Is Poland a poor country?

True, Croatia is "richer", too:
GDP/capita

Havent checked that for a while, Slovenia is almost double of Poland. :o

More accurate indicator of living standards within country is purchasing power parity per capita (if calculated properly).It takes in account not only nominal GDP which is usually estimated in USD, but also cost of living.

Mesured by PPP Slavic and Eastern European countries follow like this:

Slovenia - 27,412
Greece - 26,948
Czech Republic 26,046
Portugal 25,385
Slovak Republic 24,022
Hungary 21,610
Poland 21,310
Russian Federation 21,248
Lithuania 20,374
Croatia 20,031
Latvia 17,692
Romania 15,163
Belarus 15,040
Bulgaria 14,603

But there are the false statistics! Poland is the richest Slavic country. I don't know, why is full of nonsense statistics. USD per capita is near 30,000.

Dreams,dreams,where is your sweetness?..

yes the whole world is conspiring against you, concocting a plethora of false statistics, just to **** you off.. who would have 'thunk'...?


As for 'the richest Slavic country trophy'... imaginary or not, how fvcked up or insecure does one have to be to derive any pride from it, considering that none of the Slavic countries come close to any 'swishness' whatsoever.

Dude, you're too funny :))


And you, mister kraut, sound like you were getting erroction finding it out. One of those with grandpa drafted to Wehrmacht, I assume ?

agreed. Going through the honeymoon period, the poor fool.

Neither of you fools know anything about me. Milky why do you call me a poor fool? Is it because I don't live in your fantasy world?

All I have said on this topic is that a country's wealth is relative. Poland is 'poor' compared to some countries but 'wealthy' compared to others...

So who's the richest country in the world? It's Qatar of course!
Here's a link:
urbanpeek.com/2012/03/09/the-worlds-top-10-richest-countries-in-2012

You expose yourself everyday. It will bite you in the ass one day. What's Quatar got to do with this. Maybe this gives an indication of reality to you - it's not even really cold yet.

Yawn... Oh no my gf's ex is Polish, let's bash Poland...


I was illustrating my point :


So compared to somewhere like that many countries are quite poor (on paper).


Wow! Great article. If it's gunna get any colder I might have to close some windows...

Really? And in UK and USA and other countries there aren't any homeless people? Who don't want to go to shelters?

It's a tragedy when somebody dies, either if it's because they didn't go to shelters or they fell and lost consciousness or were too drunk to notice it's freezing. But all it proves is that we have that sort of climate and

Silly Billy. Improve your level of retention. You are wrong.


No you were not. You were using it so you could have a pop at poor old Hudson.


Highly intelligent reply. You must of spent a second thinking about that one.

Do I bash Poles? I don't think so but I do manage to upset you because you have surmised incorrectly I am Hudsons alter ego. I don't mind though, I'm older and my skin is thicker. For a while I thought you were someone else, but his posts are far more interesting but you have a lot in common.


Yes Really! And as a Pole you will be aware as it gets colder, more people will freeze in their homes like this poor fellow.


A hard fact of life when you are poor in Poland.

No, I didn't think that at all. You two have very different reasons for coming on PF. And your writing styles differ. Your intelligence levels are similar though...


I was being honest. The heating in my flat is awesome:) and free:)

You seriously think people want to be homeless, especially in Winter? A freezing cold pavement and a bit of cardboard is preferable to a nice comfy bed somewhere warm?

You really are clueless HH.

how is that? How much do you get net per week for teaching? In this rich country?

Yeah really clueless seen as i volunteered at a hostel for a few months in my earlier days.

They are usually on the streets because they've been kicked out of accommodation for alcoholism/drugs.
I'm not 100% sure about the situation these days in the UK we've been absolutely swamped with people from Eurorope since 2004.
Even our big issue sellers now are half Romanian.

I earn enough thank you very much:)

Are you a proper teacher Tommy or a TEFLer :D

Maybe so, but they're not actually choosing to be homeless are they?
I'm off topic, so i'll leave it at that

If you read my first post (as I'm sure you have) then you will know that I do indeed have a TEFL qualification.
I will be taking my CELTA in Kraków next year.
I'll let the schools and the students decide on whether I'm a proper teacher or not.

