One in four Poles has never been abroad - poll
One in four Poles has never been abroad and one in three has a valid passport. Fifty-three percent of adult Poles declare that they can speak at least one foreign language, according to a CBOS poll.
In the December survey conducted by CBOS (Public Opinion Research Centre), 77 percent of Poles declare that they have been abroad while the remaining 23 percent admit that they have never left the country.
The number of people who have been abroad at least once rose by 8 percentage points in comparison to 2012 and by 28 percentage points since 1993.
According to CBOS, the percentage of Poles declaring their ability to speak foreign languages has also increased. Currently 53 percent of adults say they can communicate in a foreign language, 2 percentage points more than in 2012 and 16 percentage points more than in 1997.
According to the poll, 32 percent of respondents speak English, 20 percent Russian and 14 percent German. Only some of them declared their competence in French (2 percent) or Spanish (1 percent).
Most of the Poles who speak foreign languages have already been abroad (90 percent). Among those have no foreign language competence, only 64 percent have visited other countries.
The poll revealed that travelling abroad is more common among respondents with higher education and a higher position at work as well as among those with higher income per capita in a household. Respondents' subjective view of their material situation seems also to be an important factor.
With the rising number of Poles travelling abroad, the number of people having a valid passport is steadily decreasing - from 50 percent in 2001 to 30 percent in 2015. This is mainly due to Poland's accession to the EU and abolishing of passport controls for EU citizens travelling across the Union, wrote CBOS in its statement sent to PAP.
Germany remains the most popular travel destination, with 42 percent of respondents having visited it in the last 20 years. It is followed by the Czech Republic (26 percent), Slovakia (18 percent), Italy (16 percent), France (15 percent) and the Great Britain (13 percent).
Most respondents went abroad as tourists (66 percent). Others travelled abroad to work (27 percent), to visit their relatives and friends or to receive medical treatment (17 percent). Six percent went on a business trip and another six percent went shopping. Only 1 percent of respondents declared that the main reason for their travel abroad was education.
The poll was conducted on a representative sample of 989 adult Poles on December 3-10, 2015 using the Computer-Assisted Personal Interviewing technique (CAPI). (PAP)
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