Two million Poles live in extreme poverty. "They have less than 20 zlotys a day to rent a flat and but cleaning products, shoes and clothes," says Joanna Sadzik, head of the Noble Gift (Szlachetna Paczka) charity. In this year's "Report on poverty", the authors use a graphic example to demonstrate how many people live in abject conditions - without a toilet, shower, and in cold.
According to the latest research, two million Poles live in extreme poverty. In 2020, the number of people living in dire conditions has increased by 378,000. Over 400,000 of the aforementioned 2 millions, are children.
"Report on poverty 2021"
Noble Gift has published an annual "Report on poverty", in which the charity graphically demonstrates how many people in Poland suffer from extreme poverty. The authors of the report have presented the statistics on an example of a 100-apartment building, which represents the whole of Poland.
In this building:
- 8 apartments don't have bathrooms, bathtubs and showers,
- 6 have no toilets,
- 3 have no running water,
- 20% of flats aren't connected to heating network,
- in half of all flats residents burn coal.
As regards to the residents of this symbolic building:
- residents of 4 apartments cannot afford heating,
- every third has no savings,
- 22 flats are occupied by single residents,
- in 10 flats at least one resident suffered from depression, and in three someone suffers from it right now,
- residents of 5 apartments live in extreme poverty.
Noble Gift chief: poverty in Poland takes various forms
"We've carried out a research on poverty perception and found it surprising that one-third of Poles did not see this poverty," said the head of the Noble Gift charity Joanna Sadzik.
She added that "poverty in Poland takes various forms". "We reach out to people like Halina and Władysław, who are over 80 years old, and live in Warsaw in such conditions that water is dripping on them from the ceiling. They have no money or energy to fix the roof," she explained.
She also said the charity tries to help people like "Lenka's mother, who is a teacher and a single mom. This brave woman shivers as she looks at inflation, because if prices of potatoes or apples go up by 50p, then she will buy much less of them, as she struggles to pay her bills. And Lenka has never been on a school trip, as her mother simply cannot afford it," she said.
Sadzik stressed that "two million people live in a really extreme poverty". "They have less than 20 zlotys a day to rent a flat, to buy food, cleaning products, shoes, and jackets for winter. I doubt any of us would have courage to try to survive at least a week on such amount," said the chief of the Noble Gift charity.
"What's optimistic is that it's possible not to be indifferent and simply help," she added.
Źródło: TVN24 News in English, tvn24.pl
Źródło zdjęcia głównego: Shutterstock