Marek Okólski

• Director of the centre at University of Warsaw

Poland, traditionally a country of emigration, started to record a positive migration balance in recent years. However, thus far, no forecast has indicated the possibility of Poland’s transition from a net sending to a net receiving regime. This study indicates the theoretical underpinnings of such a change and provides an international migration p...

The European Union includes 11 post-communist countries (Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia). The population of this group of countries has fallen by 7% since 1989, whereas that of the rest of the EU has risen by 13%. Before the fall of the Berlin Wall, these countries had younge...

W Polsce po 1989 roku w wyniku intensyfikacji mobilności przestrzennej i zwiększenia swobody akademickiej nastąpił dynamiczny rozwój studiów migracyjnych. Po trzech dekadach transformacji ustrojowej można stwierdzić, że osiągnęły one status odrębnego pola badawczego, którego tożsamość instytucjonalną wyznaczają specjalistyczne ośrodki naukowe, duże...

Niniejszy wykład stanowi wprowadzenie do tematyki kolejnych części książki dotyczących prawidłowości najnowszych migracji międzynarodowych. Zarysowujemy w nim ogólne światowe tendencje, piszemy o głównych krajach pochodzenia migrantów i kierunkach ich wędrówek oraz charakteryzujemy najważniejsze formy współczesnych migracji. Pisząc o migracjach wsp...

The paper describes the relationship between migration (with a focus on international migration) and modernisation. In particular, the author discusses the problem of emigration impacts on modernisation processes in a society undergoing significant population outflow. The analysis of these impacts has been carried out from the perspective of longue...

For several decades now Europe has undergone population ageing. Within the coming half a century or so that process will be intensifi ed, which will result in a fundamental shift in the relationship between the youth and the elderly. Numbers of young people which are supposed to replace persons in reproductive (and working) age will be declining wh...

So far immigration to Poland can be described by its amorphous nature characteristic of the period of transition between the first and second stages of the immigration process. In the first stage a highly dynamic and irregular inflow of immigrants (irregular, short-term, and transit migration) prevails accompanied by a lack of state immigration pol...

Two historical events have had a fundamental importance in shaping the new migration trends in Eastern and Central Europe (ECE): the collapse of the Soviet block and the region’s return to Europe, when the first eight countries became full members of the European Unionon 1 May 2004 as a point of inflection. Before 1990, and for several decades, int...

Post-2004 labour migration from Poland turned out to be one of the most spectacular migratory movements in contemporary European history. This outflow on a massive scale is surmised to impact on demographic, economic, and social phenomena both in Poland and in the receiving countries. The aim of this paper is to assess the demographic and labour-ma...

Dos hechos históricos tienen una importancia fundamental en la configuración de las nuevas tendencias migratorias en Europa Central y del Este (ECE): el colapso del bloque soviético y el retorno de la región a Europa, cuyo hito principal ha sido la adhesión de los primeros ocho países a la Unión Europea el 1 de mayo de 2004. Antes de 1990, y durant...

The aim of the paper is to present current trends in migratory behaviour in CEE countries in the context of socio-economic transition and to analyze selected features of nowadays migration in this part of the world. The question will be raised whether CEE still constitute a coherent / uniform region in respect to mobility behaviors and if so, what...

Bilateral agreements on the employment of migrant workers are not a novelty in Poland. Since the 1970s Polish workers have left to work in other countries in accordance with official inter-governmental arrangements. By the same token, since 1990 movements in the reverse direction have been possible. The Polish government has long been interested in...

Until the late 1980s, Central and Eastern Europe was a region relatively isolated from the other parts of the world, and foreign travel was administratively restricted. The freedom of movement reinstated in the region around 1990 led to massive migration. However, instead of acceleration of the highly selective outflow of ethnic minorities, politic...

Until the late 1980s Central and Eastern Europe was a region relatively isolated from the other parts of the world. Flows of people between the countries, even inside the region, were rather small and sporadic, due to administrative restrictions on foreign travel. Contrary to what was feared in the West around 1990, it has not been flooded by East...

In recent decades we have witnessed the diversifying and, in many regions, intensifying flows of people across the globe (for example, Zlotnik, 1998 and Okólski 1999b). One of the distinct elements of those flows is the movement of temporary migrants, a substantial proportion of whom are undocumented.2 Remoteness, in terms of physical distance, see...

Until the beginning of the 1990s Poland did not receive foreign migrants. Thereafter, the situation changed dramatically. A large part of the inflow proved to be illegal migrants, many of whom were in transit to Western Europe. Although these movements gradually declined in the second half of the decade, some became increasingly identified with rel...

PIP "This article seeks to systematise a body of empirical evidence concerning international migration in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) after 1989. In particular, it focuses on similarities and dissimilarities of new migration trends among [the] region's countries, and discusses regional specificity of these trends.... The analy...

Some country-specific features of the demographic transition in Poland are analyzed. Specifically, the author looks at the period 1945-1955, when demographic trends were affected by the aftereffects of World War II, and the period 1970-1985. This second period was characterized by the deteriorating health of the population, particularly adult males...

La nouvelle donne migratoire à l'Est Marek OKOLSKI Les restrictions imposées à la libre circulation des populations par une politique d'isolement pratiqué vis-à-vis des pays occidentaux s'appuyaient sur 2 « outils » très efficaces : le critère d'obtention d'un passeport, les règles relatives aux devises étrangères. Par ailleurs, les migrations n'ét...

PIP: The author uses Polish migration statistics to evaluate changes in the movement of the Eastern European population since government relaxation of strict passport and currency restrictions in the 1980s. Employment and economic opportunities in the receiving countries are cited as prime motivators for migrants, while for the countries of origin,...

The new migratory deal in Eastern Europe Marek OKOLSKI The shortages imposed on the free movement of the population in Eastern Europe through an isolationist towards western countries were based on two very efficient tools : the criteria to get a passport and the rules regarding the foreign currencies. In other respects, migrations were not really...

PIP: Although infant mortality has declined in Poland since World War II, the author notes that the rate of decline has decreased over time and that the situation in Poland has worsened relative to trends in Western European countries. Revised data, involving changes in the definition of a live birth, are analyzed to identify the factors associated...

PIP: This article contains an analysis of main features of the reproduction of population in 2 societies, traditional and modern, which are considered as extreme "ideal types" limiting the continuum of "mixed types" existing in reality. Characteristics of reproduction of population, understood by the author as replacement of population size and its...

The abortion law in Poland is among the most liberal in the world. Poland is also a predominantly Roman Catholic country with a relatively high percentage of well-educated people. In these circumstances, a peculiar contraceptive pattern has developed: most couples, irrespective of their education and other socioeconomic characteristics, rely on ine...

The 2004 EU enlargement constituted one of the most important emigration stimulus in the whole contemporary history of Poland. In fact, no other historical event has been associated with such a rapid outflow and a fundamental change in mobility directions and socio-demographic structure of migrants. According to recent estimates the number of Polis...