Is Poland a safe place to live? CBOS survey.

Pollster CBOS has released a survey on how safe or dangerous Poland is to live in. At present 66% regard Poland as safe and 28% as dangerous.

The unsafe category had the most advocates in 2000-2001 when 81% of respondents called Poland dangerous. The best safe record was set in 2011, when 75% considered Poland a safe place to live.

What is your take on this?

It depends where you live, of course. In my village I lock the door at night as part of the routine, but if it somehow gets left open, I don't get a shock in the morning. I work in Białystok, and during the day, at least, I don't give any thought to my personal safety. The lock on my car boot/trunk has been faulty for months, but I don't worry about anyone stealing from it. I've lived in lots of cities, and Białystok is by far the safest.

My take is that the survey is about perception and not reality. Poland is most probably more safe now than it was in 2001 but certainly not as much safer as the survey suggests.

But when they say safer what do they mean? From criminals? From criminal neighbours? I would expect people to think it's less safe since the ukrainian thing started.

Hi,

I always thought Poland was dangerous because I remember Poland in much worse times. It was until the day I talked to a French expat family (NATO soldiers in Bydgoszcz) who were living here for a few years. They made me realize that we don't have many of the problems that cities in France and other western countries are facing today, especially caused by migration. We don't have riots (almost ;-), gun shootings, rasist incidents etc. So yes, after living here for almost 40 years I can say that Poland is a safe place today, what used to be not always true.

Cinek

As things get better economically, it's become safer. People are a bit more clued up about personal security than they used to be. Also, the crime rate dropped after EU accession - young and unemployed people started to leave to find jobs elsewhere.

Also, a fair number of people moved to the UK in order to escape the attention of the Poland's finest. And more than a few criminals realised that the UK is a much better place to practise their chosen profession/