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How Air Pollution Affects Poverty in Europe

How Air Pollution Affects Poverty in EuropeAir pollution is disproportionately affecting the health and well-being of people living in poverty, according to a recent report by the European Environment Agency. The report titled “Healthy environment, healthy lives: how the environment influences health and well-being in Europe,” calls for improving air quality in Europe by decreasing emissions and adding green spaces. Many consider air pollution to be an environmental issue or a global health concern that affects us all equally. However, the report makes the case that impoverished communities face a higher burden of air pollution and other environmental stressors.

The Link Between Air Pollution and Poverty

The Borgen Project held an interview with Catherine Ganzleben, head of the air pollution and environmental health groups at the European Environment Agency (EEA). She said, “Pollution hits poorer communities harder than affluent communities because of lack of access to medical care and exposure to the byproducts of climate change.”

As the climate crisis continues to worsen so does air pollution and extreme weather, disproportionately affecting those living in poverty. “In large parts of Europe, [vulnerable communities] are more likely to live next to busy roads or industrial areas,” Ganzleben said. “[They] face higher levels of exposure to air pollution.”

Even when both affluent and impoverished people experience the same exposure, air pollution affects the health of the impoverished more. Ganzlebe continued, “People living in lower-income regions [were found] to be more susceptible to the health effects of [pollutants] than wealthier people living in polluted areas.” Additionally, families with lower socio-economic status face more significant negative effects of pollution. Several factors could contribute to the disproportionate effects of air pollution. These include access to healthcare, underlying conditions and poor housing situations.

The Struggle for Clean Air in Poland

Traffic and industrial pollution are two of the main factors contributing to air pollution in Europe. But, in some countries, like Poland, the largest contributor to air pollution is burning coal to heat single-family households.

Poland is infamous for having one of the worst levels of air pollution in the European Union, according to K. Max Zhang in his interview with The Borgen Project. Zhang is a professor of energy and the environment at Cornell University. Poland still generates electricity and heat using coal, one of the most polluting forms of energy.

Poland’s reliance on coal can mainly be attributed to its abundance of old, single-family houses built in the 1970s. In an interview with The Borgen Project, Magdalena Kozlowska claimed that these homes remain unrenovated. She is the project coordinator of Polish Smog Alert. She also added that the most impoverished populations in Poland are less able to update their energy sources.

Polish Smog Alert is an organization that is committed to cleaning Poland’s air and meeting the European air quality standards through advocacy and mobilization. It also works to inform the public and help people make their houses more energy-efficient, Kozłowska said. The organization formed in 2013 when they started working to ban the burning of solid fuels in Krakow.

This ban on burning solid fuels came to fruition in 2019, when Polish Smog Alert worked with local and national governments to enact “changes in the national law [and the] city had to cooperate and offer money to exchange the boilers and help people experiencing poverty to pay the difference in bills,” Kozlowska continued. “And still, the city is doing that.”

Goals of the European Environment Agency’s Report

The attention to air quality around the world has been increasing in recent years. However, the EEA wants to see more policy changes and tangible action from the European government, Ganzleben said. These policies should also not have the sole aim of protecting the environment. In addition to environmental efforts, these policies should protect communities that are feeling the brunt of climate change’s effects. “Policies to deliver high environmental quality should be aimed at preventing and reducing the unequal distribution of environmental health risks, ensuring fair access to environmental resources and enabling sustainable choices,” said Ganzleben.

The report also explains the benefits of green spaces, even within polluted city environments. Green spaces, like parks and lakes, can benefit people’s well-being. “Mental and physical [health] are linked,” said Michael Brauer, professor of environmental health at the University of British Columbia, in an interview with The Borgen Project.

Reports like this one from the EEA, Brauer said, are a result of a growing urgency related to air pollution. In recent years, there has been much more attention globally to the issue, “[As a] response to increasing awareness of air pollution and the problem,” Brauer continued. “There is really no evidence of a safe level of air pollution.”

