"At 27, flush with the confidence that comes from being both right and young, I sparred with politicians and policymakers twice my age, usually men, who insisted that women like me would reproduce if only the state threw enough cash into the cradle. We were all, it turned out, fighting the wrong battle. In the decade since then, unemployment in Poland has sunk to one of the lowest in the EU."
"And yet, over the same time period, the population has shrunk by 1.5 million. A million new one-person households have materialised in the demographic ledger, quiet entries in a changing social contract. In 2024, Poland's fertility rate collapsed to 1.1 meaning it ranks among the world's least fertile countries, beside war-scarred Ukraine. This year, it is poised to fall further, to 1.05."
In 2015 Poland's fertility rate was 1.3 children per woman. Many couples wanted two children but settled for one because of precarious employment, inadequate childcare, and unaffordable housing. Over the decade unemployment fell to among the EU's lowest, incomes more than doubled, childcare expanded, and the government introduced large family cash transfers reaching almost 8% of the national budget via the 800 Plus programme. Despite these changes the population shrank by 1.5 million and one-person households rose by about one million. By 2024 the fertility rate collapsed to 1.1 and is projected to reach 1.05. The decline reflects not only fewer births but a breakdown in partner formation linked to intensifying gender conflicts.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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