It appears that Poland’s pace of “catching up and overtaking” other countries has slowed over the past two years. The 2025 edition of the National Wealth Index (NWI) is the first in which Poland’s score is lower than the year before. Although both the EU and regional averages also dipped, Poland’s fall was steeper, the Warsaw Enterprise Institute (WEI) reports.
The institute has just released the fifth edition of the NWI, an index that supplements GDP data by assessing the quality of public spending. Compiled by economist Karol Zdybel, this year’s ranking covers EU and OECD members.
“Ireland, Switzerland and Norway take the podium once again, with Norway managing—like last year—to edge out the United States. Poland ranks only 27th among 38 economies, the same position as a year ago, but our score has dropped (from 68.6 points in 2024 to 66.2 points in 2025),” the report states.
A decade of impressive gains—shadowed by a worrying slowdown
Over the past ten years, Poland has made remarkable progress, WEI notes.
“In the past decade, ‘catching up and overtaking’ was no empty slogan but reality. Poland advanced more than many Western countries—several of which have not improved, or even slipped, in our index since 2021— and more than most of Central Europe. Last year Poland matched the regional average: a Polish NWI of 68.7 versus a Central-European average of 68.9. Back in 2015 Poland trailed Slovakia, Hungary and Latvia (and even Greece). Last year it overtook them all, and in the current edition it still leads by a clear margin,” the report says.
In ten years Poland has closed the gap with its regional peers and cut its distance to the EU average by half. According to WEI, Poland could overtake Estonia and Portugal within two to three years—yet optimism is fading.
“The catch-up tempo seems to have slowed in the last two years. This edition of the NWI is the first in which Poland’s result is lower than the year before. While the EU and regional averages also fell, Poland’s drop is sharper,” WEI warns.
Public-spending quality under pressure
Analysts see a troubling trend: the quality of Poland’s public spending—one of the NWI’s two pillars—has been deteriorating.
“Poland’s public-spending quality score was 45.7 in 2015 and peaked at 61.2 in the 2022 edition. It has since slipped for three consecutive years to its current 56.5,” the institute writes, adding that spending efficiency has likewise declined.
Since the caliber of public expenditure could be the main engine driving future NWI gains, WEI stresses, reversing that slide will be crucial in the years ahead.