economy of Poland

The economy of Poland is an emerging and developing, high-income, industrialized social market economy that is the sixth-largest in the European Union by nominal GDP and fifth-largest by PPP-adjusted GDP. Poland has the extensive public services characteristic of most developed economies and is one of few countries in Europe to require no tuition fees for undergraduate and postgraduate education and with universal public healthcare that is free at a point of use. Since 1988, Poland has pursued a policy of economic liberalisation but retained an advanced public welfare system. It ranks 20th worldwide in terms of PPP-adjusted GDP, 20th in terms of nominal GDP, and 21st in the 2023 Economic Complexity Index. Among OECD nations, Poland has a highly efficient and strong social security system; social expenditure stood at roughly 22.7% of GDP.

The largest component of Poland's economy is the service sector (62.3%), followed by industry (34.2%) and agriculture (3.5%). Following the economic reform of 1989, Poland's external debt has increased from $42.2 billion in 1989 to $365.2 billion in 2014. Poland shipped US$224.6 billion worth of goods around the globe in 2017, while exports increased to US$221.4 billion. The country's top export goods include machinery, electronic equipment, vehicles, furniture, and plastics. Poland was the only economy in the EU to avoid a recession during the 2008 financial crisis.