Adult Poles want to defend their homeland

We all hope that the war in Ukraine will end quickly and the conflict will not escalate to other countries. It is worth remembering that the readiness of society to defend the country is an important deterrent for a potential aggressor. It turns out that Poles are doing very well in this respect. A public opinion survey conducted for the Warsaw Enterprise Institute by Maison&Partners and in cooperation with Defence24.pl shows that in the event of a war, 66 percent of adult Poles declare their readiness to defend the country, of which 49 percent means activities that do not require an active fight, and 17 percent – fighting on the front.

It shows that about 3.8 million adult Poles aged 18–65 are ready to take up arms. This is 10 times the number of Russia’s land armed forces, so they have no chance of any conquest or occupation – but there is one condition: these people must be trained and get weapons on time, which involves immediate implementation of the concept of Universal Defence
Piotr Małecki, president of Defence24 and vice-chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Warsaw Enterprise Institute

Among those willing to commit to frontline combat, there are significantly more men (27%) than women (7%). People of different ages have different readiness to fight for Poland – the highest number of such people is among the youngest from 18 to 24 years old (24%) and people from 45 to 54 years old (22%). (22%). Those between the ages of 25 and 44 would be noticeably less likely to engage in frontline combat. This may be because they are more likely to have young children. Older people (55+) express a great readiness to get involved in the defense of the country, but they want to help without the need for direct fight (59%).

Only every third adult Pole would prefer not to get involved in the defense of the country, and leave it to the appropriate services. The intensity of this attitude is significantly higher among women (43%) than men (25%) and among residents of large cities (42%) than small towns (24%).

Warsaw Enterprise Institute together with Defence24.pl have announced that they will publish weekly analyses of the country's defense, international politics and the impact of the conflict in Ukraine on Poland's economy and demographics.

Warsaw Enterprise Institute