Combating Air Pollution’s Disproportionate Effect on the Poor

There need to be policy changes that address the socio-economic effects of climate change. This will alleviate the burden of air pollution on those living in poverty. “At the local level, integrating environmental health concerns into welfare policies, health policies and urban planning and housing policies can help to reduce the vulnerability and exposure of the population,” the report read. “Air pollution not only hurts the environment, but it also exacerbates poverty, and worsens the living conditions for the poor.” While humanitarian organizations like the Polish Smog Alert are working to alleviate pollution in Europe, there is still much to be done to eradicate air pollution and help those disproportionately experiencing the consequences of climate change.

– Laney Pope
Photo: Flickr 

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Rise of Minimum Wage and Automation in Poland

The Rise of Minimum Wage and Automation in PolandWith the increase of minimum wage and workers becoming more expensive, Poland is automating its industries and investing in technology that risks dramatically raising prices and halting job growth.

Poland’s Increasing Minimum Wage

The Law and Justice (PiS) party, which rules Poland’s government, has vowed to increase Poland’s minimum wage to 4,000 zlotys monthly. In January 2020, Poland increased its minimum wage by 15% from last year to 2,600 zlotys. PiS plans to reach its goal of increasing Poland’s minimum wage by the end of 2023. This comes from PiS’s pledge in the “politics of dignity.” The pledge’s aim is to bring buying power into Polish hands so Poland’s economic model is similar to their western European neighbors.

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said the series of minimum wage hikes is an investment in Poland’s future as well as an effort to increase its prosperity. Yet, the minimum wage hike brings about unwelcome side-effects. Especially the rise of Poland’s automation. Industries are implementing automation in order to shed employees and the wage increase.

Aiding Poland’s Workers

Poland plans to spend EUR 247.2 million, a total of PLN 1.1 billion, on relief for firms investing in automation over the next five years. This plan includes a tax break for entrepreneurs, allowing a 50% reduction in costs for investments in Polish automation companies. A statistic of “42 robots per 1,000 employees is definitely not enough,” admits Development Minister Jadwiga Emilewicz. The level of industrial robots in Poland is lower than in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary.

The relief package looks to increase Poland’s automation levels as well as its economy, which Emilewicz believes is a condition for development. The rise of the minimum wage in Poland, its highest hike ever, will bring changes in wage dynamics among low-income workers. Companies will be expected to increase their remuneration to hold onto employees.

Krystian Jaworski, the senior economist at Credit Agricole CIB, mentions Poland’s minimum wage increase will impact inflation greatly. This remains true today as inflation came in at 3.4% in December last year, well above estimates in a Reuters poll. With the rise of Poland’s minimum wage, and PiS’s plan to further increase wages, Credit Agricole estimates the enterprise sector employment will be 3.5% lower in 2024. The loss equates to approximately 200,000 jobs.

Some companies are looking elsewhere in order to curb shedding their employees. Henryk Kaminski, who runs Kon-Plast, a manufacturing company, is “thinking of redesigning to get a better manufacturing cost” by limiting its use of plastic, which fulfills the factory sector’s aim on savings.

– Danielle Lindenbaum
Photo: Flickr

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Fighting for Women’s Rights in Poland

Fighting for Women’s Rights in PolandPoland’s government is abandoning its commitment to fighting for women’s rights in Poland by pursuing to withdraw from its violence against women treaty. Zbigniew Ziobro, Poland’s justice minister, introduced a petition in July 2020 calling for Poland’s withdrawal from the landmark treaty.

Abandoning the Violence Against Women Treaty

Known as the Istanbul Convention, the treaty aimed at protecting women and girls from violence. Populist and nationalist governments target the Istanbul Convention, arguing it threatens “traditional families” for violence against women embedded within cultural traditions.

The head of the Law and Order party, otherwise known as PiS, Jarosław Kaczyński, is the final judge of government policy and has publically stated that Poland must avoid Western values in order to maintain its traditional, Catholic culture.

Caroline Hickson, the Regional Director at International Planned Parenthood Europe, has mentioned women’s rights in Poland are “at stake as their support systems are taken apart through relentless attacks.” She adds that “women will be completely abandoned by the State with no safety net.”
Human rights activists and high-ranking politicians within Europe are fighting this proposition to abandon the treaty. Polish MEP Sylwia Spurek remarked last year that the new European Commission was “a year wasted both for human rights, for the rule of law and for the climate.”

