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Apr 19, 2024 · Poland is a high-income country with a large and diversified domestic economy. Poland successfully managed its integration into the European Union since joining in 2004, and during the 2008-09 global financial crises it was the only member to experience growth.
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A developed country, or advanced country, is a sovereign state that has a high quality of life, developed economy, and advanced technological infrastructure relative to other less industrialized nations.
The economy of Poland is a high-income, industrialized, developed market with a mixed economy that serves as the sixth-largest in the European Union by nominal GDP and fifth-largest by GDP (PPP). Poland boasts the extensive public services characteristic of most developed economies.
YearGdp(in Bil. Pln)Gdp(in Bil. Us $ppp)Gdp Per Capita(in Us$ Ppp)20274,642.92,041.954,680.420264,390.71,942.751,920.320254,112.51,845.449,223.120243,800.51,752.346,660.7Access Poland’s economy facts, statistics, project information, development research from experts and latest news. Latest news and information from the World Bank and its development work in Poland.
- Overview
- Economy of Poland
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing
- Manufacturing
Before World War II, Poland was a free-market economy based largely upon agriculture but with a few important centres of manufacturing and mining. After the initiation of communist rule in the 1940s, the country developed an increasingly industrial, state-run command economy based on the Soviet model. It operated within the rigid framework of Comecon (Council on Mutual Economic Assistance), an organization of Eastern-bloc countries dominated by the Soviet Union.
From the mid-1970s the Polish economy struggled with limited growth, largely as a result of an antiquated industrial infrastructure, government subsidies that masked inefficient production, and wages that were artificially high relative to productivity. In the late 1980s a swelling government deficit and hyperinflation brought about economic crisis. With the fall of communism and the demise of Comecon, the Polish economy became increasingly involved in the market-oriented global economy, for which it was ill-suited. To try to achieve economic stability, the postcommunist government introduced an approach known as “shock therapy,” which sought both to control inflation and to expedite Poland’s transition to a market economy. As part of that plan, the government froze wages, removed price controls, phased out subsidies to state-owned enterprises, and permitted large-scale private enterprise.
As a result, in the early 1990s, industrial output and gross domestic product (GDP) dropped significantly (agricultural production also fell, though largely because of drought). Unemployment grew, affecting as many as one in seven Poles. Inflation, however, began to drop, from 250 percent in 1990 to 10 percent in 2000. Production and GDP also recorded dramatic turnarounds, with an average annual GDP growth of about 4 percent from 1990 to 2000. Poland’s balance of payments improved (partly as the result of debt forgiveness), and the country developed one of the leading economies of the former Eastern bloc, as well as one of the fastest growing in Europe. Unemployment, which had been high at the beginning of the decade, righted itself in the late 1990s, falling to levels similar to those in western Europe in 1997–98 (i.e., to about 10 percent). The percentage of unemployed persons, however, rose once again in the early 21st century, climbing above 18 percent in 2003, when a downturn in the Polish economy was accelerated by a worldwide economic slowdown. Nevertheless, the Polish economy was quickly back on track and continued to expand even during the 2008–09 global financial crisis, when Poland was the only European country whose economy did not slip into recession. By 2007 the unemployment rate had fallen below 10 percent. After dipping even more over the next two years, it largely stabilized at about 10 percent until 2014, when it climbed again to 14 percent.
Privatization of some of Poland’s large industries proved to be a slow process. Under communism the principal branches of industry, services, and trade were directly owned by the state. There was, however, a surprisingly large sector of legal self-employment, and small-scale private businesses—including workshops, services, and restaurants—proliferated. Moreover, some three-fourths of Poland’s farmland remained privately owned. A government collectivization campaign begun in 1949 was abandoned in 1956. After the fall of communism, both industry and agriculture became increasingly privatized. By the early 1990s, more than half the Polish economy was in private ownership, while more than four-fifths of Polish shops were privately owned.
