MDG Profile:
ODA upgraded despite development challenges at home
With its accession to the European Union and a sound social and economic development, Poland is now a donor country. The country is still experiencing development challenges, however, related to poverty, unemployment, and a lack of equality between men and women, particularly in the labour market.
These problems, however, are not connected to the global targets of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and for this reason Poland is not tracking the implementation of MDGs 1-7 within the country. Instead, it is focusing on its commitment and contribution to implementation of the Goals in developing countries (as defined in MDG 8, calling for a global partnership for development).
In 2003 the Government of Poland adopted its first Strategy of Development Cooperation, drawing on the MDGs as a global development framework. Thus, Poland has increased its official development assistance (ODA), which reached 0.1 per cent of gross national income (GNI) in 2006, as pledged in the Strategy. ODA should reach 0.17 per cent of GNI in 2010, as agreed by the new European Union members in their effort towards achievement of the MDGs.
Such an important increase in ODA over a relatively short period of time brings with it the obligation to prepare the Polish population for the responsibilities of donor status. To this end, the UNDP country office, together with the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, initiated in 2004 the first campaign to build up public support, explaining the reasons and benefits of development cooperation and the increased allotments for ODA in the state budget. Currently, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, non-governmental organizations, and UNDP are actively implementing an educational and awareness-raising project in Poland to promote the MDGs and the concept of development cooperation.
Last updated 1 November 2007
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for this Location
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Total population
(millions): |
38.1 |
Surface area
(sq. km): |
312,685 |
GDP per capita
(PPP US$): |
15,444 |
GDP growth
(annual %): |
5.8
|
Human Development Index
(Rank 1 - 177): |
37 |
Life expectancy at birth
(years): |
74.6 |
Population below PPP $1 per day
(%): |
2.0 |
Net enrolment ratio in primary education
(% both sexes): |
96.3 |
Carbon dioxide emissions per capita
(metric tons): |
8.0331 |
Unemployment, total
(% of total labor force): |
28.7 |
NOTE: The MDG data presented here is the latest available from the United Nations Statistics Division. The World Bank has recently released new poverty estimates, which reflect improvements in internationally comparable price data. The new data estimates set a new poverty line of US$1.25 a day and offer a much more accurate picture of the cost of living in developing countries. They are based on the results of the 2005 International Comparison Program (ICP), released in first half of 2008. Country-specific poverty estimates will be released by the World Bank in late 2008
