Slajd 1

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WYE City Group Meeting on Rural Development and
Agricultural Household Income Rome, 11-12 June
2009
Poverty and social exclusion in the Polish rural
areas. Attempted diagnosis and measurement
related dilemmas.
Anna Szukielojc-Bienkunska, CSO
Poland a.bienkunska_at_stat.gov.pl Monika Borawska,
SO Olsztyn, Poland m.borawska_at_stat.gov.pl
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P O W E R T Y A N D S O C I A L E X C L U S
I O N I N T H E P O L I S H R U R A L A
R E A S

• Delimitations of rural areas in Poland
• Polish methodology based on TERYT (National
  Official Register of Territorial
  Division of the Country)

TERYT considers rural areas as the
territories outside the city administrative
boundaries rural gminas (communes) rural
areas of the urban/rural gminas.
The number of people living in rural areas has
increased slightly since the year 2000
and amount to about 39 in total population
(14,8 millions). Especially large the
population growth of rural areas is particularly
large in areas around big cities and
areas of attractive scenic beauty.
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P O W E R T Y A N D S O C I A L E X C L U S
I O N I N T H E P O L I S H R U R A L A
R E A S

• Poverty and social exclusion according to CSOs
  surveys
• Current state
• consistent measurement of poverty based on HBS
  and since 2005 also on EU-SILC every few years
  multidimensional analysis of poverty,
• analysis of various dimensions of social
  exclusion (such as labour, consumption,
  education, social relations).
• Plans for the near future
• Comprehensive analyses of multidimensional
  poverty and social exclusion based on social
  cohesion surveys.

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P O W E R T Y A N D S O C I A L E X C L U S
I O N I N T H E P O L I S H R U R A L A
R E A S

• What indicator of wellbeing has been adopted for
  the measurement of objective poverty in Poland?
• Taking into account the quality of data, in the
  analyses based on HBS results the expenditure
  level, including natural consumption, was adopted
  as the synthetic indicator of the economic
  situation. This choice seems particularly
  justified for the analyses of farmers households
  (among others because of the seasonal nature of
  their incomes).
• Natural consumption share in the total
  expenditure (HBS 2008) in farmers households
  11.
• Natural consumption share in disposable income
  (HBS 2008) in farmers households 8 (non
  monetary income 10).
• Share of income from farming in disposable
  income in farmers households 70.
• General remark wherever the data on consumption
  and households income are reliable, the poverty
  indicators obtained on this basis are
  approximately the same. However, it should be
  noted whether the analysis covers monetary income
  only or includes natural consumption. This is
  particularly important for the countries with a
  significant percentage of the population living
  on farming.

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P O W E R T Y A N D S O C I A L E X C L U S
I O N I N T H E P O L I S H R U R A L A
R E A S

• At-risk-of-economic-poverty rates by class of
  locality
• Source CSO data estimated based on HBS.

• 50 of mean monthly expenditure of households.
• Amount providing the legal eligibility for the
  social assistance benefit in cash.
• Estimated by the Institute of Labour and Social
  Studies. The subsistence minimum accounts for
  those needs only the satisfaction of which may
  not be postponed and if consumption below this
  level leads to biological destruction.

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P O W E R T Y A N D S O C I A L E X C L U S
I O N I N T H E P O L I S H R U R A L A
R E A S

• At-risk-of-economic-poverty in rural areas
• In rural areas at-risk-of-poverty rate is over
  twice, and in the case of extreme poverty,
  almost three times as high as in urban areas.
• At-risk-of-poverty rates according to EU
  criteria (on the basis of EU-SILC 2007).
• Eurostat does not estimate this indicator in
  the breakdown by urban/rural area.
• CSOs estimates for Poland by rural/urban area
• urban areas in total 12,
• rural areas 25.

