GUS: almost 1.2 million people, 3.1% of the population, received community-based social assistance in 2025

According to GUS (Statistics Poland) data on social assistance for 2025, community-based benefits were received by 1,177,100 people, 1,800 more than a year earlier; coverage remains at 3.1% of the population. For 680,500 recipients, income per person is below the official poverty threshold, which is 1.8% of the population; since January 2025 the criterion has been 823 zł per person in a family and 1,010 zł for single people. More than half of such households have no income sources of their own.

The largest group of recipients is children and teenagers under 18 (5.1% of this age group). Almost 36% of recipients in households, more than 410,000 people, live alone; in cities this share reaches 43.6%.

The two main reasons for seeking assistance are poor health or disability, affecting almost 63% of poor households (73.6% among single people), and unemployment, almost 49%. Regional differences are large: in the Warmian-Masurian voivodeship one in eighteen residents received assistance (5.4%), in Silesian 2.2% and in Lower Silesian 2.3%.