Poziom rozwoju Polski w relacji do państw zachodnich
Development level of Poland in relation to the Western Countries

Summary/Abstract: The purpose of this article is to anticipate how the development gap between Poland and rich Western countries changed from gaining independence up today. Six indicators were analyzed: GDP per capita, male and female life expectancy, infant mortality, passenger cars and telephone subscribers per 100 persons. After collecting historical data for 25 developed countries the author calculated when (how many years earlier) did those states achieved a defined indicator value for Poland. The results show that during the interwar period the backwardness of Poland increased. After the war it was steadily decreasing until mid-1960s, only to rise again to an all-time high in late 1980s/early 1990s. During the last 20 years the gap between Poland and the West was substantially reduced.

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