Is Poland a poor country?

Ever hear of manners?

Betty: please excuse the above comment and don't think that many people here will treat you like that, most of us are pleasant and friendly. Stick around, you might like it here!

I can compare it to most other countries. Rich areas/Poor areas same as the UK/US etc.....but the divide I think is larger between rich & poor. I live in one of the poorest areas in Poland (In the South) .......someone poor here, is on the breadline (literally) In havng to work off the land, keep goats, cattle etc, for any type of subsistence.

Many people in Krakow, Lodz, Bydgoscz, Poznan etc are the same, But in the last few years MANY peoples living standards have been raised to be on par with any one else in Europe.........as was mentioned at the Top.........I think that statement at the very top of this page sums it up perfectly.

Isn't the Krakow region supposed to be fairly well off in comparison to the east? Purchasing power there certainly seems to be higher (according to the old reliable 'how much does a pint cost' measure).

I live (businesses) are in the South (Nowy Sacz, but over a bit) and spend weekends/ Off term time in Krakow..........Krakow is mainly a well off city I agree, but in the larger Malpolska perspective, Its a poor area Harry.....I can assure you there is a LOT of people still living off the land.......between Krakow & Rzeszow..........which is about the size of Scotland!....population 6 million.......Its a poor area, most have had to rely of the glut of credit to raise their living standards.

Jaslo/Gorlice/Krosno/Nowy Sacz/Bochnia/Brzesko christ even Krynica is falkling apart, to the lack of tourism it used to have........these are the areas in general I know intimately, the towns I visit, live,pass thru, walk,fish,hunt,drive etc.....Ive watched it grow exponentially, but in general, its still a poor area.

Go further east and it gets worse (in terms of available cash). From memory a pint in the old town square in Rzeszow was 50% more than a pint in the OT square in Przemysl (6zl vs 3.99, both for draft Lezajsk and both in outdoor bars). And we saw a lot more horse-drawn carts on the roads round Wlodawa than near Rzeszow (if horse-drawn carts are any economic indicator).

Yup, there still is a lot of Horses here........between May - August .....as you go east, from krakow, it does start to slide economically..........but all in all there is NO WAY I would live back in the UK.......for anyones generalisations, bringing a family up here, rather than in Manchester/ Glasgow is a far better prospect, in many many ways.

On a global scale, Polska is relatively wealthy, compared to, say, Eritrea, where the per-worker annual income is $640, and inflation is 14%. When I traveled to Polska and Ukraina in 2005, annual per-capita GDP in U$ was just over $8K, according to the Dept. of State. Now it's $13.6K, and inflation is 4.2%, and the GNP is expanding at about the same rate.

My friends in Warszawa observe that there are now twice as many cars as there were when Polska joined the EU in 2004. But housing is expensive, especially compared to N. America, though not surprising, given N. America's relatively low population density. I looked at a new housing tract near Lublin in 2005, and the homes were >400K pln, equivalent to about U$100K at the time. So if a couple with an annual joint income of 100K pln wanted to buy in that tract, it'd be a bit of a squeeze to cover the mortgage, especially if they had coupla kids.

When our dziadek was a farmer in the Kresy wschodnie east of Równe after WWI, they had no electricity or running water, and used oil lamps at nite. Many people who I know wouldn't camp the way that my mother's family lived. But my mother says that they never lacked for anything, and she remembers that everybody was happy until, of course, WWII started.

So, Polska isn't a poor country, and it's economy is growing even while it's population isn't.

HTH.

Andrzej in The OC.

Try telling that to someone who lives on a sink estate in South Shields that they are not as poor as someone who lives in Belgravia, London. The people in South Shields do not have to keep goats and sheep, they get their rent paid and dole money provided by the taxpayer, child benefit, free school meals for the kids, clothing allowance, excused paying community charge. I would say the difference between the poor and rich in Poland is a lot different than the UK.

I live in (a village near) Tarnów, halfway between Kraków and Rzeszów and I have not seen what you are describing. There are poor families here, but everyone helps each other out.I have seen much poorer people in my home city of Bristol. There are no beggars except for the local alcoholics, nobody is starving and you do not hear of old people lying dead in their homes and not being found for 10 months. Two friends visited me last Summer, a couple from my home City who had never visited Poland before, I asked them to keep an open mind before they came over. During the visit I asked them what they thought of Poland, the wife kept asking me "where are all the poor people", it became a bit of a joke. They loved the size of the houses, the cost of food and drink and they both commented on how I had made the right decision to move here.

You take away the welfare support away from the English and there would be riots. The Polish are used to making do and helping each other.I have seen with my own eyes, the poor giving to the poor, the belief in their religion helps them to do this. They are not all Saints, there are good and bad all over the world but the avarice and general attitude of me, me, me does not exist here. I have made genuine friends here who do not give a damn about what I have or what I do. I cannot say the same for my own city, it was always the competition and jealousy which seemed to prevail, especially if you were doing well.

