Demographics of Poland

The population of Poland decreased from more than 35 million in 1939 to less than 24 million in 1946. Of that, around 6 million were killed during the Holocaust, Porajmos, and German and Soviet occupations, while the remaining decline can be mostly attributed to altered borders and associated population expulsions of Germans and Ukrainians and resettlement of Poles. As a result, Poland became one of the most ethnically homogeneous areas in Europe.

Poland's population has been rising consistently in the 1945-1989 period, to 37.96 million in 1989. This growth has been fully fueled by positive natural change (more births than deaths), as net international migration was negative for Poland every year between 1966 and 1989, even despite the socialist government's restrictions on leaving the country for any reason. 578,405 people emigrated from Poland between 1966 and 1989,[8] with the main destination countries being Germany (388,137) and United States (50,453).

Since 1990, Poland's population stagnated at 38.0-38.6 million, with the median age rising due to low birth rates. Official population statistics are a point of debate in Poland,[9] though, with many academics criticizing the Polish Central Statistical Office (GUS) for failing to adapt to successfully capture internal and international migration in particular.[10][3] Already the 2002 census revealed Poland had 402,000 residents less than expected,[11] and subsequent censuses reflected neither the mass emigration of Poles after Poland's admission to the European Union in 2004, nor the mass immigration to Poland since 2014.[12]

TFR of Poland overtime to 2016

The total fertility rate is the number of children born per woman. It is based on fairly good data for the entire period. Sources: Our World In Data and Gapminder Foundation.[14]

Birth rate

Birth and death rates of Poland in 1950-2008

9.3 births/1,000 population (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 202nd

Total fertility rate

1.36 children born/woman (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 214th

Mother's mean age at first birth

27.4 years (2014 est.)

Life expectancy at birth in Poland

Source: UN World Population Prospects

Population pyramid of Poland from 1950 to 2020

0-14 years: 14.8% (male 2,924,077 /female 2,762,634)

15-24 years: 10.34% (male 2,040,043 /female 1,932,009)

25-54 years: 43.44% (male 8,431,045 /female 8,260,124)

55-64 years: 13.95% (male 2,538,566 /female 2,819,544)

65 years and over: 17.47% (male 2,663,364 /female 4,049,281) (2018 est.)

Median age

total: 41.1 years. Country comparison to the world: 44th

male: 39.4 years

female: 42.8 years (2018 est.)

[15][16][17]

[19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24][14][25][26][27][28][29][30]

[32]

Period	Live births	Deaths	Natural increase
January - August 2022	208,300	302,900	-94,400
January - August 2023	187,900	272,400	-84,500
Difference	-20,400 (-9.79%)	-30,500 (-10.07%)	+9,900

Poland is relatively rural for a country of its population and economic development. As of the 2021 census, 59.8% of total population lived in cities and town, a percentage well below European average. Poland has historically been a rural and agricultural country and while cities started rapidly growing in neighboring countries in the second half of the 19th century, many Polish cities were artificially limited in growth by the partitioners due to military reasons. After regaining independence in 1918, Polish authorities have started investment in urbanizing the country but it was quickly interrupted by World War II. Therefore, Poland has not started fully urbanizing until after the war.

Urbanization rate has also been declining, at an annual rate of -0.25% between 2015 and 2020 due to suburbanization. In Poland, many suburbs are officially rural areas even despite in reality might resemble a town or even a city neighborhood, such as the Poznań suburb of Koziegłowy.

New high-rises and cultural institutions on the former site of a coal mine near downtown Katowice are a testament to the city's successful economic transformation

In the Eurostat's urban-rural typology, Poland's urbanization rate is slightly higher, however still below the European average.[35] Eurostat estimates 61.2% of Poland's population to live in urban clusters (including 28.9% in dense urban centers), compared to the 70.4% average across the EU.