The privatization of larger enterprises was more complicated. A number of these were transformed into joint-stock and limited-liability companies. To distribute ownership in them, the Mass Privatization Program was introduced in 1994, which created 15 national investment funds (NIFs) to serve as joint-stock companies for more than 500 large and medium-size firms that were privatized. Poles were able to purchase shares in these funds at a nominal price. Listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, the NIFs comprised a broad range of enterprises—not just individual companies or groups of companies—and this enabled citizens to possess a diversified interest in key Polish industries. By 2001 more than 6,800 state-owned enterprises had been involved in the privatization process, and the private sector accounted for more than 70 percent of GDP. According to some estimates, by 2012 the private sector’s portion of GDP had increased to between 80 and 85 percent.
Development under the communist government stressed the classless and proletarian nature of society; however, the party elite enjoyed a range of privileges unavailable to ordinary workers. In postcommunist Poland, as private businesses proliferated, a small number of people became wealthy, and a middle class composed of entrepreneurs and urban professionals emerged. However, many people, in particular those on fixed incomes, suffered sharp declines in their standard of living. Crime, drug use, and corruption also increased, but such problems are not uncommon elsewhere in Europe. Also, greater wealth was found in western provinces near Germany than in eastern districts near Belarus and Ukraine.
Before World War II, Poland was a free-market economy based largely upon agriculture but with a few important centres of manufacturing and mining. After the initiation of communist rule in the 1940s, the country developed an increasingly industrial, state-run command economy based on the Soviet model. It operated within the rigid framework of Comecon (Council on Mutual Economic Assistance), an organization of Eastern-bloc countries dominated by the Soviet Union.
From the mid-1970s the Polish economy struggled with limited growth, largely as a result of an antiquated industrial infrastructure, government subsidies that masked inefficient production, and wages that were artificially high relative to productivity. In the late 1980s a swelling government deficit and hyperinflation brought about economic crisis. With the fall of communism and the demise of Comecon, the Polish economy became increasingly involved in the market-oriented global economy, for which it was ill-suited. To try to achieve economic stability, the postcommunist government introduced an approach known as “shock therapy,” which sought both to control inflation and to expedite Poland’s transition to a market economy. As part of that plan, the government froze wages, removed price controls, phased out subsidies to state-owned enterprises, and permitted large-scale private enterprise.
As a result, in the early 1990s, industrial output and gross domestic product (GDP) dropped significantly (agricultural production also fell, though largely because of drought). Unemployment grew, affecting as many as one in seven Poles. Inflation, however, began to drop, from 250 percent in 1990 to 10 percent in 2000. Production and GDP also recorded dramatic turnarounds, with an average annual GDP growth of about 4 percent from 1990 to 2000. Poland’s balance of payments improved (partly as the result of debt forgiveness), and the country developed one of the leading economies of the former Eastern bloc, as well as one of the fastest growing in Europe. Unemployment, which had been high at the beginning of the decade, righted itself in the late 1990s, falling to levels similar to those in western Europe in 1997–98 (i.e., to about 10 percent). The percentage of unemployed persons, however, rose once again in the early 21st century, climbing above 18 percent in 2003, when a downturn in the Polish economy was accelerated by a worldwide economic slowdown. Nevertheless, the Polish economy was quickly back on track and continued to expand even during the 2008–09 global financial crisis, when Poland was the only European country whose economy did not slip into recession. By 2007 the unemployment rate had fallen below 10 percent. After dipping even more over the next two years, it largely stabilized at about 10 percent until 2014, when it climbed again to 14 percent.
Privatization of some of Poland’s large industries proved to be a slow process. Under communism the principal branches of industry, services, and trade were directly owned by the state. There was, however, a surprisingly large sector of legal self-employment, and small-scale private businesses—including workshops, services, and restaurants—proliferated. Moreover, some three-fourths of Poland’s farmland remained privately owned. A government collectivization campaign begun in 1949 was abandoned in 1956. After the fall of communism, both industry and agriculture became increasingly privatized. By the early 1990s, more than half the Polish economy was in private ownership, while more than four-fifths of Polish shops were privately owned.
