Poland

Abstract

It is estimated that Poland's population is ageing rapidly. It is expected that the proportion of working-age people will decline substantially in the coming decades, while the share of people aged 65+ and of those in advanced old age (80+) will increase significantly. Increasingly, older Poles live in single-person households, a situation associated with loneliness, intensifying the risk of social exclusion, particularly for older people with disabilities and for women. Unlike the situation in many countries where governments have raised the retirement age, the retirement age has been decreased in 2017 in Poland, reversing previous plans to increase retirement age. There remains a gender difference in retirement age where men retire at 65 and women at age 60. This is likely to increase old-age poverty, particularly among women. Institutional long-term care for older people falls significantly short of needs. This chapter shows the complexity of the Polish context and demonstrates the serious problems facing older people, who are vulnerable under current policies.