EN
Population-related problem areas are among the most important types of such problem areas in Poland, requiring a greater interest from scientists and practitioners than has so far been the case. It is possible to propose their division into the following categories: - areas with a skewed age structure to the population, - areas with an unfavourable sex structure to the population, - areas with sustained excessive outflows of population, - areas of occupational inactivity. The greatest demographic depression is that characterising the north-eastern and eastern parts of Poland, where the structure of the population in terms of both age and gender is unfavourable. This area has long been characterised by depopulation and ageing in the countryside. A second area depressed in demographic terms is that of western Mazowsze and the Świętokrzyskie Mountains, though this is not one contiguous bloc as is the case in the north-east. Unfavourable population-related phenomena are also emerging in northern Poland, where the highest rates of unemployment are to be found - mainly thanks to the closure a few years ago of the State Farms. Long-term unemployment, favouring the increased impoverishment of rural areas, is a catalyst behind demographic distortion, and one that tends to perturb the rhythm of socioeconomic life.