Warsaw, and the rest of the Mazovia province, are the best places to make money and develop a career but the southern province of Podkarpacie ensures longer and healthier life, shows a report by the Main Statistical Office.
Click on the icon above to listen to the report by Joanna Najfeld.
According to the report “The Regions of Poland 2009,” people who live in the Mazovia province, mainly Warsaw, earn more than in any other area. The average monthly salary in Warsaw is 4,000 zloty (950 euro), while in the rest of the country – 3,000 zloty (713 euro). The unemployment rate in Mazovia is the lowest in Poland – only seven percent in comparison with eleven percent elsewhere.
However, residents of the Mazovia province work more than other Poles, approximately 1,720 hours a year.
“It seriously affects family life: people less often decide to get married and have children,” says sociologist Andrzej Rychard. “As a result, more and more citizens of Warsaw, tired of the daily routine, flee the city in search of peace.” The most popular destinations are the Masuria Lake District, the Podkarpacie and Podlasie provinces, in eastern Poland.
The numbers from the Central Statistical Office (GUS) show that life in these rather poor regions (GDP in the Podkarpacie and Podlasie provinces equals 35-45 percent of the EU average) is longer and healthier. An average inhabitant of Podkarpacie is less prone to cancer (200 people in 10,000 inhabitants suffer from the disease, while, in the industrial region of Silesia, 275 people), and lives longer. An average lifespan for a man in Podkarpacie is 73 years, while in the rest of Poland – 71.3 years, and the average lifespan for a woman is 81, compared to eighty years elsewhere in Poland.
In the Podkarpacie province, as well as the northern province of Pomerania, marriage and birth rates are the highest in Poland (birth rate is 2 percent, while the average for Poland is 0.9) and the divorce rate is the lowest. The inhabitants of Pomerania also have better access to cultural events and take an active part in cultural life of their region. Last year, 1,300 cinema tickets and 300 theatre tickets for every 1,000 of people were sold in the province.
The report by GUS shows that the least attractive region to live in Poland is the Lodz province, central Poland. Although Lodz is Poland’s film industry capital, its citizens are not particularly interested in visiting cinemas. Last year, only 770 cinema tickets were sold in Lodz for every 1,000 inhabitants. In the Lodz province people die young as a result of cardiovascular system diseases and cancer. They rarely get married and have less children so the birth rate is -2.3.
“It’s very sad. Young, ambitious people flee Lodz. The whole province is like Lodz itself: one beautiful Piotrowska Street and shanty towns around,” says actor Maciej Kozlowski. (mg/mmj)
Source: Dziennik