There is no one official delimitation of metropolitan areas in Poland, and various institutions use different definitions. However, both central institutions and academics are in agreement that the following are the major metropolitan areas of Poland:

1. Warsaw - the capital and largest city of Poland, with 1.9 million official residents in city proper and 2.7-3.1 million in the metropolitan area. Warsaw is the largest economy in Poland, with the Warsaw Stock Exchange, most major financial institutions, and CEE headquarters of international companies. Warsaw is also an important educational center, with the University of Warsaw, Warsaw School of Economics and Polish Academy of Sciences located there. Warsaw metropolitan area has been growing rapidly in recent decades, eclipsing the previously larger Katowice metropolitan area around 2015.
2. 

   Kraków's old town is listed on the UNESCO World Heritage Site list and attracts millions of tourists every year
   Katowice - the center of the large Upper Silesian Metropolitan Area, with 2.2-2.7 million in the metropolitan area. Katowice area developed initially as a hub of heavy industry and coal mining. Most of the industry has been closed since. Katowice and some other cities (Gliwice, Tychy) managed to successfully transform its economies becoming a major Polish hubs of information technology, healthcare, education, finance and manufacturing, however many other cities (Bytom, Sosnowiec) experience depopulation. Katowice's metropolitan area is bordering Kraków, Rybnik, Bielsko-Biała and Ostrava metropolitan areas from the south and southeast, creating a large combined urban area with 4.5-5.2 million people.
3. Kraków - the historical capital of Poland, with 0.8 million residents in city proper and 1.2 million in the metropolitan area. Kraków is one of the main tourist destinations in Poland and a is often called a cultural capital of the country. In recent decades, Kraków emerged as a major international center of back office operations through the SSC/BPO industry. Kraków is also the second largest college city in Poland after Warsaw, with the Jagiellonian University dating back to the Middle Ages.
4. Łódź - a post-industrial city in the middle of Poland, with 0.7 million people in the city proper and 1-1.2 million in the urban area. Łódź has developed in the 19th century as a center for textile manufacturing, and has been a major manufacturing hub exporting mostly towards Russia and then Soviet Union. Following the market transformations in the early 1990s, most of the industry has collapsed and Łódź struggled with high unemployment rate. In recent years, the city has embraced its industrial past and exploits its location close to Warsaw.
5. Gdańsk - one of the three major cities of the Tricity area, Gdańsk has around 0.5 million people in the city proper and 1-1.2 million in the urban area. Gdańsk has been the largest cities in Poland for most of the Middle Ages, thanks to its seaside location that fostered trade with other cities and countries in the Baltic and North Seas. Being the largest urban area in the north of the country, Gdańsk benefits from internal migration from neighboring regions.
6. Poznań - with its 0.5 million residents in city proper and 0.8-1.1 million in the metropolitan area, Poznań emerged as one of the main hubs of trade and manufacturing in Poland. Poznań area is the most entrepreneurial part of Poland, with more than 1 in 10 residents running a business. Poznań is also the prime example of suburbanization in Poland, with the suburbs around as populous as the city proper.
7. Wrocław - in recent years emerged a major immigration center, with more than 100,000 immigrants residing in the city in addition to its official population of 0.7 million and 0.9-1.1 million in the metropolitan area. Similarly to Kraków, Wrocław is a major tourist destination thanks to its medieval old town, as well as a hub of back office operations particularly in the financial industry.
8. Szczecin - with a population of 0.4 million in the city proper and 0.7-0.9 million in the metropolitan area (partially stretching to Germany), Szczecin is the second-largest city in the country's north and a major port.

Poland is divided into 16 administrative divisions called voivodeship (województwa). These regions vary vastly in size, as the largest Masovian voivodeship is more than 5 times as populous and 3 times as big as the smallest Opole voivodeship.

Główny Urząd Statystyczny (GUS), the Polish central statistics office, published multiple separate counts of foreign nationals living in Poland for the 2021 census. GUS counted 445,176 foreign nationals towards Poland's usually resident population (1.2% share) and 111,814 foreign nationals towards Poland's official population (0.3% share).[46] It also counted 1,433,779 foreign nationals as temporarily living in Poland (of whom 309,309 lived in Poland for more than 12 months).[47] It is unclear what is the overlap of these populations.