In the nine years I have been here, I have seen dramatic changes, people doing up their houses, new pavements, new (newer) cars, ( I hardly ever see a Maluch or a Polonez any more, the Police used to drive them but they are all driving new vauxhalls and Skoda Octavia's now, even 4 wheel drives which I never saw a few years ago. People complain about the wages but when has a wage ever been enough, who is satisfied when they think they can get more.

Put things into perspective, 5,000 children die every day in Africa, whatever money you send, whatever amount, it will only save a few, because, their governments and the dictators will steal from their own people. You cannot change the nature of man.

What would be better, to send 10 millions pounds of aid to their governments or send a Hercules transport to drop sacks of rice, grain, whatever, directly near the villages.The UK government gives it to their government because it makes them feel good but more importantly, its good for trade.

Everybody is going to have a different vision of what is poor. I think Poland is rich, not in wealth but in the spirit and attitude of its people. And, its getting richer every year.

Why not compare Poland with their neighbors? Like Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukrainian. That would make sense.
That would place Poland in the middle of the list, not poor and not rich.
However I would say that Poland is a rich country of poor people. Where all that potential wealth is going ?

I-S( fine that you find good Christian qualities in Poland, but Poland do not have elite, those in charge are antithesis all good you see, and thither poison if not confronted will destroy it all)

Is Poland a poor country? I don't think it is. But its not rich. To me, there are three classes of Europeans. There are rich Europeans, middle Europeans (not rich, not poor), and poor Europeans.

Rich European countries: Germany, France, UK, Scandinavia, Finland, Iceland, Austria, Switzerland, Benelux,

Middle European countries: Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Portugal, Estonia, Malta

Poor European countries: Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Albania, Bosnia and herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Romania, Latvia, Serbia, Montenegro

Countries which I am not sure of: Italy and Greece. I would put them on Rich, but with their bad economies and worsening living standards, I'm not sure if they are rich. Poland is in the middle in terms of wealth. Many will say that Poland has a massive GDP. It does, but GDP does not equal wealth. Poland has a larger GDP than Sweden, but whoever says Poland is richer than Sweden is on some drugs.

Greece is definitely in the middle and Italy in the rich category (at least, in much of Italy - some parts are middle).

I'd definitely argue that suburban areas of the better Polish cities are far richer than parts of Greece, Italy, etc.

I agree with you, that Warsaw, Poznan, are wealthier than many parts of Greece. But it annoys me when some people think that Poland having a larger GDP than Nordic countries makes it richer than them. Nordic salaries are high, unemployment is low, and they have world class infrastructure and not many poor people.

I bet that the poorest parts of Germany, France and Scandinavia are wealthier than the richest parts of Poland.

One should only compare to the best, or else it is as if you were looking at the street beggers, in order to improove your self esteem.

How can you compare Poland to stable, wealthy Western democracies?

There are no valid benchmarks for Poland to compare herself to, apart from possibly Ukraine and Belarus.

Now, are you trying to be offensive?

Show me another similarly sized country, which emerged from Communism in 1989/1990 in Europe?

Ukraine is the ideal benchmark - and the mess that Ukraine is in nowadays versus Poland.

It's difficult to benchmark Poland even against Spain - as Spain economically liberalised long before Franco died.

Don't bother trying to compare against the Czech Republic, Slovenia, etc - they aren't comparable.

Wow. Quite a statement; Please elaborate.

I bet you are like those types on the Costas, congratulating themselves on escaping the nasty ol' UK, convinced they are living a Spanish lifestyle, yet speak no more than 15 words of Spanish, and are patronising and racist to the local community.

My apologies in advance if I am wrong.

Of course he is, haven't you read his previous threads? The whole thing seems to be one big moan about the fact that he can't afford to buy anything here.

Absolutely well said

Rubbish.....Hospitals, Transport, Work, Higher Education (universities and colleges) are all better in the UK then in Poland (no matter what drivel is written on here and by the Polish government). Maybe this guy is lucky enough to be in a position in Poland that he is living better then the rest of the Poles and he has a position and lifestyle unlike what he could ever possess in the UK.

What does he do though when he loses his job or his kids are seriously sick. He'll be on the plane quicker then Jack-flash!!

Maybe he doesn't fully understand the reason why there are a million poles in the UK and about 50,000 Brits in Poland.

exactly,,,

He's probably employing cheap workers.. living like a lord in big concrete house and eating Kiebasa over his barbeque in the Sun.

If you look at it his way, why are there ANY Brits in Poland at all then?

It could be for a number of reasons....

family ties (people with Polish relatives etc),
they married a Pole,
they are escaping from the UK polish (just as the poles escape to the UK),
they are employing cheap labour.

it's not for the roads, driving or food.

...the poor things... I really feel for them.

The BBC say that there are only 5,600 of us in Poland. Apparently Poland is one of the least attractive countries for Brits to move to in Europe. I wonder why?

5,600 Poland, 6,800 czech republic!

How many people are emigrating looking just for that ?

People emmigrate for Work (uk has more then Poland), standard/quality of living amnd for family reasons. Poland is lacking in alot of things that the UK has and vice versa. But there are 5200 brits in poland and 700,000 ish Poles in the UK so make of it what you can.

Wow. You just went from 50 000 to 5 200 in several posts. Respect, man!