The number of Poles temporarily living abroad decreased by 85,000 in 2018, reports Statistics Poland. Experts believe main reasons for the decrease are related to the favorable Polish job market and the uncertainty associated with Brexit.
The report states that 2.46 million Polish citizens were living abroad temporarily (over 3 months), amounting to an 85,000 decrease in 2018.
The report shows that a lower number of Poles are leaving and the higher number of Polish emigrants are returning after originally leaving for work,
Due to the UK leaving the EU, emigration levels dropped by over 12 percent in Great Britain.
For the first time in several years, Germany was the country in which the most temporary migrants from Poland resided, according to 2018 statistics. The number of Poles living in Germany increased by 3,000 in 2018, rising to 706,000.
Kamil Wołczyk of the Work Service employment agency says that Brexit is not the only reason for the decrease of Poles living in the UK, but also its geographical distance from Poland.
He explained that many Poles are moving to Holland, which is the third-largest agglomeration of Polish temporary migrants (123,000) and saw a 3,000 person increase in 2018.
Another 1,000 Polish migrants moved to Ireland in 2018, which made it the fourth location with the most Poles temporarily living abroad (113,000).
