Is Poland a poor country?

yes pip but western standards are standards of excess ... poland is maybe poorer in terms of economics but probably richer in culture, morals, and the existance of the family unit

I wonder what you mean by 'richer in morals'.

but that is what I mean. People are judging Poland being poor or not based on how often they eat at restaurants and how big there t.v. is.

The measurement of poor is subjective. There are poor people here, much like in every country- but there are also social systems to help these people to a certain extent. It is not like an African country where poor means no food and living in a hut- if you are lucky, or like India.

morality would refer to a code of conduct considered reasonable by most persons in a society. 50 years ago the code of conduct considered reasonable by western society was a much higher standard than it is today.

people lose their virginity on average in north america when they are 13 years old
20 percent of women will have had one abortion before they are 18 in canada
elderly people are placed in homes because people are to busy working to get rich to afford monetary richness and don't have time to care for them

1 out of ever 6 people in a nursing home gets a weekly visit
the average cost to feed a hospital patient per day in canada 5 dollars the average cost to feed a prison inmate 11 dollars
These all seem very immoral to me.
With freedom of this and freedom of that and freedom to all do as we please we have lost a sense of self respect dignity the importance of family and right from wrong. only 1 in 12 families in north american eats dinner at the dinner table the rest either both parents are working to provide a life of luxury for their children or they prefer to eat in front of the t.v

i could go on and on with statistics that depict a lack of importance placed on the things that really matter in exchange for being the richest countries in the world and this is the price you pay for a richness in economics... a poorness in culture in family in ethics and families and values.

I would rather be poor by western standards ( not owning 2 cars, a computer, an iphone, etc) than continue to watch this so called wonderful western world lose itself to the almighty dollar.

exactly pip... i think we are saying the same thing differently. Poverty may mean different things to different people but to truly be considered a poor country by definition of poverty not being able to meet basic needs, it would have to have a gdp per capita of less than 1000 dollars a year so most people could not meet basic needs and it would also have to have little to no social programs to assist those who do live under the poverty line. few people actually live below the poverty line in poland (meaning make so little money they cannot afford food shelter and water) less there than in the united states and those who do can be subsidised therefore poland is considered a developed country not a poor one or undeveloped.

I think that if you're looking to recreate a mythic past by coming to Poland, you'll find that many of the things you dislike about modern life are already part of the fabric of society here.

yes jon it seems the more financially rich and economically stable a country becomes the more like the west it becomes... Becoming a part of the EU might be good for economics but... not so good for culture, for family values not to mention you will see obesity sky rocket

that being said statistically speaking poland is no where near like the west with the the things i hate about modern life.
obesity is low there
teen pregnancy is low there
the average age to lose your virginity in poland is 17 seems more resonable
families eat at home much more often and together much more often
elderly parents are kept at home much more often and in cases where they are not visited much more often.
etc...
so no poland has not sunk to the lows of the west... yet

I'm not sure that all of the things you mention are part of a better society. Especially the bit about family meals. Better to have a more open, permissive society, better education (which Poland doesn't have), proper elderly care rather than the burden being placed for financial reasons on the next generation (almost always the daughter), proper healthcare and a less judgmental society.

so, it's poor.


typical PIS attitude, I suppose all you have to do is pray more and harder, and hate outsiders.

actually i am a non religious canadian... not at all what i have to say but ... nice try.
and yes jon proper care for the elderly is important but is sending them to a nursing home doping them up and never visiting them really proper care, it is especially inexcusable in a rich country like mine where the financial burden of having them live at home and hiering a nurse to attend the home daily would be affordable but it is never done because people are too busy to be bothered with family here with the small thiings that matter. I have nothing agaisnt an open mind or a permissive country but with the amount of drug addicts teen pregnancies and sponges on the social welfare system that countries in the western world have perhaps that openness and permissiveness has gone to far. Parents are far too busy getting rich here and buying their childrens love to pay any attention to them.

no it is not. not having two bathrooms, two cars and a big tv does not make you poor.

it has poor, but it is not poor.

Ok, non religious Canadian PIS type person? What do see as the solution to modernity, getting poor and going backwards?


Oh sorry pip, you are right. The mass emigration is just for fun, they are all sight seeing and looking forward to getting home to their two bathrooms and two cars.

the mass emigration is because while they aren't poor they believe people have it better somewhere else grass is always greener on the other side etc. You don't have to be rich to not be poor poland is not rich but it is not poor.

The solution to modernity parents making enough money to spoil their kids but not doing it, making kids earn things work for things learn the value of hard earned money. It is not always possible, but when it is eating dinner with the kids at the table and talking to each other putting cell phones down. Families dont talk anymore. The solution is obvious people just don't care they always do what is easier and the world is suffering for it the western world is full of spoiled rotten selfish brats who have no idea what hard work is what is going to happen if and when north america sees another great depression and these kids who will now be adults will have to work and scrape and save to survive ... i am scared to see what will happen.

