In the next ten years half a million people will retire and leave the Polish labor market. For the first time in modern Polish history, the population of the country will decrease by 50,000 people, and every two working people will have to provide for one pensioner.

This is only the beginning of a series of unfavorable demographic changes for Poland's economy.

The economic effects of an aging society can, however, be offset by the extension of the retirement age to 67, Dziennik Gazeta Prawna reports.

"This move will, however, only be a temporary remedy. And it will work provided that we begin introduction of the changes immediately," says Piotr Lewandowski, from the Institute for Structural Research.

In order to avoid a shock, he recommends that the retirement age should be pushed forward in increments of nine months for women and three months for men over a period of 10 years.

Poland AM