A report from the survey “Migrants – Christmas in Poland” conducted by the EWL Migration Platform, the Foundation for the Support of Migrants on the Labour Market ‘EWL’ and the Centre for East European Studies at the University of Warsaw. The survey with foreigners who work or study in different cities and regions of Poland was carried out using online questionnaires (CAWI) on a sample of N=506 persons, adult (18+) citizens of Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, Georgia, Armenia, Moldova, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The interviews were conducted between 30 November and 11 December 2023 in Ukrainian, English and Russian. At the time of the survey the respondents were staying in Poland.
More than two thirds of foreigners (70%) working or studying in Poland are planning to spend this year’s Christmas in Poland. Only 16% of respondents declare they will return to their home country during this period, and 7% are planning to travel to other countries. More than half of the foreigners (53%) spending Christmas in Poland are going to celebrate this holiday according to the Gregorian or New Julian calendar, i.e. on 25 December. Only every tenth respondent (11%) declares to celebrate the holiday in January, according to the Julian calendar. It is worth noting that nearly one in four foreigners (23%) intends to celebrate Christmas both in December and January.
The report will help answer the following questions:
- HOW MANY migrants will spend Christmas in Poland this year?
- WILL it be their first Christmas spent in Poland?
- DO foreigners staying in Poland (especially Ukrainian citizens) plan to celebrate Christmas on December 25th or January 7th?
- HOW do migrants plan to spend the holiday season in our country?
- WHAT AMOUNT will foreigners allocate for Christmas shopping and travel?
- WHICH dishes of traditional Polish Christmas cuisine do migrants prefer the most?
- WHAT emotions and feelings accompany foreigners in the pre-Christmas period?
