As you know we are struggling with emigration.
According to the statistics prepared by the Central Statistical Office there
were 2,19 million Poles living abroad at the end of 2013. Most of emigrants
decided to stay at the Continent and moved to western countries. Only 300
thousand of them left Europe. The most popular countries were the United
Kingdom and Germany which were populated by more than a half of all Polish
emigrants. When it comes to non-European countries most of us chose United
States as a new home.
 |
| Number
of Polish emigrants |
72% of respondents said that they had decided to leave
Poland because of weak job prospects. The second reason was family
affairs(15%).
When we take a look at the most depopulated regions in
Poland due to emigration we can see that Opolskie lost 10% of its population.
According to a report prepared by Work Service we are
expecting to have a big wave of immigration this year. If the report says the
truth we will have 1,275 million new Polish emigrants by the end of 2015. It
mainly pertains to young people. 75% of them will be under 35 and 40% between 18
and 24. The most common destinations are the same, both Germany and the United
Kingdom.
I also want to leave this country. My destination is
New Zealand. It’s not a very popular country for Polish citizens because only
4000 Poles live there. It’s 17 thousand kilometres away from Poland, so it
should not be a surprise. I have two reasons why I want to emigrate. First is
obvious – I can earn more money. The second is weather. Auckland has really
moderate climate. Around 15 degrees during winter and 24 in summer.
You
can watch a short video about Polish emigration here :
Sources:
Images:
Comments
However, I don't think I will emigrate. I wouldn't be able to leave all my loved ones, and I don't think I could convince them to come with me :) If I could somehow magically move myself, my boyfriend, the closest family and friends to any location on the planet, I would gladly settle in Australia, New Zealand or USA. I'm not fond of polish climate and our society. I think I would belong more to the western culture (although I know Australia and New Zealand are far on the east).
As I mentioned I have family in different countries and when I compare the life of my grandparents here and the life of my grandparents in Canada is truly 100% better there. I watched the video you put in your article and I don't agree that people migrate only because of money and are always so attached to the place they grown up at. I'm personally attached to my family and friends and I think that Warsaw could be a nostalgic place for me. But I've been and even lived for a couple of months in different places and I would be totally fine living somewhere else. Nowadays flights are pretty cheap and we've got phones and skype so we can communicate easily.
I think moving to New Zealand is a great idea! It's such a beautiful country.
I can go abroad for a few days but not for all my life. I don’t think that I will emigrate someday. Even than I really love Poland. Ok, polish system is not perfect, it is perhaps even totally bad system. For me money aren’t the most important thing. I think in Poland we can to earn enough money to live and function.
In my opinion emigration is the easiest solution-escap.
Maybe the government should focus on helping people in OUR country rather that outside of it?
One thing is moving out just to earn some money and come back. The reason for that is only one - chance to earn more in wealthier country and go to cheaper country to spend the money.
The second thing is moving with the whole family to live in a different country. Taking the chance and consciously choosing what is better for us (in which place we feel more compatible with the society), for our children (education) and for the whole family (living conditions, health service). The difference between Dutch and Polish education systems or the situations where you get heavily sick in Poland and the whole family has to sell houses and ask for more donations while in Germany you just get the treatment right away(from public health service)... it just speaks for itself.
Forcing people to live in a country only because they were born there is crazy.
Borders changed in the history and they can change in the future. Demoghaphics of a country change. Everything changes and we cannot assume that one place is best for all. Fortunately in this point of history we are able to choose where we live :)
If someone want's to stay in his/her homeland, good. But if someone want's to leave and take the challenge of searching for a better place, I fully support that approach. Sometimes it turns out that people move more times... 10 years in Australia and after that 15 years in Sweden? Why not! Change of scenery, job, culture, maybe learning a new language and even more stories to tell to your grandchildren.
I lived in Mazury, then 3 years in Tricity and now 5 years in Warsaw. All places where I lived are nostalgic for me, I have friends, family there and all local favourite places that bring back memories, but I didn't find 'my place to live' yet.
I have family in different countries too and I can compare how my parent's generation live here and in Australia...
Well... it's cruel sometimes... :D
What about Ukrainians in Poland...I am not really happy about it, actually sometimes I am ashamed of some of them. Because not everyone understands, that he is not in Ukraine and he cannot behave like an idiot...that can create not very good stereotypes about us. But no matter what, there are a lot of intelligent, interesting and good people among us :)
If I were going to emigrate in near future I would probably choose Norway or Switzerland.
You seem to be a normal one =]
Back to the topic, my attitude to emigration is a bit ambivalent. Of course, on one hand it is a big problem when many of those who leave Poland are well educated and young, in this field of emigration something should be done.
I think in next few years immigration would be a bigger problem.
Despite low temperatures in Norway and some type of emigrants who live there it’s great country to live.
Exactly. And this is really sad.
New Zealand sounds like a great destination!
New Zealand is a beautiful country with a climate that definitely suits me. It is a place where I could live if I would go for emigration.
There is a thing that I often wonder about: we have a lot of emirants in Poland and it intrigues me what made them choose this country. Two years ago I met a nice polish lady who was working in a hotel's kitchen in Norway. She told me that the money that she has been earning in Norway allowed her to buy herself a nice house and support her two grown up children back in Poland. It is unbelievable that a person can make so much money for just washing out plates in a kitchen.
It's disheartening to say the least when abroad, you are able to earn often 3 times more money for the same job with the same or even lesser qualifications.
The other thing is the atmosphere, practices and general state of mind in polish business.
Having experienced working with polish and foreign companies, I must admit that working with the foreign ones is often much more professional and enjoyable.
I would love to move to Canada, UK or as mentioned in the article New Zealand.
If I had a clear job opportunity I wouldn't hesitate a second.
But I have been to erasmus exchange and I am not that sure anymore if I would ever leave again for longer period of time. When you're abroad you are always the one who is foreign, and I guess even when you somehow know the language. Even when you know English, getting to other english-speaking country is not that easy to get understood, I heard that Australian english is crazy ;) But after sometime you will get it. But hmmm, living as a Pole in a foreign country,not knowing anyone, leaving all you collected in Poland during this 24 years - family, friends, places and everything doesn't seem to be that cool anymore. But it depends what kind of person you are - do you like changes, are you a person who misses things (how to say that better in english? :P ) .