Largest groups of foreigners residents in 2021

Nationality	Usually resident population
Ukraine	296,452
Belarus	29,595
Russia	11,077
Vietnam	9,574
Germany	5,841
Georgia	4,921
Italy	4,696
China	4,322
United Kingdom	3,987
Turkey	3,789
Armenia	2,966
France	2,730
Moldova	2,610
United States	2,303
Bulgaria	2,193
South Korea	2,193
Spain	2,068

Most foreigners from outside of the European Union immigrate to Poland via various kinds of work schemes. There are two primary types are a work permit (zezwolenie na pracę)[48] and a "declaration of entrusting work to a foreigner" (oświadczenie o powierzeniu wykonywania pracy cudzoziemcowi).

Work permits can be issued to any foreigner from outside of the European Union who is not a refugee and does not already have a residence permit in Poland. Work permits require a labor market test and can be issued for up to 3 years. In 2022, 61.1% of work permits were issued for at least 12 months (including 49.2% issued for 24 months and more) while 38.5% were issued for 6–12 months. Less than 0.4% were issued for less than 6 months.

Work permits issued each year by country of citizenship[49]

Country	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	Total
Ukraine	192,547	238,334	330,495	295,272	325,213	85,074	1,466,935
Belarus	10,518	19,233	27,130	27,304	34,830	18,418	137,433
India	3,938	8,362	8,063	8,184	15,326	41,640	85,513
Nepal	7,075	19,912	9,175	5,708	10,853	20,045	72,768
Uzbekistan	1,409	2,634	6,309	5,873	15,002	33,373	64,600
The Philippines	733	2,057	6,317	7,391	13,279	22,557	52,334
Bangladesh	2,412	8,341	6,986	3,758	7,524	13,539	42,560
Turkey	1,228	1,481	2,936	2,641	7,351	25,004	40,641
Moldova	3,792	6,035	8,341	7,616	7,958	1,828	35,570
Georgia	398	2,752	7,438	8,213	9,267	4,285	32,353
Indonesia	148	352	2,023	3,885	7,899	10,011	24,318
Azerbaijan	1,336	3,302	3,183	2,125	3,782	7,769	21,497
Kazakhstan	321	803	1,689	2,464	4,585	8,883	18,745
Russia	1,433	1,903	2,862	3,371	6,228	2,330	18,127
Vietnam	658	1,313	3,367	2,992	3,427	5,908	17,665
Turkmenistan	16	42	317	961	2,648	11,919	15,903
Kyrgyzstan	81	654	1,283	1,095	2,464	8,051	13,628
Tajikistan	353	868	1,323	1,186	2,527	5,380	11,637
China	1,179	1,473	1,935	1,380	1,720	2,233	9,920
South Korea	219	720	1,838	2,967	2,057	1,884	9,685
Pakistan	427	1,065	911	815	1,526	4,645	9,389
Kosovo	640	522	740	1,045	943	1,730	5,620
Colombia	48	91	156	190	243	4,129	4,857
Serbia	878	930	911	811	0	1,311	4,841
Ethiopia	17	328	505	1,033	2,165	535	4,583
Others	3,166	4,721	7,819	7,674	12,680	23,009	59,069
Total	234,970	328,228	444,052	405,954	501,497	365,490	2,280,191