Spurek has thus transferred to the Greens group in the European Parliament (the EU’s law-making branch), promoting the Greens’ progressive role within parliament. Spurek believes that all women in every European country must be guaranteed their rights regardless of conservative rules, “no matter how politicians […] talk about counteracting violence against women.”

Fighting for Women’s Rights

Poland has a history of fighting for democracy in the past decades. MEP Terry Reintke, speaking on behalf of the Greens group, notes that “now [the group] will have someone from Poland who can represent Polish citizens in the Green group.”

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki is resisting the ultra-conservative efforts that harm women’s rights in Poland. While the PiS government subverts women’s rights in Poland, Morawiecki instead looks to avoid further hurting ties with the European Union (EU), noting Poland must be more pragmatic about its relations within the EU in order to avoid pressure and loss of funds.

Actions to Protect Women’s Rights

The political discourse that attacks women’s rights in Poland leaves women helpless and vulnerable. Currently, constructive talks are being held by experts from Europe’s leading human rights body, a group of Council of Europe, aiming to keep the treaty in place to protect women’s rights in Poland.

The group argues the Istanbul Convention does not seek “to be traditional or modern.” Instead, the group states the treaty looks to protect women’s rights in Poland.

The European Commission is also urging Poland not to leave the Istanbul Convention. The commission is concerned with Poland’s “step backward in time,” as Dutch MEP Samira Rafaela remarks. Helena Dalli, the equality commissioner of the EU, deems the convention “is the gold standard in terms of policy” in relation to women’s rights in Poland and globally. By mid-2021, Dalli petitions to make violence against women a “eurocrime,” in which the EU would instate minimum penalties for member states.

While Poland’s government has not yet made the decision to abandon the accord, the consideration still remains. Poland’s government members, the EU and humanitarian organizations must continue to fight for women’s rights in Poland. By protecting women and girls from violence, the country can take one step closer in gender equality, security and justice.

– Danielle Lindenbaum
Photo: Flickr

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7 facts About Poland’s Rising Homeless Population

Poland’s Rising Homeless Population
When one first looks at the statistics of Poland’s homeless population and rates, it does not appear as bad as other Eastern European countries. Unfortunately, it is quite hazardous to be homeless in Poland. With deadly cold weather during the winter and spring, along with few programs to help solve this problem, many who live or come to this country make it a point to avoid living on the streets. Here are seven facts about Poland’s rising homeless population.

7 Facts About Poland’s Rising Homeless Population

  1. Homeless Statistics: Many of the homelessness statistics appear outdated and inconclusively gathered. The Polish government had announced that there were around 33,408 homeless people within the country. Many, however, believe that these statistics have grossly underexaggerated this number and that the actual number is much higher.
  2. Homelessness Duration: One of the more damaging statistics to the homeless situation is that not only is the number of homeless growing in Poland, but people are staying homeless for longer durations. In 2017, records determined that around 25 percent of the homeless population were staying homeless for over 10 years with no sign of their situation improving. More people within the country are finding themselves homeless for longer durations, in spite of emergency care and other NGO programs.
  3. People Who Are Homeless: The homeless population does not comprise of just Polish citizens. It also includes asylum seekers and refugees, with most hailing from Chechnya. Many of these Chechen refugees and asylum seekers are seeking a safe haven from persecution within their homelands, and have actually gotten along well with other homeless in Poland.
  4. Rising House Prices: A large reason for the rising homeless rates is the rising housing prices, not just in Poland, but within Europe in general. Large cities within Poland such as Warsaw, Krakow and Gdansk have seen a 7.11 percent increase in prices. This is mostly due to low supply, high demand and a decline in low-cost housing among young adults. This may be good for homeowners and real estate investors, but it is to the detriment of those who cannot afford the rising housing prices. Out of the seven facts about Poland’s rising homeless population, this might be one of the most impactful.
  5. Housing Program: A housing program that allows for subsidies to housing within cities could give the homeless a chance to live in a training flat that the Camillian Mission for Social Assistance runs. Unfortunately, this program does not cover medical costs which can lead to a person’s inability to work, and in turn, make them unable to pay what they need to stay in the aforementioned flats. This program has not released a success rate, but some believe that it is lowering every year.
  6. Health Care: Another crippling factor for the homeless population is other faulty social programs that cannot properly support the population. Accessing health services for the homeless is difficult mainly because of bureaucratic requirements that homeless people cannot meet more often than not because of their situations. In 2018, however, the government put a new law into place that allowed it to cancel its requirements for health care so that Polish citizens could receive free health care that the state budget paid for.
  7. NGO and Community Programs: After analyzing the situation, the E.U. has concluded that Poland’s situation is similar to the Portuguese. The E.U.’s analytics since 2018 have deduced that although Poland had put programs in place to try and deal with the issue of homelessness, around 90 percent of services that people receive come via NGOs and other community groups that receive financing from local authorities. The NGOs, however, do not help fix the problem of reintegrating the homeless into a liveable situation, as they are more equipped for emergency situations.

