Poles Are Returning from Emigration in Large Numbers

There was a time when Poles left to work in the West and took any job they could find. Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Iceland–these were the main destinations. Today, the trend is exactly the opposite: more and more Poles who have lived abroad for years are returning to Poland. The largest numbers are leaving the United Kingdom, Germany, and the Netherlands.

Prepared by:
Natalia Nitra

More than 860,000 Poles live in Germany, making them the fifth-largest group of foreigners there. The total number of people with Polish roots is estimated at 2.2 million (despite the fact that they do not have the status of a national minority). This, however, is changing. As reported by Der Spiegel, Germany’s Federal Statistical Office states that in 2024, for the first time in about 25 years, more Poles left Germany than arrived. The negative balance amounts to 12,068 people–the difference between 88,388 departures and 76,320 arrivals. The Netherlands is also no longer an attractive country for Poles to live and work. After three quarters of 2025, the Dutch statistical office announced that for the first time the migration balance with Poland is negative for the Netherlands. It had already declined sharply in 2024.
Another country that has ceased to be attractive for Poles is Iceland. On the island of 400,000 inhabitants, as many as 30,000 are Poles, accounting for 6 percent of the total population. However, while 3,010 Poles moved to Iceland in 2017, only 532 did so in 2024. A similar trend can be observed in Norway–until recently attractive to Poles because of wages significantly higher than in Poland.

What Is Behind the Change?
There are at least several reasons why Poles are returning to their home country. Western European countries have ceased to be a “promised land” for Poles; wages in Poland no longer differ as much from those offered in Germany or the Netherlands. But that is not the only factor. Many Poles, after years spent abroad, return to care for their parents and to provide their children with safe conditions for growing up and education. In addition, Poland is a safe country, which cannot be said of many Western European states. Poland has not experienced a single terrorist attack, there is no mass illegal immigration, and society is homogeneous in terms of nationality and religion.

Another reason was indicated by a survey conducted by the German Institute for Employment Research (IAB). In that survey, as many as 38 percent of Poles cited “excessive bureaucracy” as a reason for leaving Germany, and 17 percent cited discrimination. In this context, Der Spiegel recently quoted Kamila Schoell-Mazurek, head of the Polish Social Council, who stated that “there are proven cases of discrimination against Polish women and men in Germany.” The newspaper acknowledged that Poles are victims of anti-Slavic racism due to their Polish accent and that structural discrimination also exists. For years, Poles tolerated this for economic reasons; now they no longer want to. A generational change also plays a role. Young Poles raised in Germany or the United Kingdom choose Poland as a place to study–education is cheaper here than in the West, and the level of education, especially at technical universities, does not differ from that in Western Europe. Parents follow their children.

What’s Next?
According to the report “Returns of Polish Women and Men from Migration after 2015–Opportunities and Challenges,” prepared for the Ministry of Family, Labor, and Social Policy by Dr. Dominika Pszczółkowska and Dr. Sara Bojarczuk, researchers from the Centre of Migration Research at the University of Warsaw, if Poland’s economic and geopolitical situation remains stable, more intensive returns can be expected in the coming years.

Not Only Poles
The same factors driving the return of Poles are also influencing another phenomenon. Poland is becoming an attractive country for Western European retirees. The Polish Social Insurance Institution has recorded an increase in the number of foreigners receiving benefits, as well as a trend of relocating to Poland for retirement. Despite a less favorable climate than Spain or Portugal, Poland is attractive as a country where the cost of living remains lower than in the United Kingdom or Norway. Retirees who choose to spend their later years in Poland point to high-quality private medical care at lower costs than in the West, lower living expenses, and, above all, the sense of security they lack at home.