Extreme poverty in Poland fell by over a fifth in 2019

Poland’s poverty rates all dropped significantly in 2019, with extreme poverty falling by over a fifth, according to new data from Statistics Poland (GUS), a state agency. The new figures mark a reverse in the increased rates recorded in 2018 and continue a longer-term decline since 2014.

Extreme poverty, which is defined as spendings below a level of minimal subsistence that is set by Poland’s Institute of Labour and Social Stud­ies (IPiSS), a government research institute, has dropped from 5.4% in 2018 to 4.2% last year. It had reached a peak of 7.4% in 2013 and 2014, but, with the exception of 2018, has been steadily falling since.

Statutory poverty, which is an income level at which households are entitled to apply for social transfers, has also dropped from 10.9% to 9%. Meanwhile the third measure of relative poverty, which is defined as 50% of the average spendings of households in Poland, has fallen from 14.2% to 13%, reports GUS.

According to IPiSS, the current extreme poverty level for households with one child stands at between 506.96 and 555.60 zloty (€114-125) per person, depending on the age of the child. The figure is 616.55 zloty (€139) for households in which one person works, 496.61 zloty (€112) for those with two people working, and 585.04 zloty (€132) for pensioners. The indicator is adjusted to inflation for specific household expenses each year.

In the past year, the highest rates of extreme poverty were to be found in households with two or more dependent children, especially those with three children.

Poverty rates are also correlated with lower education. In households where the “head of the family” is educated to secondary-school level, extreme poverty rates stood at 10.1%. These rates drop to 6.4% where that person has vocational training, 2.9% for those with a high-school diploma and 1.1% for higher education.

Extreme poverty rates are also higher in rural areas – at around 8% – compared with cities – at between 1 to 3%, according to GUS. These are also the areas where the drop in extreme poverty has been most felt: from 9.4% to 7.5% in rural areas, and from 5.1% to 2.8% in towns with fewer than 20,000 inhabitants.

2019 marks the first year when the number of relatively poor children has fallen below 1 million for the first time, having been 1.65 million in 2008. Meanwhile, the number of children in extreme poverty has reached its lowest point in at least a decade – 312,600, down from a peak of 715,100 just five years previously.

Poland’s official statistics agency publishes annual poverty indicators based on household budgets across Poland. Last year’s results sent shockwaves, showing that extreme poverty had risen from 4.3% in 2017 to 5.4% in 2018.

At the time, Professor Ryszard Szarfenberg from the University of Warsaw, who heads the Polish Committee of the European Anti-Poverty Network (EAPN), explained that the rise in poverty stemmed from two effects. The first was “lack of indexation of 500+ and thresholds for social transfers”. “500 plus” is the name of the government’s flagship child benefit programme, which provides families with monthly cash transfers of 500 zloty per child.

The second effect was many “women leaving low-paid jobs” to qualify for the scheme. In 2019, however, it was extended to all children, with the income threshold above which a family’s first child would be ineligible for the handout being scrapped.

According to EAPN, the change has eliminated the incentive for women to leave work. “After the change 500+ is now neutral to the labour market,” they reported, as quoted by OKO.press. The result has reportedly been more families taking up work, leading to levels of household incomes edging up in the past year.

Maria Wilczek

Maria Wilczek is deputy editor of Notes from Poland. She is a regular writer for The Times, The Economist and Al Jazeera English, and has also featured in Foreign Policy, Politico Europe, The Spectator and Gazeta Wyborcza.