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In 2025, Poland's extreme poverty rate amounted to *** percent. The category of minimum subsistence means the level of meeting needs, which hinders survival and poses a threat to human psychophysical development.

Economic poverty in Poland

In 2021, the extreme poverty rate in Poland was *** percent, which is one percentage point lower than in the previous year. On the other hand, the relative poverty rate reached **** percent, i.e., *** percentage point more than in the previous year, which is related to the decline in average household expenditure caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The decrease in extreme poverty observed is associated with a slight improvement in the average material situation of households. In comparison, Poland has one of the lower rates of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion in the CEE region. In 2022, nearly ** percent of Poles were in the range of this indicator, while the EU average was close to ** percent.

Households in poverty

The extent of poverty varied markedly by socioeconomic group. In 2022, the most vulnerable to economic poverty (i.e., extreme, relative, and statutory poverty) were households living on so-called unearned sources other than pensions and farmers' households. In 2022, extreme poverty in these two groups affected ** and *** percent of people, respectively.
Education is one of the most important factors differentiating poverty risk. In general, the higher the education, the lower the poverty risk. Thus, in 2022, ** percent of people from households with at most lower secondary education experienced extreme poverty. In comparison, among families with higher education, the percentage of people living in households with expenses below the extreme poverty line was about ***.
Economic poverty also depended on household type, including the number of children. Families with at least * children up to the age of ** were the most exposed to economic poverty.
The highest value of economic poverty rates is recorded among children and youth under 18 years of age. The reported extreme poverty range for this age group in 2022 was *** percent. Older people (aged 65 and over) experienced economic poverty relatively least often.