The Central Statistical Office (Główny Urząd Statystyczny, GUS) has released data for the first half of 2024, including the number of births. In May, 21,000 children were born, compared to 24,000 in 2023, and in June, only 19,000, compared to 22,700 a year ago. Over the past 12 months, 259.9 thousand children were born in Poland, while 403.7 thousand Poles died during the same period.

Demographic commentators describe these figures as another step deeper into Poland's demographic collapse. Analyst Szymon Pifczyk, working for Meta in Silicon Valley, wrote on X: "It is unimaginable how quickly Poland is dying out." He added, "250,000 births means a population of only 20 million Poles within our lifetime." Krzysztof Mamiński, the author of a demography blog, stressed, "There is nothing left of April’s ‘birth rebound,’ in which some saw the hope of at least short-term stability in the birth rate."

Commentators point out that the GUS data also includes children of foreigners permanently or temporarily residing in Poland. In 2023, a high-profile study revealed that 68% of Polish women were undecided about motherhood. At a conference organised by the Institute for Health Communication, Professor Jacek Hołówka, a philosopher and ethicist, commented on this statistic: "Polish women do not want to get pregnant and have children because they are making sensible choices."

In Prof. Hołówka's opinion, the decision to start or expand a family is not primarily supported by state policy, which should effectively assist young potential parents with issues such as housing, stable working conditions, and guarantees of care and education for children. The same themes appeared in comments on the latest GUS data more than a year later.

Polish politicians' current anti-immigration and anti-refugee policies are also notable in this context. They are well aware of the statistics and forecasts of population decline in Poland and the need to address this gap with people from other parts of the world. Otherwise, the Polish economy and pension system will also collapse. However, in a bid to attract potential voters in future elections by stoking fear of immigrants, Polish politicians are cynically acting to the detriment of the state.

Source: mp.pl