As these seven facts about Poland’s rising homeless population shows, the Polish government is trying to help those who find themselves down on their luck, but the problem has festered due to inefficient programs. Though these programs clearly aim to help people in dire situations, they do little to solve the overall problem of keeping people off of the streets. The country will clearly appreciate help from the E.U., but the way Poland uses the money will determine people’s fates.

– Collin Williams
Photo: Flickr

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Hunger in Poland an Ongoing Post-Soviet Battle

Hunger in Poland

Every day in Poland, almost 120,000 children go to school hungry. More than half of these children rely almost entirely on meals supplied by their school or another type of government-funded meal program. Hunger in Poland is one of the most pressing issues facing the nation, and despite the alarmingly high number of hungry Polish children, the Polish government’s plan to address this crisis is to spend 550 million zlotych (roughly $153 million) per year on food programs. When you do the math, this equates to less than $70 per child per year.

Poland ranks third in the European Union on the list of the most children living in poverty, behind only Romania and Belarus. Poverty, hunger and limited access to education all go hand in hand, and today the children of Poland are facing a crisis of epic proportions.

The foundations of hunger in Poland can be traced back to the nation shifting from a planned to a market economy in 1989. This created a sort of vacuum in terms of economic control, and it allowed a wealthy minority to capitalize on the shift while the poor grew poorer. The economic shift marked the beginning of a steady increase in economic inequality in Poland. Ensuing conditions in the years since 1989 led to spiking levels of unemployment, emigration and labor strikes.

Poland is a Second World, the former socialist state still reeling from economic turmoil created decades before. In 2017, the repercussions of the radical shift in the Polish economic system can be seen in the faces of hungry children. But given the necessary assistance, Poland can rebound and develop into a balanced, self-sustaining economic power in Eastern Europe.

There are a number of charities of a variety of sizes and origins currently working in Poland. They range from the Red Cross, which provides aid around the world, to the local Emaus Lubin charity, based in Lubin, Poland, which helps hungry Poles by supporting food systems and social welfare programs.

The humanitarian crisis in Poland needs to be combated with the full efforts of the international aid community. The children of Poland who wake up and go to school without breakfast are depending on our help, and today is the day to implement the change to stop this cycle of poverty and hunger in Poland.

– Ty Troped

Photo: Flickr

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Common Diseases in Poland

Common Diseases in PolandThe World Health Organization (WHO) reports noncommunicable diseases are one of the major health and development challenges of the 21st century. Low and middle-income countries suffer the most from these diseases, but even high-income countries such as Poland are affected. According to the Institution for Health Metrics and Evaluation, ischemic heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease and lung cancer are some of the most common diseases in Poland.

Ischemic Heart Disease
The American Heart Association identifies ischemic heart disease as a condition in which heart complications develop due to the narrowing of heart arteries. As a result, heart attacks, strokes and other life-threatening problems can occur. Cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death worldwide. Over three-quarters of those deaths take place in low and middle-income countries. In 2015 alone, approximately half of the deaths in Poland resulted from heart-related diseases.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) states that the reasoning behind this large statistic could be caused by Poland’s lack of partaking in risk-reducing behavior. The adult smoking rate in Poland is 23.8 percent. This is higher than the OECD average of 20.9 percent. The reported prevalence of high blood pressure is also high at 37.2 percent; this is 11 percent over the OECD average.

