Cultural Environment in Poland

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Intoduction:

Poland is trying to shed its ex-communist coat by setting the example of entertaining an exemplary transition towards a completely free market, its economy has seen, robust initiatives of liberalization, macroeconomic stabilization, mass privatization and institutional reforms (Smith. p5). All of these advantages were non-existent during that era.

Smith. A, Challenges for Russian Economic Reform, 1995, London: Royal Institute for International Affairs and Washington DC.

Population, Sex, Birthrates and other demographic...

Between 1995 and 2007 Poland saw a decrease in population of about 0.4% with the current total population at 38 million. Population-wise Poland is currently ranked 30th globally, 8th in Europe. This decrease in population is due to the Polish abandoning the concept of large families and moving to a more traditional/westernized view of families consisting of 1-2 children. the number of live births in Poland is 369.22, which has dropped significantly over the years. The birthrates in Poland have been in decline throughout the years with about 1.28 children born per female in 2009 and down from 1.6 in 1995 with the birth rate of 2014 expected at -0.11%

Life expectancy at birth is 76.9 years in Poland, compared with an OECD average of 80.1

years. While the OECD average life expectancy increased by 10.1 years between 1970 and

2011, the increase for Poland was 6.9 years.

Age distribution of population is a as follow:

0-14 years: 14.6% 15-24 years: 11.9% 25-54 years: 43.8%  55-64 years: 14.7%
65 years and over: 15%

Sex distribution:

Poland’s sex distribution is very asymmetrical up to the age of 59 years, after which longer life expectancy of females create a left skew showing a decline in male population    [pic 8]

Geographic areas

61% of the population is urbanized. The major Polish cities are Warsaw with 1.7m people , followed by Lodz and Krakow both around 750k people, Wroclaw, Poznan, Gdansk, Szczecin, Bydgoszcz, Katowice, and Lublin. Which all have a population that averages 120k/200k.  we find the distribution of Poland -excluding Warsaw- to be quite even.

Migration rates and patterns

Rates were negative over the past 7 years as more people left the country than entered.

Immigration saw the following shares (all in %): Uk 30, Ger 20, Usa 11, Italy 8, Other 30 (mostly IRE, SP, NL) If we consider not only Polish citizens but also people of Polish descent, the Polish diaspora comprises between 15 and 18 million people worldwide.

Ethnic groups

(All in %) Polish 96.7, German 0.4, Belorussian 0.1 Ukrainian 0.1, other 2.7
Conclusion:  Poland has indeed a very homogeneous population mass.

Economic statistics and activity

Broadly put Poland’s GDP was estimated at 517 billion USD at the end of 2013, the GNP however peaked at 450 Billion.

Rate of growth

Growth reached an all time high of 6.10 Percent in 1997 and a record low in 1996.

The Polish economy is strengthening in 2014 amid rising domestic demand. After stumbling in late 2012 and early 2013, and is hovering at a 1.6% growth rate today, once again it is worth mentioning that Poland was the only EUM not to have experienced a recession during the 08 subprime crisis.

Personal income per capita & Average family income

Net disposable income per capita is 16 234 USD a year, less than the OECD average of 23,938 USD a year. And Average family income is around 37,000 USD

Distribution of wealth

The middle class makes up the biggest percentage of the Polish population. Extremely wealthy individuals are very small in numbers and poverty is not a big issue within the country. The top 20% amasses about 40% of the wealth produced, which of course shows a disproportionate distribution.

Minerals and resources

Poland enjoys a variety of natural resources such as coal, copper, sulfur, natural gas, silver, lead, and salt The country maintains a steady supply of these resources and no major changes are predicted to occur in the near future.

Transportation

Poland’s has “outdated” transportation systems. By not modernizing its networks of roads, railways, and airports, the country essentially eliminates potential business, Poor transportation systems make regional distribution from Poland to neighboring countries challenging. it has a variety of transportation modes but many of the systems require extensive work. The majority of the nation’s roads are two-laned with limited expressways that connect the major cities. The railway structure in Poland stretches over 20,000 KM but the quality of the system is very low. An estimated 2.5 billion Euros is to be used to expand airport terminals and update infrastructure in Krakow, Poznan, Wroclaw.