Poles Are Returning Home En Masse From The UK

What makes Polish citizens who have worked in Britain for decades leave there.

Arcadius Rzegocki, Poland's former ambassador to the UK, on his country's economic rise and a turning point for the British labor market.

Economic growth and rising living standards in Poland have led to more than 400,000 of the country's citizens returning from the UK to their homeland as of early 2026. This was told to NV by Arkady Rzegocki, Poland's ambassador to Britain from 2016-2021.

Before that, in December 2025, Polish Radio reported that during the year, 25,000

"Before our eyes, one of Europe's post-communist economies is turning into a dynamically developing country," the diplomat emphasized.

In the early 2000s, the United Kingdom became a source of prosperity for many Poles. The influx of those wishing to earn money began immediately after Poland joined the European Union in 2004. And in 2006 there was a record for the number of Poles coming to Britain - up to 250 thousand people came to Britain.

Remembering those times, Rzegocki says that Polish plumbers have become a symbol of labor migration. And that lasted until the Brexit referendum - the vote for Britain to leave the European Union in June 2016.

But Poland's economic recovery drew workers home after years abroad. According to Rzegocki, even Britons are now moving to live in Poland because of low living costs.

The former ambassador cites the following statistics: over the past 10 years, the number of Britons in Poland has increased from 40,000 to 185,000.Experts from the UN confirm his words - for 2025, Poland has become the seventh most popular place for British citizens to leave. And the first three are English-speaking Australia, the United States and Canada.

The interlocutors of NV complain that the cost of living in Britain does not correspond to its quality. For example, while in Warsaw a bus, subway and streetcar fare costs up to 25 euros a month, in London you have to pay at least 280 euros for the subway alone.

Europe, as Rzegocki defines it, has witnessed a "fantastic economic turnaround." At the same time, he advises London to draw the right conclusions: the outflow of Polish workers has already created gaps in important sectors of Britain's economy, such as agriculture, logistics and medicine.

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