8 Billion Lives
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Where you could be born / Europe / Eastern Europe

Born in Poland

About 1 in 416 people born in 2023 started life in Poland. A boy can expect to live 75 years and a girl 82, up from 56 and 61 in 1950. Most people live in cities, and 91% have basic drinking water.

1 in 416
odds of being born here
317,900 births · Ranked 71st of 230
75 / 82
years of life, boys / girls
Was 56 / 61 in 1950
$16,080
income per person a year
2021 dollars · Ranked 59th of 203 · extrapolated
60%
live in a city
The rest live in villages

Life and health

Life lasts about 20 years longer than in 1950. Child deaths fell from 134 in every 1,000 births to 3.7.

How long a life lasts

GirlsBoys

0255075100195019852023

Years a baby born that year could expect to live.

Children who die before age 5
050100150195019852023

In every 1,000 births.

Life expectancy at birth74.9 years for boys, 82.4 for girlsUN WPP 2024
Children who die before age 53.7 in every 1,000 birthsUN WPP 2024
Deaths a year412,000UN WPP 2024
Doctors per 1,000 people4.0World Bank WDI
Children immunized against measles92%World Bank WDI
New tuberculosis cases a year13 per 100,000 peopleWorld Bank WDI

Family

Women had 3.6 children on average in 1950. Now it is 1.3, below the 2.1 it takes to keep a population steady.

Children per woman
01234195019852023

Average over a lifetime.

Children per woman1.30UN WPP 2024
Average age of mothers at birth29.9 yearsUN WPP 2024

Money and work

If every 100 coins of income were shared out, the richest fifth would hold 37 and the poorest fifth 9.

Who gets the income
Share of all income by fifth of the population, 2023
9%Poorest fifth
14%Second
18%Middle
23%Fourth
37%Richest fifth
Income per personabout $16,080 a year (2021 dollars, adjusted for prices)World Bank PIP, scaled between survey years Extrapolated
Share of income going to the richest fifth / poorest fifth37% / 9% (2023)World Bank PIP
Unemployment2.7% of the workforce (2023)World Bank WDI
Price rises11.5% a year (2023)World Bank WDI
Growth in output per person0.6% (2023)World Bank WDI
Jobs in farming9% of jobsWorld Bank WDI
Self-employed19% of jobs (2025)World Bank WDI
Secondary school enrolment108% (can pass 100 when older students are counted)World Bank WDI

Daily life

The largest city is Warsaw, with 1.7 million people.

60%
live in cities
100%
have electricity at home
91%
have basic drinking water
Largest cities
People living there
Warsaw1.7 million
Kraków816,614
Wrocław672,545
Łódź639,890
Poznań536,151
Languages
Share of people who can use each
Polish96%
English33%
German19%
Russian18%
Silesian1%
Polish, German is official.

Cities and regions

Every state, province and large city with a page.

Largest regions

Mazovia4.8 million
Silesia3.5 million
Lower Silesia2.0 million
Lesser Poland1.5 million
Greater Poland1.5 million
Łódź Voivodeship1.4 million
Pomerania1.4 million
Kujawsko-Pomorskie1.0 million
West Pomerania891,324
Lublin857,200

Sourced: GeoNames Population of each state, province or region.

Large cities

Sourced: GeoNames Cities with a page: a million people or more.

All 16 regions
  • Mazovia4.8 million
  • Silesia3.5 million
  • Lower Silesia2.0 million
  • Lesser Poland1.5 million
  • Greater Poland1.5 million
  • Łódź Voivodeship1.4 million
  • Pomerania1.4 million
  • Kujawsko-Pomorskie1.0 million
  • West Pomerania891,324
  • Lublin857,200
  • Subcarpathia714,876
  • Warmia-Masuria667,671
  • Podlasie601,920
  • Świętokrzyskie465,473
  • Lubusz448,319
  • Opole Voivodeship398,187

People on the move

About 12% as many people born here live abroad as live here. The most common destinations are Germany, United Kingdom, United States.

Where people born here live abroad
By country of residence, 2024
Germany1,883,559
United Kingdom902,193
United States396,647
Residents born abroad4.5% (2024)World Bank WDI
People born here who live abroadequal to 11.9% of the people who live hereUN DESA migrant stock
Where they go mostGermany (1.9 million), United Kingdom (902,193), United States (396,647)UN DESA migrant stock
Money sent home from abroadabout $9.5 billion a year (2025)World Bank WDI

Safety nets

83% of older people receive a pension. Help for someone who loses a job reaches 31%.

83%
of older people receive a pension (2022)
31%
of unemployed people receive a benefit (2020)

Events in the data

The game draws real events from these records, so a life lived here can meet them.

Reported COVID-19 deaths, 2020 to 2024120,726Our World in Data, from WHO
Significant earthquakes recorded since 19507; the deadliest, in 2022, killed about 10 people (magnitude 2.8)NOAA NCEI

Now live it.

Born in Poland, to a family drawn from these numbers. Every life replays exactly from its seed.

Be born in Poland

Elsewhere in Europe

All countries

How to read the sources. Every figure is sourced to a named dataset, shown beside it. A figure marked "Extrapolated" is estimated by a model because no survey covers the year. UN figures are for 2023, the latest year of UN estimates; other figures are the latest year their dataset has. Rank 1 is the highest figure among 230 countries and territories. All sources and licences