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P O W E R T Y A N D S O C I A L E X C L U S
I O N I N T H E P O L I S H R U R A L A
R E A S

• Social differentiation of poverty range in rural
  areas, illustrated by extreme poverty (people
  living in households with the expenditure level
  below the subsistence minimum)
• In 2008 there were about 9 of the population
  (about 1.3 million people) below the poverty line
  adopted at the subsistence minimum level. This
  was over 63 of the total population at the risk
  of extreme poverty (2.1 million people).
• The highest rates of the poor in rural areas was
  noted among the families without their own farms,
  whose main source of maintenance was provided by
  social benefits other than retirement pay or
  pension (about 32) and the pensioners
  households (15).
• The at-risk-of-extreme-poverty rate in rural
  areas among children and the young (0-19 years
  old) amounted to about 12 (with the poverty rate
  being over twice as high as the average). This
  age group made up almost 40 (38) of those
  affected by extreme poverty in rural areas. The
  poverty rate for the age group 65 years and over
  was less than 7. These people made up about 9
  of the poor population in rural areas.

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P O W E R T Y A N D S O C I A L E X C L U S
I O N I N T H E P O L I S H R U R A L A
R E A S

• Social exclusion
• There is no doubt that social exclusion is a
  category more helpful in explaining social
  problems of nowadays, as it is not limited to the
  traditional concept of material poverty, but
  effects social policy adapting it to the real
  needs.
• The social exclusion dimensions suggested in
  both Polish and foreign literature for
  monitoring
• labour,
• consumption,
• social security,
• education,
• dwelling and environment,
• health,
• participation in culture,
• social relatiions, participation in social and
  political life (social capital dimension),
• public institutions and their accessibility.

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P O W E R T Y A N D S O C I A L E X C L U S
I O N I N T H E P O L I S H R U R A L A
R E A S

• Selected indicators of social exclusion for rural
  areas in Poland
• Labour market (Labour Force Survey 2008, annual
  averages)
• activity rate 54,5
• employment rate 50,7
• unemployment rate 7,0.
• Structure of households by economic activity of
  the households members
• with at least one employed person (without
  unemployment person) 64,9
• with at least one unemployment person 7,9
• of which without employed persons 2,0. 

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P O W E R T Y A N D S O C I A L E X C L U S
I O N I N T H E P O L I S H R U R A L A
R E A S

• Accessibility of services (EU-SILC 2007)
• Evaluation of the accessibility of services
• ( of households declaring great difficulties)
•   basic services
• retail trade (shops) 5
• banking 10
• public transport 10
• health care (GP, out-patient clinic) 8.

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P O W E R T Y A N D S O C I A L E X C L U S
I O N I N T H E P O L I S H R U R A L A
R E A S

• Information society (2008)
• ( of househols)
• no computer at home 47,
• no access to the Internet at home 64.

• Participation in social and cultural life
  (EU-SILC 2006)
• (refers to people at the age of 16 and over)
•  
• of people who have not been to the cinema
  during the last 12 months 73,
• of people not participating in any political
  organization, trade union 97,5,
• of people not participating in any religious
  groups or associations (including those not
  attending holy mass) 22,7.

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P O W E R T Y A N D S O C I A L E X C L U S
I O N I N T H E P O L I S H R U R A L A
R E A S

• Conclusion
• So far it has been possible to analyze (to a
  different extent) various aspects of social
  exclusion, sometimes in relation to the financial
  condition. In order to get a comprehensive
  diagnosis of this phenomenon it seems justified
  to carry out regular analyses taking into
  account possibly all the dimensions of social
  exclusion. Therefore, CSO has developed a
  concept of the multidimensional survey on social
  cohesion.
• The aim of the social cohesion survey is to
  collect the information which would allow for
  the comprehensive evaluation of the quality of
  life of Poles both in the material and
  non-material aspects but first of all, for the
  full evaluation of poverty and social exclusion,
  including the analysis of the relationship
  between the two phenomena.

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P O W E R T Y A N D S O C I A L E X C L U S
I O N I N T H E P O L I S H R U R A L A
R E A S

• Thank you for your attention!