Chapter 12
A homicide rate seven times lower than in the USA, the biggest climb in the 2026 Global Peace Index, 24th in the happiness ranking — and three years of life fewer than the average European.
Against the world, Poland is calm on a scale a chart struggles to hold: Poles report crime in their neighbourhood far less often than the average European, and 89% consider the country safe. In the happiness ranking Poland climbed 24 places in four years. The dark sides of this chapter are not perceptions but deaths: shorter life expectancy, male suicide six times as frequent as female, smog still 1.7 times the EU average — each of these indicators is improving, none is yet good.
Fig. 12.1
Police-recorded intentional homicides per 100,000 inhabitants, 2024, EU countries (lower = safer)
Fig. 12.2
Global Peace Index 2026, score (lower = more peaceful), selected countries in Europe and the world
The strongest argument that the dark sides (chapter 13) are not a catastrophe: in 2026 Poland posted the biggest score improvement of the 163 countries and jumped from 45th to 22nd, ahead of Spain, Germany, Italy, the UK, Sweden and France. The IEP attributes the climb to political stabilisation after 2023, the fading of violent demonstrations and better internal safety.
The only component that worsened was militarisation — the effect of record defence spending and arms imports (chapter 15). In a peace ranking you pay points for that; in a ranking of state security, not necessarily.
Fig. 12.3
Average life evaluation (0–10) and Poland's rank in successive editions of the World Happiness Report, 2019–2026
Poland climbed 24 places in four years — the fastest in Central Europe — and for the first time sits ahead of the UK and Canada. The rise is not an artefact of one edition: life evaluation has risen continuously since the 2022 report.
Curiously, over the same period interpersonal trust and trust in political institutions (chapter 13) did not move or fell. Poles are ever more satisfied with their own lives and ever less trusting of others — a tension that runs through this whole portrait.
Fig. 12.4
Life expectancy at birth, years, 2015–2024
Poland lost more than twice as many years of life in the pandemic as the average EU country, but recovered faster than expected: in 2024 life expectancy exceeded its 2019 level. The three-year gap to the Union has not vanished, and its whole substance is in practice men's health: women in Poland live almost as long as in the EU; men four years less.
Contrary to the popular image, healthy life years in Poland are practically at the EU average (64.7 vs 65.2), and since 2022 Poland has gained 2.3 years here — more than the Union. The hardest weakness lies elsewhere: treatable mortality is 53% above the EU average (132.7 vs 86.8 per 100,000). That is not perception, it is deaths.
Fig. 12.5
Standardised suicide death rate per 100,000 inhabitants, 2023
One of the heaviest indicators in the whole set: Poland is a fifth above the EU average, and the gulf between men and women is among the widest in the Union and has not narrowed in a decade. Polish women take their own lives less often than the average European woman; Polish men — far more often than the average European man.
One sign of improvement against this backdrop: alcohol consumption fell for the third year running, to 8.8 litres of pure alcohol per person (2024) — from a record of about 9.8 l in 2019.
Fig. 12.6
Premature deaths attributed to exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in Poland, thousands, 2010–2023 (EEA)
Polish smog — for years among the worst in Europe — is genuinely retreating: premature deaths attributed to particulates have more than halved since 2010, and the rate per 100,000 inhabitants has fallen from 137 to 69. Boiler-replacement programmes, mild winters and cheaper renewable power (chapter 15) all contribute.
Honestly: Poland is still 1.7 times the EU average and — despite a much smaller population than Germany — second in the Union in absolute numbers. The improvement is real; the problem is not solved.
Poland is not merely safe — it is safe on a scale the chart cannot hold: the homicide rate is seven times lower than in the United States and six times lower than the world average, and within the Union lower than in Germany, France, Sweden or Belgium. The share of people who see their neighbourhood as affected by crime has halved since 2015 and is the third-lowest in Europe.
A hard rebuttal of any “dangerous Poland” narrative: safety here is at once a police statistic, a survey finding and the everyday experience of the 96% of residents who call their neighbourhood calm.