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Poles are saving more – because they can. Fewer households report financial strain

Fewer Polish households are struggling to “make ends meet,” according to consumer sentiment surveys by Statistics Poland (GUS). In the latest reading for February this year, the share of such households stood at 29 percent – a level that has held steady for several months. At the same time, a growing number of households are saving: as many as 61 percent of respondents declared that they were able to put money aside in February.

Michał Kulbacki
27.02.2026, 14:55
Banknotes And Coins
The improvement in household finances is also evident in responses concerning the use of savings. In February, only 3.5 percent of households reported being forced to dip into their savings, compared with 8 percent in mid-2022. The share of households declaring that they are falling into debt has also edged down slightly. Photo: Klaudia Radecka/NurPhoto via Getty Images

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The balance between these two trends has shifted markedly over the past three years. In both cases, the figures are at historical extremes – saving is at a record high, while the share of households merely scraping by is at a record low. In 2023, the proportions briefly converged, and for a time the share of households just getting by even exceeded those reporting some savings. An advantage for saving households had previously been visible before the pandemic and during its initial phase, though the differences were far less pronounced then.

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The improvement in household finances is also evident in responses concerning the use of savings. In February, only 3.5 percent of households reported being forced to dip into their savings, compared with 8 percent in mid-2022. The share of households declaring that they are falling into debt has also edged down slightly.

Where are higher savings coming from?

The rising propensity to save is now one of the defining features of the Polish economy. What lies behind it? Partly, it is no doubt an effort to rebuild savings depleted during the pandemic. To some extent, it also reflects the creation of a financial buffer after the twin shocks of Covid-19 and high inflation.

A somewhat underestimated factor may be simpler still: households now have the means to save – and are taking advantage of that opportunity. In 2024–25, real wages in the national economy (adjusted for inflation) rose sharply, by 9.3 percent year on year and about 4.8 percent, respectively.

This is not merely a theoretical debate. How one diagnoses the causes will determine whether the trend is likely to persist. If higher saving is mainly about replenishing reserves and building a financial cushion, the savings rate may start to fall once these goals have been achieved.

But it may also be that the propensity to save is more structural in nature, with current developments representing a continuation of pre-pandemic trends. If so, the savings rate could rise further. Perhaps not as dynamically as in recent years – wage growth will be slower – but this would suggest the shift is not merely temporary.

More broadly, economists often speak of a rising marginal propensity to save and a declining propensity to consume. Put simply, as incomes grow, a larger share is allocated to savings and a smaller share to consumption. It is possible that this mechanism is now playing out in practice. Time will tell.