News / Der Spiegel: "Poles are now the masters of Europe" [49]

There are few such success stories as Poland's history after the change of it's regime - writes German weekly "Der Spiegel", which in the latest issue published an extensive article about Poland before Euro 2012, entitled "the miracle in the neighborhood."

According to "Der Spiegel" the symbol of the changes that took place in Poland, may be the National Stadium in Warsaw. "Built out of ruins and looking toward the future it is more than a building structure. It is a symbol. Through this superstadium Poland would like to show the world her new face, to prove that it has overcome the shadows of the past: the crimes of the Nazis, communist oppression and random time transformation of capitalism" - writes the weekly.

"Poles are now the masters of Europe"

Recalling the good economic indicators of Poland, "Spiegel" estimates, "Whatever falls out of Euro 2012, the Poles are already champions of Europe in terms of growth rates over the past decade."

"A country that sees itself as a pioneer and model for the east. Wants to be a force in Europe, wants to be for Europe and take it's place which it has always considered to be suitable for itself. We're back to being a somebody - it is said in Warsaw, Gdansk, Wroclaw and Krakow - a change that seems to be familiar to every German "- he added.

"Exemplary student and a naughty boy"

According to "Der Spiegel" the success of transformation in Poland is most evident when one compares it to other Eastern bloc countries - "for example, the authoritarian-ruled and plagued by human rights violations of Ukraine, the second co-host the European football championships." "Exemplary student and a naughty boy" - he writes, "Spiegel" of the two countries.

"Amazing" is according to "Der Spiegel" one more thing: "The beginning of the end of the longstanding hostility" between the Poles and the Germans, who can get close to one another, as has Germany and France done in recent decades - even though many residents on both sides of the Oder still think of one another in terms of the old stereotypes.

"Promised Land"

Weekly estimates also that "Ukraine has become to Poland what Poland was once to Germany." "Just as Berlin played the role of a generous advocate of Warsaw, now Warsaw is an advocate of good will for Kiev. Unfortunately, after the Orange Revolution, Ukraine is not necessarily the official wishes to continue to go to the West" - says "Spiegel".

"But people vote with their feet. Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians living more or less permanently in Poland, the use of employment opportunities for low-wage sector (...). Many of those who return from Poland to the Ukraine believe that they had seen the promised land, clean, efficient and focused on the future "- writes the weekly.

News / 2011 Stats: 80% of Poles happy [12]

More and more Poles are satisfied with their lives, more are saving and less are smoking, but in the last two years we've seen an increased in unemployment and an increase in the number of abusers of alcohol - on preliminary results of Social Diagnosis 2011.

The percentage of persons for whom the past year was a success, for the second time has exceeded 80 percent. - Results from a comprehensive study of the conditions and quality of life of Poles, who since 2000, is taken every two years by a team led by prof. Janusz Czapiński.

The most important conditions for a happy life for Poles in 2011 were as follows, health (63.7 percent)., A successful marriage (53.2 per cent.), Children (47.2 percent). And money (27.9 per cent.) However, only the number of people pointing to children has not decreased in comparison with the previous year.

At the same time the poverty rate in households living on unearned sources (eg benefits) increased since 2009 from 28.5 percent. to 36.4 percent. The sharp increase has occurred here as in the case of pensioner households (from 6.3 percent. To 10.2 percent.). For other farms there were no major changes. Except for some households of farmers, where the poverty rate declined from 13 to 9.6 percent.

Significant differences in this respect were also seen between different regions of the country. The highest poverty rate in 2011 is in the province. district (12.8 percent)., Kuyavian-Pomeranian (7.7 percent). and Podkarpackie (6.2 percent)., while the lowest - in the province. Silesia (2 per cent.), Pomeranian (2.6 per cent.) and Podlasie (2.9 percent).. The other is between 3-5,1 percent.

According to the results of the diagnosis, most people who are very satisfied with their place of residence are in Gdynia - over 41 percent. Such a response was given by more than 20 percent of residents of Slupsk, Rzeszow, Wroclaw and Krakow. Of the 32 major cities Warsaw ranked ninth (15.6 per cent. very satisfied). At the end of the list is Radom - where very satisfied are only 1 percent of residents.

In the large cities, most people with a higher education live in the capital. Where more than half (53.5 percent) have a higher education., in Toruń (50.8 percent).. A Higher education also has more than 40 percent of the inhabitants of Krakow, Poznan, Lublin, Koszalin and Rzeszow.

As assessed by Czapiński, education is one of the biggest successes of the Polish transformation. He noted that in the whole country the percentage of people with a higher education is currently 24 percent. This is thus 4.5 times higher than in the last years of the Polish People's Republic (PRL). Poland is also the second country in the world in terms of 19-year-olds who go on to college (80 percent).. Australia is only slightly ahead of us.

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