Poland's economy tops $1 trillion as wages soar and emigrants return
National income passed $1 trillion last year, placing Poland among the world's 20 largest economies. Pay has climbed sharply, but housing and everyday costs have risen too, and some emigrants are coming home.
From shortages to a trillion-dollar economy
Poland's national income passed $1 trillion last year, placing the country among the world's 20 largest economies. Four decades ago the picture was very different. Marcin Bosacki, the Polish deputy foreign minister, recalls queuing after school in the 1980s for up to five hours to buy butter and meat, while martial law was in force. The Solidarity movement, which grew out of the shipyard workers in Gdańsk, helped drive the political changes that brought the communist system down.
A 1979 pilgrimage to Poland by Pope John Paul II also helped pave the way for the country's transition to democracy in 1990. Integration with western institutions followed, with NATO membership in 1999 and EU accession in 2004.
- Pope John Paul II makes pilgrimage to Poland
- Transition to democracy begins
- Poland joins NATO
- Poland joins the EU
- Brexit becomes fully operational; Polish departures from the UK run at about double arrivals each year
- First year more foreign citizens move from Germany to Poland than the reverse
- National income surpasses $1 trillion
Convergence with the West
Income per person rose from 40% of the EU average in the mid-1990s to 81% last year. Excluding oil-exporting states and financial hubs, incomes have converged with western levels faster than anywhere else. The International Monetary Fund projects that income per capita will soon overtake Japan and Spain.
- Mid-1990s
- 40 % of EU average
- 2025
- 81 % of EU average
Wages, prices and returning emigrants
Average monthly pay has more than tripled since 2004, reaching 8,904 zloty in 2025, about £1,723. In Warsaw, net monthly wages rose 120% since 2016, which puts the capital ahead of Rome and Lisbon.
The gains have come with higher living costs. A cappuccino has doubled in price, and a dinner for two in Warsaw can cost more than in Tokyo. Rising property prices make it harder for young people to buy a home, and the cost of living weighs most heavily on lower earners.
Emigration is also partly reversing. Polish departures from the United Kingdom have run at about double arrivals each year since 2021, and in 2024 Germany recorded more foreign citizens moving to Poland than moving the other way for the first time. Architects Jędrzej Kolesiński and Krzysztof Górnicki left London to return to Warsaw, where they worked on the Varso tower and now work on the new airport project.
Labour costs remain below those of the main western economies, but the advantage that once drew foreign firms is narrowing as pay rises. The next test is productivity, since innovation, automation and output per worker now matter more.
The Varso tower and the old palace
The Varso tower, completed four years ago, is the tallest building in the EU, and its 310-metre spire rises above the Stalinist-era Palace of Culture and Science. A few months ago a slackline walker crossed the 500-metre gap between the two buildings, which the managers called a symbolic walk from the past to the future. Cezary Błaszczyk, managing director of HB Reavis in Poland, which owns the tower, described the view over the palace in terms of Poland's progress.
We got over communism, and now we are a country with a strong economy
Opinion on the palace remains divided, with some seeing it as a relic of oppression and others as an icon on the skyline.