Poverty in Polish regions in the light of European Union policy

Abstract

Poverty is a multidimensional phenomenon, hard to define but of interest to many experts in social sciences. When it comes to economic sciences, the economic dimension of poverty and its consequences are underlined. The European Union pays attention to the problem of developmental disparities as well as the need to reduce poverty and disparities. It is reflected both in the EU treaties and in the EU activities undertaken within both the Economic, Social and Territorial Cohesion Policy and the Lisbon Strategy, the Europe 2020 Strategy, as well as the EU reaction to the numerous challenges facing the EU in the 21 st century (the COVID-19 pandemic, Russian aggression against Ukraine). The main theoretical and cognitive aim of the research is to present the differentiated perception of the problem of poverty in economic theory and EU policy decisions. The main aim of the empirical part of the research is to identify and evaluate regional disparities in poverty using the example of Poland’s regions (provinces). The research was conducted with the application of several scientific methods, including literature studies, descriptive and comparative analysis, and critical thinking. Because of the complexity of the category of poverty and poverty conditions, the selected method of multivariate comparative analysis, i.e. the TMD introduced by Hellwig, was adopted. The conducted research indicated that poverty in Poland’s regions is unequally distributed, which results from their location in relation to richer markets, infrastructure conditions, and economic situation.