Eastern Poland: a belt of poor regions

Eastern Poland is an area of five voivodeships that form a belt of the poorest regions in Poland and the European Union. There have been multi-directional steps, taken both before Poland's accession to the EU and after it, intended to boost the economic, social and territorial cohesion of the region. Poland's EU membership has opened up financial means and enabled operational programmes that offer grounds for optimism as to the levelling out of the existing disparities in the living conditions of the communities inhabiting this part of the country. This paper presents both the socio-economic situation of Eastern Poland and the strategic documents that stimulate growth processes.