2.5 million Poles live in extreme poverty and more than 17 million face social exclusion, and the number of homeless people increases every month. But what especially scares the authors of the Poverty Watch 2024 report, prepared by the Polish Anti-Poverty Committee (EAPN Polska), is the 50% increase in the number of children who have nowhere to live. Gazeta reports this.
Analysts believe that the last time Poland was in such a bad situation was in 2015.
The “economic tsunami” has caused poverty to deepen in Poland,” – say the authors.
This report is published every year and describes the extent of poverty in European countries. It is based mainly on official statistics and is therefore considered a reliable indicator of the poverty and wealth of the population of a united Europe.
“The impoverishment of society is due, in particular, to the deterioration of the economic situation of the entire country. Economic stagnation with low GDP growth (+0.2%) coupled with high inflation last year (11.4%) is eroding the savings and real incomes of Poles. At the same time, social benefits are not indexed, which means that other families experiencing financial difficulties cannot benefit from assistance, as they are not considered poor.” – analysts confirm.
“The situation is aggravated by the lack of effective mechanisms to index benefits and the inconsistency of the social assistance system.” – says the EAPN Poland report.
Extreme poverty in Poland already affects 2.5 million people. This means that 6.6% of the country’s population is deprived of the basic needs of life. The last time this level of extreme poverty was recorded was in 2015. This percentage is even higher among households with two children: up to 9.4%.
