when the problem affected about 9% of the population) and during the COVID-19 pandemic (when the percentage of people struggling with limited access to food was over 7%).

Severe food insecurity occurs relatively rarely in Poland and mainly affects people living in extreme poverty, i.e. those who, due to very limited resources, skip meals or eat insufficient amounts, and thus experience the feeling of hunger for a day or longer. The FAO estimates that this is the experience of fewer than 2% of Poles. This percentage was even lower (less than 0.5%) before the COVID-19 pandemic and in 2023.

Moderate or severe food insecurity affects women more often than men. It was the experience of 4.2% of women and 2.7% of men in 2023. Meanwhile, the proportion of people subject to severe food insecurity in recent years was similar for both genders and was less than 0.5%.

For several years, Poland has been among the European Union countries with the lowest percentage of people who could not afford a meal with meat, fish or a vegetarian equivalent every second day. According to the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC), the number of such people in Poland has been gradually decreasing – in 2024, they accounted for 2.8% of the total population, whereas in 2015 it was 8.2%. This marks significant progress, especially given that the same indicator before 2015 was higher in Poland than the EU average. Improvement has been observed across all types of Polish households. The most significant reduction (more than fourfold) in the number of people unable to afford a full-value meal was observed among members of households with dependent children – from 7.1% in 2015 to 1.7% in 2024.

How countries are coping with ensuring access to food is also shown by the Global Food Security Index. In the most recent study carried out in 2022, Poland ranked 21st among 113 countries worldwide and 13th within the European Union (while in 2015, it ranked 26th and 16th, respectively). The country performed best in terms of food affordability as well as diet quality and food safety (for which very good results were achieved). Although food availability was rated moderately well in Poland, still it was assessed better than a decade earlier. The capability of Poland’s food system to maintain food security in the long term also received a moderate score. Generally, however, Poland has steadily improved its scores in the above-mentioned ratings over the past decade. It is now considered a country with good food security, whereas a few years ago it was ranked among countries with moderate food security.

Poland is one of the leading agricultural producers in the European Union. It is responsible for approximately 7% of the EU's agricultural output, and over 18% of all those employed in the EU agricultural sector work in Poland. The country is among the three largest producers of basic cereals, root crops, tobacco, and cows’ milk. In addition, Poland is the largest supplier of apples and poultry meat in the EU.

Structural changes occuring in Poland are of large importance for the development of sustainable and efficient agriculture throughout the region. Although small farms constitute over half of all Polish farms, a gradual concentration of agricultural land can be observed. Since 2016, the number of all farms in Poland has decreased by almost 13%, with the number of small farms (up to 20 ha) falling by 15%. The number of large farms (with an area of at least 50 ha), on the other hand, increased by 27%, including a 24% increase in the number of farms of at least 100 ha. The average farm size grew from 10.5 ha in 2015 to 11.6 ha. Labor productivity in the agricultural sector has also significantly improved – it increased by 70%, i.e. by much more than the EU average (38%). The only country which achieved better results was Denmark (where labour productivity in agriculture increased by 90%). Despite this progress, Polish agriculture is still one of the least efficient in the EU – the gross value added in the agricultural sector (in the PPS per worker) is 74% of the average, and in 2015 it was only 53%.

A common practice aimed at increasing crops, improving soil fertility and preventing its degradation is the use of artificial fertilisers. In Poland, the most commonly used fertilisers are the mineral ones that contain nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. When using them, it is important to maintain an optimal balance of nutrients in the soil. Between 2015 and 2023, the overall consumption of mineral fertilisers ranged from 120 to 140 kg per hectare of agricultural land. During the same period, the use of lime fertilizers increased from 39 kg to 78 kg per hectare, thanks to e.g. subsidies. Nevertheless, the amount of calcium fertilisers is still insufficient, given the high acidification of Polish soils and the resulting fertilisation needs. The nitrogen concentration in Polish soils in the last decade, on the other hand, ranged from 24 kg to 62 kg per hectare of agricultural land in 2015–2023. There is no single recommended standard amount of nitrogen in the soil, as it depends on many factors, such as soil type, climate, crop type and agricultural production intensity. It is generally accepted that the lower the nitrogen concentration in the soil, the lower the risk to the environment. In the case of phosphorus, however, a slight deficit of this component in the soil has been observed in recent years. In 2021-2023, its balance was negative, ranging from -0.1 to -2.7 per hectare, whereas previously it had been positive. The recommended amount of phosphorus in the soil is approximately 0 kg, which means a balance between the uptake and supply of this element.

The scale of state support for agriculture and food security can be assessed on the basis of the ratio of government expenditure on this sector to its share in GDP. In Poland, this indicator remains on a relatively stable, low level. In 2015–2023, it fluctuated between 0.4 and 0.6 (values below 1 indicate a low priority for this sector). EU countries vary considerably in this respect. Sweden and Belgium are among the countries least oriented towards the agricultural sector, while Luxembourg, Malta, Ireland and Czechia are the ones focused on it to the largest extent of all EU countries.