About 1.37 million Polish citizens were living elsewhere in Europe, down by nearly 19,000 from 2024, according to Statistics Poland (GUS).
European countries remained the most common destinations for Polish citizens living abroad, accounting for about 91 percent of the total.
The largest Polish communities abroad were in Britain, with 412,000 people, followed by Germany with 386,000, the Netherlands with 130,000, Norway with 76,000, and Ireland with 67,000.
From 2020 to 2023, more than 1.55 million Poles were living abroad for at least 12 months, GUS said. The number fell to around 1.51 million by the end of 2025.
Between 2020 and 2025, the largest increases in the number of Polish citizens living abroad were recorded in the Netherlands and Switzerland, at 18 percent and 29.4 percent respectively.
The largest declines were recorded in Britain and Germany, where the numbers of Polish expats fell by 9.2 percent and 7.8 percent respectively.
(gs)
Source: IAR/PAP