Experts predict shrinking population in Poland

According to the weekly magazine Polityka, this trend is caused by a "change in Poland’s age structure," citing among others Professor Aldona Żurek, a sociologist from the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań.

Żurek told the weekly that – according to Central Statistical Office (GUS) data - in 2013 the working age encompassed 24.5 million Poles, and children and pensioners nearly 6.9 million a piece.

By 2035 only 22.5 million will be in working age and there will be 8.3 million pensioners and 5.5 million children.

By 2050, there will be 19 million people of working age and nearly 10 million retirees and less than 5 million children.

Before Poland’s transformation in 1989 significantly more children were born, as many as 230-240 per 100 women.

Żurek suggests that the reason for the declining number of births is changing attitudes towards starting a family, having a baby and going to work, which has become more of a challenge for many women since 1989.

"In addition, a new system of values in which emphasis has been placed on professional development, career fulfillment, as well as a less conservative view of sex," Żurek says.

Another cause of population decline is poverty. The researchers conclude that "the fear of a lowered standard of living tends to mean not having children." (jh)