According to the Government's Population Council study “Poland's demographic situation 2023-2024”, Poland's population has been decreasing continuously since 2012 (except 2017). At the end of 2024 it was 37,489,000 people. Worse still, the first data from the Central Statistical Office show that at the end of the first 4th of 2025 the population of Poland was 37,437,000 people.In 2024 the rate of natural growth fell to -4.2 and the difference between the number of deaths and births was 157 thousand. 252,000 children were born – 21,000 little than a year earlier. The number of deaths remains advanced – about 409,000 per year. Migrations are incapable to reverse the trend – the affirmative balance (approximately +4,000 people) has a marginal impact on the full population. Older people Poles live longer but inactive little than in the EU. In 2023, the average life expectancy was 74.8 for men and 82.4 for women. At the same time, the number of people with chronic diseases is growing: 80 percent people 75 plus endure from long-term wellness problems. In more than half of households there is at least 1 individual chronically ill. We are increasingly dying from cardiovascular, cancer and respiratory diseases. In the last decade respiratory deaths have increased by respective percent in men, and in women by more than 40 percent. Seniors and careMore than 20% of people 65 plus benefit from informal care of their relatives, and in the 80 plus group – already 45 percent. Unfortunately, Poland belongs to the countries with the lowest level of intellectual well-being of seniors in Europe. Demographics and the labour marketplace The declining number of people of working age and ageing populations reduce labour resources. Immigration mitigates the effects, but does not solve the problem. Experts recommend, among others, the activation of young people, women and seniors, the improvement of flexible forms of employment, investment in wellness and education, and the extension of professional activity. Recommendations from experts The Government Council of the People's Republic recommends: to destruct barriers to the implementation of parental plans and to reduce the cost of raising children, to improve the availability of intellectual care – especially in view of the increase in suicides among young people, to support active ageing and disabled people, to act for wellness and prevention, especially of civilisational diseases.