Fortunately, 2013 marked the year 193 UN member states joined the WHO to reduce preventable noncommunicable diseases. Targets include a 25 percent decrease in the global occurrence of high blood pressure and the prevention of heart-related complications. Each country’s progress is set to be assessed in 2018.

Alzheimer’s Disease
Alzheimer’s is a manifestation of dementia that causes problems with memory, thinking and behavior. Symptoms usually develop slowly and get worse over time. The 2016 World Alzheimer Report claims that approximately 47 million people globally are living with dementia. As subsequent populations continue to live longer, this number is expected to rise.

Regrettably, people living with Alzheimer’s have poor access to adequate healthcare. Even in high-income countries, such as Poland, a mere 50 percent of people living with dementia receive a diagnosis. In low and middle-income countries, these numbers are worse – less than 10 percent of cases are properly identified.

Poland, specifically, has seen an increased rate of Alzheimer’s over the past decade. The Institution for Health Metrics and Evaluation marks a rise of almost 38 percent. Luckily, the WHO and the OECD have noticed the issues associated with dementia and have decided to take action. Policies introduced include better care, early diagnosis, implementing innovation in science and technology and having open access to data.

Lung Cancer
The uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells in one or both lungs is the definition of lung cancer. These irregular cells fail to make healthy lung tissue and can interfere with the function of the lung. Symptoms include coughing, chest pain, shortness of breath and coughing up blood. The WHO states that cancer is the second leading cause of death globally, with lung cancer being the most common type of cancer in the world.

North America and Europe have the most cases of lung cancer, with Poland being in the top 20 countries. Smoking is connected to 85 percent of all lung cancers. Men dominate this percentage, landing Poland another spot in the top seven countries. The OECD says the adult smoking rate in Poland is about 40 percent for men, which is about 16 percent higher than the OECD average. As a consequence, the rate of lung cancer – specifically in men – is exceptionally high, keeping Poland as one of the most-affected countries. The country has experienced a 2 percent rise over the last decade.

In response to these numbers, the WHO’s Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases aims to reduce the overall mortality rate from cancer by 25 percent. Objectives include prevention, control, high-quality research and evaluation. The decrease in cancer cases is set to be achieved by 2025.

Recognizing common diseases in Poland is critical to improving the well-being of its citizens. All of these noncommunicable diseases share increased prevalence, inadequate health care or preventable behavior. The WHO Global NCD Action Plan will use this information to create and monitor progress. Once this is completed, we will hopefully see a decrease in these diseases.

– Emilee Wessel

Photo: Google

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Seven Facts About Human Rights in Poland

Human Rights in PolandPoland has been a liberal democracy ever since it transitioned from communism in 1989. It is a nation that enjoys free and fair elections and civil liberties protections; however, there is a strong partisan divide in Poland. The Law and Justice Party has become skeptical of the efficacy of liberal democracy; it has enacted a number of authoritarian reforms, enhancing the power of the party and undermining checks and balances enshrined in the Polish constitution. Here are seven facts about human rights in Poland:

