Poland: A Self-Portrait

Chapter 1

An eagle's-eye view: Poland in 60 seconds

For someone who has heard only half-century-old stereotypes about Poland: a country of 37 million people in the middle of Europe, the world's 21st-largest economy, one of the safest places on the continent — and a portrait that draws itself in numbers, not adjectives.

This document grew out of a simple observation: the Poland the world knows is often the Poland of 50 or 100 years ago — poor, agricultural, grey, eastern. The Poland shown by the data of 2026 is different in almost every dimension. The opening chapter is the eagle's-eye view: a dozen numbers to grasp the scale, eight stereotypes confronted with charts from the later chapters, and twelve names the world knows better than the country they come from. The rest of the document unpacks each of these numbers — with a source.

Fig. 1.1

Poland in twelve numbers

Scale, pace, safety, people — as of 2025/2026

Poland in twelve numbers37.3 minhabitants5th in the EU (StatisticsPoland, 31 Dec 2025)312,700 km²of area6th in the EU; 7 neighbours, theBaltic21stlargest economy in theworldnominal GDP USD 1.13 tn (IMF2026)+114%real GDP since 2004the fastest-growing large EUeconomy81%of the EU average —income per head52% in 2004 (PPS)3.1%unemploymentEU: 6.0% (2025)0.69homicides per 100,000USA: 5.76; 22nd in the GlobalPeace Index24thin the World HappinessReportup from 48th in 20224.48%of GDP on defencethe most in NATO (2025)18UNESCO World HeritagesitesKraków and Wieliczka on thefirst list (1978)22 mpeople of Polish descentabroadin 138 countries1.14children per womanthe biggest challenge (2024)
  • EU member since 2004, NATO since 1999, Schengen since 2007; currency: the złoty
  • Area about 312,700 km² — the EU's 6th-largest country; 37.3 m inhabitants — 5th-largest

Twelve numbers to know before reading on. Ten of them are lights; one — fertility — is the biggest challenge; one — defence — is a sign of the times. Each has its chart, its series and its source in the chapters that follow.

Fig. 1.2

Eight half-century-old myths versus the data of 2026

What is “known” about Poland — and what the numbers say

Eight half-century-old myths versus the data of 2026STEREOTYPEDATA“A poor, agricultural country inthe East”21.largest economy in the world (nominal GDP over USD 1 tn); income per head81% of the EU average, level with Portugal — chapter 4“Grey, post-communist, sad”24thin the World Happiness Report 2026, above the UK and Canada; up 24 placessince 2022 — chapter 13“Dangerous, like everywhere inthe East”0.69homicides per 100,000 — seven times fewer than the USA, fewer thanGermany and France; 89% of Poles feel safe — chapter 13“The Polish plumber — cheaplabour”USD 19.8 bnof IT services exported a year (10× more than in 2010); 138informatics-olympiad medals from 114 contestants; a minimum wage withSpanish purchasing power — chapters 5–7“Technologically backward”2.9 bnBLIK transactions a year; 97.8% of card payments contactless; 11 m usersof a digital ID with the force of an identity card — chapter 6“Coal and smog”52%coal's share of electricity — down from 80% a decade ago; prematuredeaths from smog halved since 2010 — chapters 13 and 16“A country people leave”no. 1in the EU for first residence permits for ten years running (2013–2022);1.34 m foreigners work and pay contributions — chapter 15“Hospitable or hostile tooutsiders?” — a complicated truth961k / 43%people from Ukraine under temporary protection (2nd in the EU) — and 43%of Poles declaring antipathy towards Ukrainians (17% in 2023); bothnumbers are true — chapters 14 and 16
  • Every row points to a chart in a later chapter; one row deliberately shows a complicated truth

Eight sentences a foreigner most often hears about Poland — and eight numbers that set them straight. Seven stereotypes the data simply void. The eighth row is left deliberately ambiguous: Poland is at once a country that took in almost a million refugees and a country where antipathy towards them grew from 17% to 43% in three years. A self-portrait has to hold both numbers.

Fig. 1.3

Twelve Poles the world knows

The selection is subjective, the numbers are not

Twelve Poles the world knowsWHOWHY THE WORLD KNOWS THEMNicolaus Copernicus1543De revolutionibus — the Earth orbits the Sun; the start of the scientificrevolutionFryderyk Chopin642entries to the 2025 Chopin Competition — the world's most prestigious pianocontest, held in Warsaw since 1927Maria Skłodowska-Curie2 Nobelsphysics 1903 and chemistry 1911 — the only person awarded in two naturalsciences; polonium named after PolandJohn Paul II1978–2005the first non-Italian pope in 455 years; 104 foreign pilgrimages; one of thefigures who changed the end of the 20th centuryLech Wałęsa and Solidarity10 munion members in 1981 — the largest social movement of post-war Europe;Nobel Peace Prize 1983; the elections of 4 June 1989Stanisław Lem30 mcopies in over 40 languages; “Solaris” filmed twice (Tarkovsky 1972,Soderbergh 2002)Andrzej Wajda and Roman PolańskiOscarsWajda — honorary Oscar (2000); Polański — Best Director for “The Pianist”(2003); Paweł Pawlikowski — “Ida”, Oscar 2015Andrzej Sapkowski / The Witcher85 mWitcher-trilogy games sold (CD PROJEKT) + the Netflix series — thebest-known Polish cultural brand of the 21st centuryRobert Lewandowski41goals in one Bundesliga season (2020/21) — the all-time record; FIFA Playerof the Year 2020 and 2021Iga Świątek6Grand Slam titles, 125 weeks at WTA no. 1; the 2025 Wimbledon final won 6–0,6–0Olga TokarczukNobel 2018the fifth literary Nobel for a writer in Polish (after Sienkiewicz, Reymont,Miłosz, Szymborska)Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski2025the second Pole in space — the Ignis mission (Ax-4), 20 days on the ISS, 47years after Mirosław Hermaszewski
  • From Copernicus to Świątek: names heard by people who know nothing of Poland — and the number behind each of them

The world knows these people better than the country they come from — the shortest definition of the gap between Poland's economic position and its brand. Copernicus, Chopin and Skłodowska-Curie made it into textbooks; John Paul II and Wałęsa changed the end of the 20th century; Lem, The Witcher, Lewandowski and Świątek are the brand for a new generation. The choice of names is subjective — the numbers beside them are not.