The privatization of larger enterprises was more complicated. A number of these were transformed into joint-stock and limited-liability companies. To distribute ownership in them, the Mass Privatization Program was introduced in 1994, which created 15 national investment funds (NIFs) to serve as joint-stock companies for more than 500 large and medium-size firms that were privatized. Poles were able to purchase shares in these funds at a nominal price. Listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, the NIFs comprised a broad range of enterprises—not just individual companies or groups of companies—and this enabled citizens to possess a diversified interest in key Polish industries. By 2001 more than 6,800 state-owned enterprises had been involved in the privatization process, and the private sector accounted for more than 70 percent of GDP. According to some estimates, by 2012 the private sector’s portion of GDP had increased to between 80 and 85 percent.
Development under the communist government stressed the classless and proletarian nature of society; however, the party elite enjoyed a range of privileges unavailable to ordinary workers. In postcommunist Poland, as private businesses proliferated, a small number of people became wealthy, and a middle class composed of entrepreneurs and urban professionals emerged. However, many people, in particular those on fixed incomes, suffered sharp declines in their standard of living. Crime, drug use, and corruption also increased, but such problems are not uncommon elsewhere in Europe. Also, greater wealth was found in western provinces near Germany than in eastern districts near Belarus and Ukraine.
Polish agriculture was unique in the Soviet bloc in that private farms accounted for most of total output. Most of those private farms continue to be smaller than 12 acres (5 hectares). In postcommunist Poland farm incomes declined rapidly in real terms as the prices of industrial products rose, and imported processed foods from western Europe competed strongly with lower-quality Polish products. Many state farms collapsed after 1989, as did the system of state purchase upon which much of the private sector had relied. Throughout the 1990s the percentage of people employed in agriculture declined each year, owing in part to the liquidation of state farms, the aging of agricultural workers, and the drought of the early 1990s.
Nevertheless, Poland remains one of the world’s leading producers of rye and potatoes. Other principal crops include wheat and sugar beets. Poland’s largest fertile areas are Lower Silesia, the Little Poland Lowlands, the Kujawy, the Vistula delta, and the Lublin area. Soil quality varies, and the soil is somewhat poorer in large parts of central and northern Poland. Most farming is mixed, and beef cattle, dairy cows, and pigs are raised throughout the country. As Poland became increasingly integrated into the global economy during the mid-1990s, about half its agricultural exports went to the EU.
During the period of communist rule, remarkable advances in industrial production were overshadowed to some extent by shortcomings in quality and by problems of organization. Moreover, industrial production in Poland—governed almost solely by quantitative requirements and dependent on inexpensive raw materials provided through Comecon—was largely inefficient and poorly prepared to compete in the global marketplace. Industrial output fell dramatically after the demise of communism, especially during the first years of shock therapy. There were declines of one-third or more in almost all areas of manufacturing and mining following the freeing of prices and the collapse of Comecon.
As Polish industry began to downsize, however, production improved, and by the mid-1990s manufacturing accounted for about two-fifths of GDP. As other sectors grew more quickly, manufacturing totaled about one-fifth of GDP by the end of the decade, and by the 2010s it had decreased to between one-fifth and one-tenth of GDP. The principal branches of the manufacturing sector are machinery and transport equipment, food products, metals and metal products, chemicals, beverages, tobacco, and textiles and clothing.
According to the definition from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Poland is a developing country because of its lower economic performance. With a Human Development Index (HDI) of 0.881, Poland counts as one of the high developed economies by UN definition. With an average annual income of 18,900 USD Poland is one of the high-income ...
Poland has sustained strong growth over the past three decades, and the country transitioned to an EU-integrated market economy, moving from upper middle-income to high-income status in less than a decade and a half.