How do you know he wasn't drunk? I don't see any relevance to what you have linked to the answer for question if Poland is a poor country. I don't say it is not, but the thing you've quoted is a clear misinterpretation of facts by you.

This is the time when I send you a spoon so that you can eat my As5...

All I can say is that it's a good job that people in Poland enjoy the luxury of better insulated housing and cheaper heating. As this article shows that the death of pensioners in the UK as a result of hyperthermia - in their homes! is absolutely shocking:

dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2100232/Frozen-death-fuel-bills-soar-Hypothermia-cases-elderly-double-years.html

Here are a few choice extracts from the Daily Fail (online): the headline:


So... Poland is a poor country?

If the UK is so wealthy then why did 1,876 pensioners get admitted to hospital in 2011/11 from hyperthermia? Why are so many dying?
Answer: they can't afford to heat their homes because it costs too much.
I personally feel ashamed to be associated with such a country. Just imagine if Britain felt -25/30 conditions! How many more would die?
What do you think Ant63?
Who's the cold and poor country now?

Poland is still poor and the UK is rich.

In what way? What makes Poland poor and the UK rich?
Surely, if Poland is a poor country what about the UK and other EU countries?
In the UK the elderly have a choice of eating or heating their homes (as stated by the Daily Fail - above).
In the UK young couples can't afford to get on the property ladder and are forced to live with their parents or rent...
I won't even mention all the repossessions...
Do do even remember that the UK govt had to bail the banks out?
Surely countries such as Greece and Spain with 25% unemployment and facing bankruptcy and on the verge of being booted out of the Euro are poorer countries?

In the worst case scenario (which is quite likely) when Greece declares bankrupcy British banks will forfeit £billions in loans. A second credit crunch could very well be on its way...

Fortunately, it won't affect me in my nice warm flat in 'poor' old Poland :D:D:D

Milky has blinkers on..........I have a permanent lodger so i can pay my mortgage, not ideal, but i'm lucky that so far i've had 2 brilliant lodgers.

Of course i'd rather have my flat to myself, but it's just not an option any more. Don't get me started on energy prices...........

Milky will probably argue now that it's common for Poles to live with their parents also, which it is. Most of my friends before coming to the UK lived with their parents, even my married friends.

However you're right. In the UK people are doing the same. Rents are too high, and wages too low.
My son moved out 18 months ago because he was working too far away to commute. He was living above the shop he had opened in a tiny storage room, because to rent somewhere was far too expensive.

Of course Poland has problems, but so does the UK.
Milky seems to be missing the fact that everything is relative.......

You are funny TommyG

When you grow up you will understand that England is one of the richest, most diverse, most tolerant countries in the world.

Do you honestly think I know nothing about Poland? A small dose of reality may or may not come your way one day. Good luck if it does. You will need it in Poland.

I cannot dispute your figures but can you provide some comparative figures for Poland? I know that you cannot because the support organisations that collate this statistical data do not exist in Poland. Don't forget that Age Concern are producing these figures to suit their objectives.

I don't know about England but I've just watched several documentaries about life in Wales and now I have a very different notion of it.

Why on earth are there so many personal insults on such an innocuous topic?
Is Poland a poor country?
Let's come to some agreement on what "poor" means. Let's come to some agreement on what we define a "country" to be.

It should be an elementary task after that.

I do have one question though, what's the point of this thread?

Many people already have said that at the very beginning of the thread but were snubbed by the ones who say that defining things is in fact the way of ducking the answer. You see, people here don't want to hear answers, they want just to prove their preconceptions.

There is so much of mutual misunderstanding on this site but it seems people prefer it like that.

You are welcome to see for yourself but try and view it with someone who knows the UK well. It can look pretty grim in places and exceedingly good in others. People should see both sides of the coin before commenting on the UK. Wales, to me, is a fantastic country with extremes at both ends of the scale, and in its centre, you have the beauty of Mid Wales with miles and miles of hills, forests, lakes and moors. Especially nice this time of year with fewer tourists.


There is none, like most threads on this forum. Being rich is not how much money you have in your pocket, it's feeling loved and valued by those around us.