More than 300,000 Poles to move to UK

A survey carried out in Poland has learnt that 1.2 million people from the Eastern European country want to emigrate in the next year, with Germany and the UK being the first and second most popular choice of destination respectively.

Poland’s Employment Service, which carried out the survey, described the number of Poles planning to move abroad as “disturbing”. The head of the agency, Tomasz Hanczarek, said that five per cent of the population were looking to leave, whereas this year the figure was at 6.4 per cent, or 1.2 million.

More than a quarter of the would be emigrants (26 per cent) want to move to Germany, while 24 per cent plan on going to the UK. Some 75 per cent of those aiming to move away from their homeland are under 35 years old and are currently in poorly paid jobs or are unemployed.

The vast majority (84 per cent) said they were leaving to earn more money, while one in three admitted the wanted to improve their standard of living. Just over a quarter (26 per cent) noted that they would have better career prospects in their chosen destinations.

Hanczarek also claimed that if it were not for family ties, the number of Poles wanting to leave would be even higher.