It’s the fifth year in a row that is marked with a loss in Poland’s population. And all that with the generation of the baby-boom 1979-1984 deciding to procreate now.
Difficult times ahead for the elderly people
According to recent estimates carried out by the Central Statistical Office of Poland (GUS), towards the end of June 38,422,000 citizens were registered in the country, which is by 15,000 less than in the last quarter of 2015 and 27,000 less than registered in the same period last year. The ratio of births to deaths was given as a main reason for this decrease – 9,000 more people died than were born within the last six months.
Procreative Poles
The report states that 191,000 children were born in the first half of 2016, which is by almost 10,000 more than last year. This increase is explained as a result of a former baby-boom of the years 1979-1984: plenty of women born in these years have now decided to have their own kids. These modern women have completed their education and achieved a more or less stable professional life, which made them think of starting their own families.
There were 74,000 marriages reported between January and June 2016. It’s again by 5,000 more than last year. Reasons for such decisions seem to be simple: social and professional stability, developed infrastructure ensuring health care and education for future kids and the unemployment rate standing at the lowest level since the year 2000.
Migration plague and death
Almost 2 million Poles every year try their luck abroad. Many of them come back after a year or two, after saving enough money to buy a car, a house or to start their own business. Plenty of them, however, stay abroad for years and apply for local citizenship, which means huge loss in Poland’s population. You can find further information about migration from Poland at the official website of GUS.
Another factor hindering the growth in population is death. Surprisingly many people die prematurely in Poland, and cancer is their main killer. Apart from that many people die in car accidents and due to heart attacks and strokes. There are about 400,000 deaths registered in Poland every year (compared with 300,000 births).
The conclusion of this report is the potential threat of a senescent society. All the hope lies within twenty-year-olds and their will to procreate. But they seem to be more than aware of the future’s uncertainty and postpone starting their families to when they are stable financially (mostly to their thirties).
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