Pip is right not having 2 cars, an iphone and a 64 inch t.v in every room of your house does not make you poor.... it is excessive some people who are very well off don't have that why because they are practical and it isnt necessary. Poor by western standards is not poverty.

look who is immigrating. poorly educated workers looking to make more more to either send back home or come back home to rub it in their neighbours faces.

educated Poles do not immigrate, generally speaking. some do but most dont

They do Pip. But it's not called immigration. It's called intracompany transfer... Or a career development. And those often come back.

Wow ...ilmc, you sure are one ignorant dude. Try this question : Why do you think bus loads full of thousands of poles arrive here periodically if Poland is a better place to live? It must be one God awful hell hole for the citizens to behave like refugees and leave on masse the way they have done.

One reason the government here welcome them is because they will willingly work for the corporates who are responsible for the obesity, breakup of the community etc and for a lot less thereby giving the politicians (who are in the corporates back pockets) the opportunity to say that the economy is just wonderful.

You need a lesson in real life

yet im not so ignorant as to ignore someones gender... im a girl not a dude
and people leave poland to search for the non existant american dream... i am not saying poland has it made i am saying that the world has been so brainwashed about the great life over here in the western world that they are willing to leave their home countries in search of it... most end up dissapointed. I am saying that while they may not be rich financially they are certainly not a poverty stricken country in the world view of things. you need a lesson on what matters in life.

I am live in canada i am surrounded by the effects richness has on people and it is disturbing. i make enough money to be able to afford a large home with a bathroom for each bedroom a large t.v in every room and all of life's luxuries yet that is not what is important to me, when that is what becomes important families suffer. i live in a modest home with one bathroom one t.v that i rarely turn on we eat dinner at the table we talk my cell phone is used for emergencies the simple life has its benefits that i because of the modest life style i chose could easily stay home and not work while my husband works and raise my children with their mother at home. I see nothing wrong with being financially stable but when you let it corrupt you and replace what is truly important in life, family, values, morales, ethics taking care of each other that is when it becomes wrong.

She doesn't know what's PiS. She is not Polish. By the way, have you heard that pigoenholing and sterotyping is a sign of narrow-mindness? Maybe someone should suggest that you are a "PiS type person" according to your own standards?

I find no connection between things she mentioned and PiS. Those values would meet with approval from the whole political spectrum.


Poland leads in obesity ranks of 11-years-olds among European countries.


I used to think the same but recently I heard in some programme that teen pregnancy is absolutely not low in Poland, just there is not too media hype about it.


That one is true.


The only factor it depends on is the work hours. Home cooking in Poland is still much cheaper that eating out.


It's because the retirement houses are inaccessible for many people, the conditions in some are appaling and people afraid that their relatives might be treated badly. It's not that Polish people enjoy living with their elderly parents, they just feel they're obliged to.

home cooking is cheaper than eating out here to actually if a person is intelligent about it. ofcourse it is cheaper to go to mcdonals than the grocery store but then one could argue that the slop at mcdonalds is not actually food. proper planning and meal prep could lead to eating at home being just as cheap as eating out but people still dont do it. They don't have time here unfortunatly in order to maintain and sustain the level of luxury that most people have decided they aspire to requires both parents to work long hours.

Despite the almost p3undone-like lack of punctuation (lol), that's a great post.

You should teach that awful Polkatagalong woman something about humility.

Unsurprisingly, you have a boyfriend, and our self-styled "Miss Polonia"... hasn't :D


Well, they could, but suggesting that he's a "bitter because he still hasn't made enough money to buy a 30m2 flat in Poland and can't stop attacking Harry and Delph because of it" type person would be far more accurate :)


True.

Although there is also a cynical view regarding why Poles allow their parents to live with them, but I'm not in the mood ;)

NorthMancPolak,What do you mean by lack of punctuation!!!!!!!!!!! lol:)

while i am capable of using punctuation i am corrupted by my western ways into being far too lazy to do it :) lol and it's so much more fun to make people try and figure out where the actual punctuation should be to make my statement read like it was supposed to.

throwing in comma's and periods takes too long haha i figure you are mostly intelligent enough people you will figure it out.

Lessons in humility cannot be taught through words they can only be learned through mistakes.

OK, perhaps it's more accurate to say "lack of whitespace" haha


I can't argue with that, lol :)

i think i should get that printed on a t-shirt could make me a fortune then i could buy three more cars a horse a ski doo a sea doo a boat a golf cart and four houses and live the american dream.

then they haven't immigrated. They are considered to be Polish expats. Much like the expats that live here.

True - but somehow many people put Polish expats in the same bag as Polish immigrants, especially in UK and USA.

Stupid term. If you move country to take up work or what is now becoming more common, welfare, then you are an immigrant.

Simple as.

I see that this forum is full of overseas immigrants in Poland...

well that is the term, wether you like it or not.

What are you ******* talking about? Poland is definitely rich country, it doesn't deffers from other rich european countries. Standard of living is high, Poland is safe, beautiful, modern, has good infrastructure and stop talking ********* about communism. Poland must to connote with rich, capistalistic modern country with long tradicion of wealth or Poland doesn't exist. Stop talking *********. Poland in european standars is rich country too.