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EACEA National Policies Platform
Poland

Poland

5. Participation

Last update: 28 November 2023

Polish young people’s participation in representative democracy is currently being debated. Young people’s membership of political parties, trade unions and other traditional organisations active on the political scene is low. As is the case in the rest of Europe, the lowest voter turnout for elections is among the 18-24 demographic. It is also in this group that support for extreme political solutions is relatively high. On the other hand, however, active development of alternative forms of young people’s participation in social life is on the rise. These alternative forms are mainly initiated by non-governmental organisations. The common presence and relatively strong position of student governments do not always guarantee their real influence on the situation in schools. Citizenship education provided in schools enjoys extensive support in the form of programmes and projects offered by the government, EU and representatives of the Third Sector. All of the above circumstances give an ambiguous and not easily evaluable picture of active citizenship.