Assessment and recommendations

Rural regions are important for Poland: they host about 35% of the national population, contribute around a quarter of the national gross domestic product (GDP), and produce more than half of the total gross value added (GVA) in the agriculture, forestry and fisheries industries. In a context of solid national growth, rural Poland has seen impressive development, with GDP per capita in rural regions increasing by 61% between 2000 and 2014. When compared to OECD rural regions, GDP per capita growth in Polish rural regions has been amongst the highest, driven partly by a catching-up process. Despite this remarkable growth performance, the majority of rural regions have not converged to national standards in GDP per capita. Notwithstanding this fact, a small group of rural regions registers relatively high incomes and are growing strongly. These regions are located in the regions (voivodeships) of Wielkopolskie, Mazowieckie and Lódzkie and clearly benefit from proximity to urban agglomerations.