Poles’ concerns: health in Mazowsze, climate in Śląsk, inflation in the rest of the country. The highest ratings for quality of life in Warsaw and Wielkopolska

Residents of most regions in Poland indicated an anticipated increase in the cost of living as their greatest concern. The situation was different only in Mazowsze, where the number one problem was health care, and in Śląsk, which was concerned mainly with climate change, according to an opinion poll conducted by the European Commission.

The researchers asked respondents about the most significant challenges currently faced by their regions. At the pan-European level, the answer with the highest number of responses was “the economic situation and unemployment” (33%). 24% of respondents considered “health issues” to be the main problem, while 23% pointed to the “cost of living”. Meanwhile, 22% of those surveyed believed that climate change and environmental threats were the major worries.

As opposed to most EU regions, in Poland the largest number of respondents indicated the issue of the rising costs of living (11 voivodeships). In the Świętokrzyskie, Lubelskie and Warmińsko-Mazurskie voivodeships, the economic situation openED the list of challenges (as in the whole of Spain and Bulgaria), while in the Mazowieckie Voivodeship it was health (as in Latvia and Lithuania). When asked about the most serious challenges, residents of the Śląskie Voivodeship, like Austrians and Germans, most often indicated the answer “climate change and environmental protection”.

Furthermore, the survey results revealed that more than eight out of ten Europeans (83%) claimed that the quality of life in their region was “satisfactory”, which is an increase of three percentage points since 2018.

In Poland, in 14 out of 16 voivodeships, the quality of life in the region was assessed as “good” or “rather good” by more than 50% of respondents, while in Wielkopolska – and in Warsaw, separated by the Eurobarometer from the Mazowieckie Voivodeship – that answer was selected by more than 65% of respondents.

The residents of Świętokrzyskie and Warmińsko-Mazurskie were the most pessimistic, with the majority describing their quality of life as “poor” or “rather poor”.

According to the survey, the highest living standards in Europe were found in Scandinavia (over 90% of those declaring themselves satisfied with the standard of living in all regions of Sweden, Finland and Denmark), Ireland and West Germany (although in the former GDR the indicators were more similar to those in Poland).

Only 13% of Europeans described the overall economic situation in their neighbourhood as “very good” and 55% as “rather good”, with over 90% positive responses only in individual regions of the continent – Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg and the Vienna area.

In ten Polish voivodeships the average positive assessment of the region's current economic situation ranged between 65 and 90%, in three (Kujawsko-Pomorskie, Łódzkie and Podlaskie) – between 50 and 65%, assuming a lower value in Lubelskie, Świętokrzyskie and Warmińsko-Mazurskie (below 50%).

Nevertheless, in comparison to other regions of the continent, especially its southern part, Poles as a whole evaluated the current economic situation relatively well – in Greece as a whole, in Spain and in southern Italy, the predominant answers were negative.

“The percentage of respondents who believed that the current economic situation of their country was positive varied considerably across EU Member States, ranging from 86% in Luxembourg to 7% in Italy,” highlights Wiktor Szydarowski, Director of the ESPON programme which studies the territorial diversity in Europe.

According to him, these disproportions result from both current challenges, such as the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and structural problems that have been accumulating for years. “Their solution depends on understanding the different needs and expectations not only of individual countries, but of the regions that generate them,” comments the Polish researcher, noting that the work carried out by his research project, which corresponds to the activities of the Eurobarometer authors and describes the diversity of the continent's areas, grasps the essence of European integration.

The Eurobarometer survey revealed that Europeans were not optimistic about the health of their local economies over the coming year. One in four respondents expected the economic outlook to deteriorate, with only one in five expecting it to improve. Most respondents (49%) expected the macroeconomic situation to remain relatively stable or not change at all.

None of the Polish voivodeships exceeded 20% of respondents expecting the economy to improve over the next 12 months – and Polish scepticism was unanimously shared by Czechs, Slovaks and Bulgarians. Hungarians and residents of the Benelux countries were slightly more optimistic (over 20% of respondents expected an improvement of the economic situation), and the highest hopes were held by citizens of selected Spanish provinces – Andalusia, Aragon, the Basque Country (over 35%).

“The European Union will not succeed in its recovery strategy by adopting a top-down approach. The EU must respond to the real needs of people in the places where they live and work. Only by following a bottom-up policy and focusing on the regions in the greatest need of support can Europe be successful and rebuild the support of citizens in their hearts and minds,” says Witold Szydarowski, director of ESPON.

The Eurobarometer survey conducted in September and October this year involved over 62,000 telephone interviews with respondents in 194 regions in the 27 EU Member States. The exceptionally large sample made it possible to determine the attitude of European societies towards the current problems and challenges facing the Community, considering the differences between individual areas of the continent.

The need to regionalise EU activities was recently highlighted by Apostolos Tzitzikostas, President of the Committee of the Regions, when presenting the results of a survey of European local and regional authorities.

“Far too often Europe is perceived as consisting of only 27 Member States. Yet it is made up of 90,000 municipalities and more than one million democratically elected local and regional politicians representing over 400 million residents,” stated Tzitzikostas.

Source: PAP MediaRoom