2022 SME COUNTRY FACT SHEET

POLAND
Brief introduction
SME DEVELOPMENT 2020-2021
 In 2021, SMEs in Poland grew strongly, by 7.9% in value added and 2.4% in employment,
after having declined by 2.7% and 1.4%, respectively, in 2020. NUMBER OF

 In the pandemic year 2020, the digital ecosystem was one of the few ecosystems in Poland
ENTERPRISES +3.3%
that managed to grow, with SME value added increasing by 5.2 % and SME employment by
2.5%. In 2021, SME employment in this ecosystem continued to grow strongly by 6.4%, but NUMBER OF
SME value added declined by 2.0%. PERSONS
EMPLOYED
+2.4%
 Based on data from early 2022, it was expected that this year SME value added and SME
employment in Poland would continue to grow by 11.4% and 1.5% respectively, but Russia’s
war of aggression against Ukraine will affect these estimates. VALUE ADDED +7.9%
SMEs in the ‘non-financial business sector’. Estimates produced by JRC.

ENTERPRISES
ENTERPRISES PERSONS
PERSONS EMPLOYED
EMPLOYED VALUE ADDED
VALUE ADDED
NUMBER SHARE NUMBER SHARE € BILLION SHARE

SMEs 6 676 566 66.7% 144.1

2 040 017 99.8% 50.0%
(0 -249 persons employed)

LAR GE E N TE R P R IS E S 33.3% 50.0%

3 110 0.2% 3 340 535 144.1
(250+ persons employed)
The data for 2021 are estimates produced by JRC, based on 2008-2019 figures from national and Eurostat databases.

SME-RELATED STRENGTHS AND CHALLENGES

SME-RELATED
KEY STRENGTHS STRENGTHS AND CHALLENGES
KEY CHALLENGES
 Labour productivity growth has been among the fastest in the EU for  According to the EFL’s survey conducted in 2021, 56% of SME owners
several years, but the gap between large and small firms remains considered finding and keeping employees the main challenge that
one of the largest in the EU. they have been facing.

 Between September/October 2020 and February/March 2021, 31%
of SMEs introduced some kind of innovation regarding their goods
or services, according to the World Bank and PARP, but a lot more
still needs to be done to improve the innovation domain in Poland.
 According to the latest available Eurostat data, the share of high-
growth enterprises in Poland (12.5%) was the 9th score in the EU.
 The established business ownership rate (referring to those who are
owning and managing a running business that has paid salaries,
wages, or any other payments to the owners for more than 42
months) in Poland (12.2%) is well above the EU average (7.3%).
 Increasing employment costs continue to be an issue for the majority
of entrepreneurs, in particular for medium enterprises. 94.5% of them
said that the costs of employing a person have increased in 2021, while
for micro and small companies this share stood at 82% and 87%,
respectively, compared to 78% for large companies.
 In terms of the environmental aspects of sustainability, SMEs in Poland
perform poorly. According to the recent Flash Eurobarometer 498,
Polish SMEs take less resource-efficiency measures and have a lower
share of green products and services in their offer than their EU
counterparts. Only 13% of SMEs in Poland (compared to the EU
average of 24%) have a concrete strategy in place to reduce their
carbon footprint and become climate neutral or negative.

OTHER KEY SME-RELATED BRIEF INSIGHTS

Polish space sector is heavily dominated by In 2020, 98.3% of small and 99.6% of
SMEs. As of 2021, SMEs constituted 78% of the medium enterprises had access to internet
members of the Polish Space Industry and 67.3% and 88.6%, respectively, had a
Association. website.

According to a survey conducted in 2021, 53% of As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, 68%
SME owners considered regulation and taxes of companies invested in new hardware or
among the main challenges they have been software between September/October 2020
facing. and February/March 2021.

The SME Performance Review monitors SME-related developments across the EU. For more information, please see: https://ec.europa.eu/growth/smes/sme-strategy/performance-review_en