The history of welfare system in Poland dates to late 18th century in the
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, where first laws on the subject were passed. Following the
fall of communism in 1990 and transition of
People's Republic of Poland into the present day
Third Polish Republic, according to Rutkowski (1998), the welfare spending in Poland has risen. Contrary to popular expectations equating transformation from a communist to a capitalist system with reduction of the welfare state, the democratic political system led to the growth of the welfare state due to large public expectations that the state should meet social needs. Rutkowski (1998) also noted that Polish social protection system is "extremely generous" in comparison with most other
OECD countries. Rutkowski (1998) noted that "social expenditures now account for a much larger share of the
GDP than before the transition". According to Siemieńska, Domaradzka and Matysiak (2010-2013), "the [Polish] government expenditures as a share of GDP had been declining until 2000", at which point they reached an average of 20% of the GDP (
European Union average is 28% of the GDP). Due to the economic recession that the
economy of Poland suffered in the 1990s, spending in real terms in some areas that have remained stable as a percent of the GDP, such as education and medical services, have fallen. Public resources have been shifted to
cash transfers, such as
pensions, which have risen in real terms. Siemieńska, Domaradzka and Matysiak (2010-2013) note that
unemployment benefits have been substantially reduced in the 1990s. As of 1998, spending on pensions was the biggest part of social spending in Poland and the
pension system in Poland has been described as "one of the most costly... in Central and Eastern Europe." Rutkowski (1998) has criticized the system as being "too generous" and offering too many opportunities for early retirement. ==Numbers==