  1. Speech is free in Poland, but there are some limitations. A person with a public platform can be fined and even jailed for promoting anti-government activity, amorality and disrespect for religion. However, these restrictions are rarely enforced.
  2. Freedom of the press is a constitutional human right in Poland, but recent laws enacted by Poland’s governing party have limited that freedom. Starting in 2017, journalists must be pre-approved in order to interview legislators in the halls of Parliament. The Law and Justice Party has also made moves to have more influence on public media. The party amended Polish law so that the treasurer has the power to choose the heads of public media, rather than an independent board. Polish public media officials were quickly replaced with Law and Justice party officials after the amendment was passed.
  3. Roma, LGBT and Muslim communities experience frequent discrimination in Poland. In 2016, violent hate crimes rose by 40 percent and most of these attacks targeted Muslims. Despite this, Poland has shut down its Council for the Prevention of Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Related Intolerance.
  4. Women have equal rights in Poland, but domestic violence and sex trafficking are still significant issues. The Polish government recently defunded the Women’s Rights Center, which had played a major role in aiding female victims of domestic violence. Polish officials have claimed that they shut down the institution because it did nothing to help the male victims of domestic violence.
  5. Poland has been going through a constitutional crisis, as the Law and Justice Party has taken steps that increase the power of the party and reduce the power of the Constitutional Tribunal – the nation’s highest court. The crisis began when the Law and Justice Party refused to seat five judges appointed to the court by the previous ruling party, and instead nominated their own. The tribunal ruled this act unconstitutional, but the government refused to release the ruling, making it technically non-binding. The Polish government has passed several laws designed to make the tribunal run less efficiently, and has appointed party ally Julia Przyłębska to be president of the tribunal. These actions have raised concerns among the EU and the U.S. that the Polish government is eroding democratic checks and balances.
  6. In 2016, Poland passed a counter-terrorism law that gives the government far-reaching surveillance powers. The law allows for the government to wiretap and monitor the communications of people the government fears might be involved in terrorism-related activities. The government has the power to continue these activities for three months without oversight, as well as use illegally obtained evidence in court and detain suspects for up to two weeks.
  7. Polish prisons fail to meet the standards set by other European countries. The minimum legal size of a jail cell in Poland is 32 square feet, which falls below the internationally recognized standard. Many prisons are in need of renovations and lack adequate healthcare and accommodations for prisoners with disabilities.

Though the Polish ruling party is encroaching on the nation’s civil liberties, there are still actions that can be taken to protect human rights in Poland. Poland still has free and fair elections, and if that remains unchanged, the Polish people have the power to democratically reject these illiberal reforms by voting in candidates that promise to restore power to the Constitutional Tribunal. The EU also has the power to sanction Poland if it goes too far – something it threatened to do last month in the face of efforts to stack the Constitutional Tribunal with even more party allies. Both of these situations should bring hope to the people of Poland, as it makes the improvement of their human rights a very possible outcome of the future.

– Carson Hughes

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Conflicting Reports about the True Water Quality in Poland


The quality of water in Europe is often taken for granted by travelers, and there are some countries where it is best to stay on the safe side and use bottled water. Poland is one of many European countries with conflicting reports about tap water quality. Some sites such as TripAdvisor have multiple people vouching for the safety of the tap water, with some even saying that it tastes better than the water in many other European countries such as France and the U.K. Other travel sites have warnings about Polish tap water, claiming that it is unhealthy to drink and tastes horrible. For this reason, it can be difficult for travelers to understand the true water quality in Poland.

According to Poland’s Department of Economics and Management, about 60 percent of Poles are wary of the water quality before boiling it. They fear general pollution, and many are concerned that the smell and taste of the water, which is cited from mildly unsettling to disgusting, could be an indication of unhealthy drinking water. However, despite so many doubts from the locals, the government notes that more than 90 percent of the water in all areas meets the necessary health standards and is safe to drink, and any water that does fall below the safety line only barely fails to meet proper requirements. For the areas where the water quality is not up to the proper levels, water filters can easily improve the quality, both in terms of safety and taste.

Though the government assures that the water quality in Poland is safe to drink, many Poles and tourists use bottled water, especially mineral water, instead of tap water. Poland has a large bottled water industry, and some locals believe that this is one of the reasons that tap water is so distrusted. Since there is a great deal of advertising for natural mineral bottled water, it is easy to imagine why people would avoid the soft tap water in favor of the crisper bottled water.

However, in Poland and many other countries, more than 25 percent of bottled water is just treated tap water. Bottled water is often nothing more than expensive tap water run through a filter, something that can be done in any home for a much smaller cost than buying bottled water. Bottled water is also an environmental burden. The bottles are usually used once then thrown away.

Since the tap water is safe to drink, especially with a filter, it makes little sense to continue to rely on bottled water, especially when considering the economic and environmental costs of bottled water. Despite mixed reports, there is good water quality in Poland, so it is safe to go ahead and drink up.

– Rachael Lind

Photo: Flickr

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Malnutrition and Hunger in Poland

Hunger Within Poland
One of the main challenges Poland faces today is malnutrition. Hunger in Poland is an issue every third child between the age of 7 and 15 suffers from, according to research done by Poland Human Resources.

In Warsaw, over 23,000 children suffer from malnutrition.

