Rapid decline in Poland’s population
17:07
Poland’s population has dropped by nearly 200,000 people over the past 12 months, CSO data show. With the expiration of the third wave of the coronavirus in May and June, the demographic situation has clearly improved, but the number of births remains lower and deaths higher than before the pandemic.
The number of births fell faster than the demographic trends recorded over the years (including a shrinking group of women of childbearing age and cultural changes) would suggest. The reason seems clear: fears of the health and economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic made Poles less likely to have children. The question is whether this trend will be confirmed by data published in the following months, which will reflect decisions made in Q4 2020, the peak of the second wave of infections. If so, the number of births in July, August, and September could be even lower.
Less than 344,000 babies were born in Poland between July 2020 and June 2021, according to CSO estimates. Such a low number of births within 12 months has not been recorded on the Vistula since at least the 1950s, since the Central Statistical Office’s data are available.
Meanwhile, the number of deaths was the highest - it reached almost 540 thousand and was 130 thousand higher than a year before. Fortunately, as the third wave of the pandemic subsided the situation began to improve - while in April 55 thousand people died, in May 41 thousand, and in June less than 36 thousand. The number of deaths in the last month was only 3 percent higher than last year – in April it was over 60 percent.
