Extreme poverty in Poland remained broadly stable in 2025, but the latest data reveal sharp differences in risk across social groups and places of residence. Farmers, larger families and residents of rural areas outside major urban centres were among those most exposed, while relative poverty rose to 13.5%, highlighting the persistent gap between lower-income households and average consumption levels.
Extreme poverty did not rise, but risk remains highly uneven
According to Statistics Poland (GUS), 5.3% of people in 2025 lived in households whose expenditure was below the subsistence minimum. This was a level very close to that recorded in 2024. At the same time, the relative poverty rate rose to 13.5%, pointing to the continued gap between part of the population and the average level of consumption.
Statistics Poland data show that in 2025 the situation measured against the subsistence minimum did not change materially from the previous year. In 2024, 5.2% of people were at risk of extreme poverty, compared with 5.3% a year later. The difference is small and, as GUS stresses, should be interpreted cautiously because the Household Budget Survey is sample-based.
The relative poverty rate paints a different picture. It measures the share of people living in households whose expenditure is below half of average household expenditure. In 2025, it reached 13.5%, up from 13.3% a year earlier and 11.7% in 2022. This does not automatically mean that every affected household experienced an absolute deterioration in living standards. It does show, however, that part of society remains clearly below the average level of consumption.
Three measures, three different pictures of household circumstances
GUS uses three main poverty thresholds. Extreme poverty is defined by the subsistence minimum — a level of expenditure regarded as necessary for biological survival. Relative poverty is measured against the average level of household expenditure in the country. Statutory poverty, in turn, is linked to the income thresholds used in the social assistance system.
| Indicator | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | Year-on-year change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Extreme poverty | 6.6% | 5.2% | 5.3% | +0.1 pp |
| Relative poverty | 12.2% | 13.3% | 13.5% | +0.2 pp |
| Statutory poverty | 4.1% | 2.6% | 8.1% | +5.5 pp |
| Risk of deprivation | 46.0% | 41.3% | 40.3% | -1.0 pp |
Poverty in Poland: trend since 2010
% of peopleSince 2016, extreme poverty has generally remained lower than in the first half of the previous decade. The statutory poverty indicator is strongly affected by changes to social assistance eligibility criteria.
In the fourth quarter of 2025, the subsistence minimum for a one-person household was PLN 1,037, while the relative poverty threshold was PLN 1,332. The statutory threshold rose to PLN 1,010 for a person living alone.
Who was most exposed to extreme poverty?
The highest extreme-poverty rate was recorded among farming households: 17.5% of people in these households lived below the subsistence minimum. High rates were also seen among disability pension recipients and people relying mainly on other non-earned sources of income, at 12.1% in both groups. By comparison, the rate was 4.4% in employee households and 4.3% in pensioner households.
Extreme poverty by main source of income
2024 vs 2025The largest year-on-year change is visible among farming households and disability pension recipients. Results for smaller groups should be interpreted with standard errors in mind.
| Household group | Extreme poverty | Relative poverty | Statutory poverty | Deprivation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 5.3% | 13.5% | 8.1% | 40.3% |
| Employees | 4.4% | 12.5% | 7.4% | 38.8% |
| Farmers | 17.5% | 33.3% | 24.5% | 67.7% |
| Self-employed | 4.2% | 9.6% | 6.6% | 34.4% |
| Pensioners | 4.3% | 11.0% | 5.0% | 37.4% |
| Disability pension recipients | 12.1% | 25.8% | 12.2% | 53.7% |
| Other non-earned sources of income | 12.1% | 24.3% | 18.8% | 59.3% |
Children and large families: risk rises with the number of dependants
Among married and cohabiting couples, the risk of extreme poverty rose with the number of children. The rate was 0.9% for households without children, 1.4% for those with one child, 3.1% for those with two, and 6.0% for households with at least three children.
An even higher risk concerned people living in households with at least three children or other people aged 0–17. In this group, the extreme-poverty rate was 8.9%, compared with 3.8% in households without anyone aged 0–17.
Extreme poverty and the number of dependent children
2024 vs 2025The data cover married and cohabiting couples. A dependent child is a person aged 0–14, or a person aged 15–25 without their own source of income and without a separate household.
Among people aged 0–17, the rate was 6.6%. It stood at 5.4% for those aged 18–64 and 4.1% for people aged 65 and over.
Rural areas outside metropolitan regions remain most exposed
Place of residence remains one of the strongest factors differentiating extreme-poverty risk. The rate was 9.5% in rural areas, compared with 2.5% in cities. The most difficult situation was seen in rural areas outside metropolitan regions, where 11.3% of people lived below the subsistence minimum.
At the same time, rural areas within metropolitan regions differed markedly from the rest of the countryside. There, the rate was 3.9%, closer to the level seen in cities than to that in rural areas far from major economic centres.
Extreme poverty by place of residence
2024 vs 2025In 2025, the difference between rural areas outside metropolitan regions and cities with at least 500,000 inhabitants was 10.2 percentage points.
| Education of household reference person | 2024 | 2025 | Year-on-year change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Higher education | 2.2% | 1.7% | -0.5 pp |
| Secondary education | 4.5% | 4.4% | -0.1 pp |
| Basic vocational / sectoral education | 8.3% | 8.9% | +0.6 pp |
| Lower secondary or below | 10.8% | 14.3% | +3.5 pp |
Deprivation affects a much larger share of society
Alongside extreme poverty, GUS also analyses the risk of deprivation — a situation in which a household’s expenditure is insufficient to meet a broader set of social needs, such as education, participation in working life, maintaining social relationships or limited participation in culture.
In 2025, 40.3% of people were at risk of deprivation, down from 41.3% a year earlier. Despite the decline, the rate remains high. The situation was particularly difficult for farming households, where deprivation affected 67.7% of people, and for disability pension recipient households, where it affected 53.7%.
Extreme poverty and deprivation: two different levels of risk
2010–2025Deprivation is not the same as extreme poverty. It refers to a higher consumption threshold based on the social minimum.
Conclusions: national stability does not mean equal circumstances
The 2025 data do not show a material deterioration in the overall extreme-poverty rate. They do not mean, however, that the problem has been solved. Risk remains concentrated in particular groups: farmers, disability pension recipients, people with lower levels of education, residents of rural areas outside metropolitan regions and families with more children.
The main conclusion from the GUS data therefore concerns not only the scale of the phenomenon, but also its structure. The national average conceals very large differences between households. For social policy, this means that not only cash transfers matter, but also access to jobs, transport, public services, education and childcare — particularly outside the largest cities.
How to read the data?
- Extreme poverty — expenditure below the subsistence minimum determined by the Institute of Labour and Social Studies (IPiSS).
- Relative poverty — expenditure below 50% of average household expenditure.
- Statutory poverty — an indicator based on social assistance income thresholds; its changes also depend on legal amendments.
- Deprivation — expenditure below the social minimum, a level allowing limited participation in social life.
Data source: Statistics Poland (GUS), “The extent of economic poverty in Poland in 2025” and the publication’s statistical annex, released on 30 June 2026. Visualisations and tabulations were prepared using GUS data.