When diet fails to supply the body with the essential nutrients it requires, malnutrition results. This lack of nutrition exists predominantly in developing nations, but malnutrition is also an issue in developed nations. Protein-energy malnutrition, for instance, generally occurs in underweight children. In Poland, this type of malnutrition is seen in 1 percent of men, more than 3 percent of women and in 13 percent of children.

Poverty is the main cause of malnutrition and hunger in Poland. Nearly 7 percent of the Polish population lives below the poverty line. As a result, many of the poor have unhealthy diets, causing deficiencies in vitamin D, folate, vitamin C, calcium and iodine. Infants, teenaged girls and women are particularly vulnerable. Iron deficiency is also a problem in Poland, seen in about one-quarter of children and pregnant women.

The Polish Central Statistical Office recently released a report which reveals deteriorating living conditions for the working class. The report shows that more than half a million children suffer from hunger in Poland, as well as severe malnutrition. Other highlights from the report:

  • In 2009, 2.2 million Polish people lived in conditions of extreme poverty.
  • Over 170,000 Polish children suffer from malnutrition, which has slowed their growth and development.
  • More than 260,000 children start their days without breakfast. Additionally, more than 70,000 children only eat what they receive at school because they lack food at home.
  • One in five Polish children is malnourished.

These statistics are particularly relevant in small villages, where there are high rates of unemployment and social helplessness. Most of the children suffering from hunger and malnutrition have families that are at the edge of poverty.

The Polish government has focused on improving economic conditions for its people in recent years. It must do more to eliminate hunger and malnutrition for its children.

– Yana Emets

Photo: Flickr

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What You Don’t Know: 10 Facts About Poland’s Refugee Efforts


The refugee crisis is one of the biggest impacting the world, Europe in particular. With a prominent history of accepting refugees after the collapse of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.), Poland today is playing a surprisingly limited role. Here are 10 facts about Poland’s refugee efforts.

  1. Poland has been turning away refugees. Asylum seekers from Chechnya, an increasingly repressive part of Russia, have been being denied entry into Poland, even though the Terespol border became an entry point for Chechens, Tajiks and other citizens of former Soviet Republics when the U.S.S.R. dissolved.
  2. Terespol border guards rejected 85,000 attempts to cross the border from Belarus in 2016. Only 25,000 were turned away in 2015, illustrating a major change in the Polish perspective of refugees.
  3. Lack of refugee support reflects a lack of Polish influence in the EU. Poland’s anti-liberal shift has resulted in Poland losing a great deal of negotiating power with other European powers.
  4. “There is no mechanism that would ensure safety,” explained Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who leads Poland’s ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party. The PiS party takes a nationalist and right-wing stance. It is very vocal in opposing housing and feeding refugees from Syria and others in humanitarian crisis.
  5. The EU has suggested that countries should have a quota of refugees, or pay €250,000 ($280,188) for each asylum-seeker they turn away. The money would go to countries that have a disproportionately high number of refugees, such as Greece, Germany and Italy.
  6. Poland’s stagnation isn’t good for its politics. Such stubbornness could lead to less power and credibility with other European nations while also questioning the relationship it has with Europe on the one hand, and on the other hand, Russia.
  7. Human rights groups have been covering and warning the EU about Polish actions, but the EU has failed to reprimand or sanction Poland. An EU executive was even quoted as “closely following the situation” regarding Poland’s refugee efforts, but no follow-up has been taken.
  8. Chechens trying to go to Poland are in great danger. Trying to cross the border, Chechens risk getting sent to detention centers in Belarus.
  9. The most obvious solution is for Poland to respect the EU’s concept of “effective solidarity.” However, with the right-leaning government and anti-liberal views running through Poland, this seems the most unrealistic solution.
  10. Poland may be breaking the law. Chechens denied refugee status are sent back to Belarus and fear deportation to Russia. According to Polish law, however, the Office for Foreigners, not the Border Guard, is to evaluate applications for refugee status. Some refugees have applied more than 70 times and been denied each time.

Poland’s refugee efforts, or lack thereof, have led many nations to questions the future of Poland’s power and influence in the EU. Additionally, Poland’s relations with Russia will remain in question until Poland becomes active in the refugee crisis.

– Mary Waller

Photo: Flickr