Poland has been a European “leader” in some not-so-great areas like Covid deaths, depopulation, air pollution, and inflation, but it turns out the country is topping Eurostat rankings for some good reasons, too, writes Poland’s Business Insider.
Despite being known as a country of complainers, Poles are actually happy people. In a Eurostat study, on a scale of 1 to 10, Poles rated their overall life satisfaction at 7.7, coming in third place after Austrians and Finns.
For 2023, this figure was 7.6, with Belgians, Slovenians and Romanians overtaking Poles for life satisfaction.
As for jobs, according to Eurostat data, when Poland joined the EU in 2004, the unemployment rate was over 18.5 percent, the worst result in the entire Union. Today, 20 years later at the start of 2024, Poland recorded the best unemployment rate at less than 3 percent, although the Czech Republic later beat it.
Only 2.9 percent of the economically active population in Poland are unemployed. The EU average is 6.1 percent, and the eurozone average is 6.6 percent. There are countries, such as Greece and Spain, where unemployment is still in the double digits.
In terms of general safety, Poland is a leader, with very few murders, sexual crimes and even thefts. In fact, there are only 0.69 reports of any such serious crimes per 100,000 inhabitants. Slovenia and Italy are safer than Poland, as well as non-EU countries Switzerland and Norway.
Less than 3 percent of the population has encountered violence or vandalism, whereas in Greece, this figure is 20 percent.
The pay gap in Poland is also a somewhat bright spot. Women still earn less than men in the same positions, but in recent years this gap has been gradually shrinking, with only Slovenia, Romania and Luxembourg ahead of Poland in this respect. Meanwhile, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, France and Germany all have wage gaps in the double digits.
Eurostat data also shows that the pay gap varies significantly across sectors of the economy. For example, in the financial sector, it reaches almost 30 percent, while in others the trend has even been reversed, with women earning more than men.
Lastly, Eurostat data shows that Poles are one of the least indebted nations in the European Union. Only 5.1 percent of the country owes money for rent, mortgage, bills, etc. Only Italy, the Czech Republic, Belgium and the Netherlands have lower rates.
In countries such as Greece, almost half of the population has problems with paying their bills on time, while in Turkey, this figure is 25 percent and in Bulgaria, 20 percent.