In addition to work permits, there is a secondary, easier work migration scheme called declarations of entrusting work to a foreigner. Compared to the work permit system, employers seeking to entrust work to a foreigner do not need to subject the job to a labor market test. However, the work visa is only valid for up to 24 months instead of 36 months. Prior to 2022, the time limits were even stricter, with a 6-month maximum stay that had to be accompanied by a 6-month period outside of Poland until a new work visa could be obtained.[50][51] This system is only open to citizens of 5 post-Soviet countries,[52][53] though business leaders have called for an extension to other post-Soviet republics. Russian citizens are excluded from the program since October 2022,[54] following the invasion of Ukraine. Between 2007 and 2017, this scheme was known as a declaration of intention to entrust work to a foreigner, though it led to numerous abuses, since after submitting the statement, employers were not obliged to report whether the foreigner had come, and whether they had taken the job. Migrants would sometimes take up different work than previously indicated, use the permit to move to Western Europe, or not arrive at all. On 1 January 2018, it was replaced by the current scheme. Since then, employers are obliged to report the fact that the migrant has taken up employment. The change limits the comparability of the data from the previous periods.[55]

Registered declarations of entrusting work to a foreigner[56]

Country	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022
Ukraine	1,446,304	1,475,923	1,329,491	1,705,709	618,503
Belarus	62,805	66,045	78,905	103,749	217,374
Georgia	28,008	45,137	44,270	135,743	147,847
Moldova	36,742	39,414	45,281	76,506	47,269
Russia	6,718	11,262	19,246	36,214	16,084
Armenia	1,648	2,302	2,406	7,314	7,475
Total	1,582,225	1,640,083	1,519,599	2,065,416	1,054,640

Since January 2018, employers may hire foreigners on a seasonal work permit, used specifically for agricultural and tourism-related work.[57] In 2020, 60.8% of hired foreigners were women, 42% were under 35 years old, and most worked in Poland from 31 to 90 days.[58] The vast majority of migrants come from Ukraine, as well as Belarus, Moldova, and Georgia, since the law doesn't require the employer to look for potential Polish workers before hiring a foreigner from said countries.

Seasonal work permits by country of citizenship

Country	2018	2019	2020
Ukraine	119,926	129,683	135,482
Belarus	607	659	625
Moldova	359	380	342
Georgia	199	302	291
Uzbekistan	3	66	122
Philippines	15	78	78
Russia	45	79	62
Indonesia	0	3	44
Others	35	97	175
Total	121,436	131,446	137,403

Polish social insurance provider, Zakład Ubezpieczeń Społecznych (ZUS), reported 1,094,148 foreigners paying towards pension insurance in Poland at the end of June 2023, an 8.1% increase since the year prior and more than double compared to 5 years ago. Foreigners were 6.74% of all insured in Poland, an increase from basically 0 just a few years earlier. Ukrainians and Belarusians were the largest groups of foreigners, at 68.4% and 11.1%, respectively. Other nationalities with more than 10,000 people insured in the Polish insurance system include: Georgians (27,434), Indians (18,620), Moldovans (14,654), and Russians (12,709).[59]

In light of a lack of centralized and trustworthy population statistics, the education system is another source of information about immigrants and foreign nationals in Poland. As of September 2022, there were 352,923 students with a foreign nationality in Poland in non-college education,[60] approximately 6.8% of all students in the country. The vast majority were Ukrainians - 307,944 (of which 200,734 were in a refugee status), followed by Belarusians (19,647).

There were also 85,897 foreign college students in Poland as of 2021 (excluding those studying on short-term study programs such as Erasmus).[61]

Poland has been at the forefront of the Ukrainian refugee crisis from the very beginning, as the country shares a long border with Ukraine and many Ukrainians have family members working or studying in Poland. As the refugee crisis became apparent, Polish authorities waived certain entry restrictions for people fleeing Ukraine, such as requirements for passports[62] and, along with millions of private citizens,[63] organized food and shelter for the arriving refugees. Poland's response to the Ukrainian refugee crisis has won the country international praise.[64][65]

As of September 2023, 958,120 refugees remain in Poland, of which 408,884 are under 18. More than 1 in 10 refugees lives in Warsaw (103,476), followed by Wrocław (45,942), Kraków (31,795) and Poznań (24,312).[66] Refugees are not counted towards the official population number by GUS as they are in a temporary residence status and temporary residents are not reported.[67]