Few had heard of a story of an economically backward, poor, and peripheral country that beat the odds and joined the ranks of high-income economies over the course of just one generation. A country which became Europe’s and the world’s growth champion, adding its name to the short list of global success stories. This country is Poland!
Poland’s economic success over the last three decades is nothing short of remarkable! If you want to find out more about the economic miracle of Poland, check out the book “Europe’s Growth Champion: Insights from the Economic Rise of Poland” by Prof. Marcin Piątkowski, Lead Economist at The World Bank and Professor of Economics at Kozminski University.
(…) “After the Second World War during the real socialism era, Poland was one of the poorest countries in Europe, with Poles earning as much as one-tenth of the income of an average German. Poles earned less than an average citizen of Gabon, Ukraine or Suriname. Polish incomes were also lower than everywhere else among communist CEE countries. The country was bankrupt, burdened by outdated, inefficient and environmentally destructive industry and subsistence agriculture, and buffeted by hyperinflation. There were shortages of even the most basic consumer products. (…) Today, Poland is Europe’s growth champion. Adjusting for differences in purchasing power, Poland’s gross domestic product (GDP) per capita more than tripled, from around $12,800 in 1990 to around $44,000 in 2023, more than any other country in Europe. Poland has also grown faster than all comparable countries in the world with a similar level of income. Poland has beaten even the Asian tigers such as Singapore, Taiwan (Province of China), or South Korea. It has grown without interruption during 1992-2019, until the onset of COVID-19, registering Europe’s longest growth spurt ever and one of the longest economic expansions in the world’s history. It was the only economy in the European Union (EU) to avoid recession during the 2008-2009 global crisis and one of the fastest growing EU economies after the 2020 COVID recession. The remarkable growth of Poland since 1989 has led to the income of an average Pole reaching almost 80% of the EU average in 2024. (…) In the Eurostat’s 2023 survey on the overall satisfaction, Poland was among the top 5 happiest countries in the European Union. The World Happiness Report 2025 has shown that for the first time in history Poles were happier than, for instance, the Singaporeans, the Spanish and the French, and just behind the Americans. Poles had never had it so good before. Undoubtedly, Poland has entered its true Golden Age”. (…)
Follow Prof. Marcin Piątkowski on LinkedIn and meet him at the Polish Business Hub during the the World Economic Forum’s 56th Annual Meeting (19-23 January 2026) in Davos, Switzerland.
