1. Social and Economic Aspect of Transition in Poland Herl’any, 14 X 2010 National and Regional Economics VIII prof. dr hab. Andrzej Tubielewicz dr inż. Marcin Forkiewicz Gdańsk University of Technology Faculty of Management and Economics

2. Social and Economic Aspect of Transition in Poland Socio-economic changes in Poland cannot be understood without any knowledge of what happened before. Economic-growth was achieves mainly by increasing of heavy industry; State companies were unprofitable, using obsolete technology, producing goods of insufficient quality and polluting the environment; Share of foreign trade in economics growth was low; Chronic lack of goods on the market, especially consumption goods, underdeveloped services sector.

3. Social and Economic Aspect of Transition in Poland Result of great structural and institutional changes in Poland in the first period of transition was characterised by: Recession; Unemployment; Rising prices; High inflation; Common social dissatisfaction; Very low average salary; Worsening of pensioners situation.

4. Social and Economic Aspect of Transition in Poland After 20 years of transition we may come to conclusion that 20 years of social and economic reforms in Poland, which have often been very painful for the society: Have brought results that are highly satisfactory; Create good perspectives for the further socio-economic development of the country.

5. Social and Economic Aspect of Transition in Poland Internationalise Polish economy: The export increase rate was 1.3 fold higher than increase in Gross Domestic Product (GDP); The export dynamics reached c. 1250%, and the import – 2000%; Poland’s share in world export increased from 0.4% do 1%, and in import from 0.3% to 1.1%; Poland’s share in world inflow of foreign investments increased from 0.01% to 1%.

6. Social and Economic Aspect of Transition in Poland

7. From the perspective of future economic growth of Poland the following problems must be solved: High unemployment rate; Low quality of infrastructure, specially transport infrastructure; Not satisfactory level of innovation and entrepreneurship; Low economics activity of Polish citizens. From the perspective of the future, the persisting demographic trends, such as low population growth and an increase in the number of post-working population, are very worrying.

8. Social and Economic Aspect of Transition in Poland Thank you!