Poland vs. Eastern Europe vs. the World

    In terms of development and population, Poland is quite similar to its region of Eastern Europe. Being that Poland has the third largest population in Eastern Europe; it is not surprising that they would be adding to the average statistics. However, Poland does stand out in interesting areas of health and size. Unlike most developed countries, Poland has a large number of population in a concentrated area. For example, Poland has an average of 122 people per square kilometer. In Europe, there is an average of 30 people per square kilometer. In the world, this number is 51 people per square kilometer. HIV/AIDS is a disease which continues to increase in infection rate in areas of Europe and Central Asia. However, this is not a problem which greatly plagues Poland. In the region of Eastern Europe, 0.7% of male adults aged 15-49 are living with HIV/AIDS. For females, this number is lower at 0.5%. However, in Poland, infection rates are much lower. Only 0.1% of males and less than 0.1% of females aged 15-49 suffer from this disease. Family planning methods are worldwide used in order to limit fertility to the woman’s choice number of children. These methods have increased in use in almost every country as the years continue. However, the percentage of Polish women using family planning methods remains low. In Europe, 70% of women of reproductive age in the population use any family planning method and 56% of women use modern methods. In Poland, 49% of women use any method of family planning and 19% of women use modern methods. Explanations for Poland’s low use of family planning methods may be attributed to their main religious beliefs, of Roman Catholic, which discourages the use of family planning methods.

Resource: World Population Data Sheet 2010. C,Haub