In 2011, 391,000 children were born in Poland – 22,000 fewer than a year earlier, according to data from the Central Statistical Office.

According to experts, the decline is a result of an unfavorable labor market and the high cost of raising a child. According to research by the Adam Smith Institute, bringing up a child to the age of 20 costs zł.190,000 in Poland, Dziennik Gazeta Prawna wrote.

Polish women are having their first child on average at a later age – at 29 – with the fertility rate low, at 1.4 children per family.

Poland A.M.