Poland vs United Kingdom
Poland is ahead on cost of living, housing. United Kingdom is ahead on taxes, language. Full criterion-by-criterion data below.
VerifiedUpdated
Scoreboard
The key numbers head-to-head — the stronger side is marked. The overall score stays decoration; what matters is which facts fit you.
Headline result
United Kingdom leads on 3 of 6
Poland
2
United Kingdom
3
01Cost of living (single, excl. rent)
Polandstronger
$753/mo
GUS — Household Budget Survey 2024 (one-person households), CPI-uplifted
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- May 31, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 3, 2026
- Method
- GUS one-person household consumer spending 2,888.89 PLN/mo (2024) minus actual-rentals line 235.10 → 2,653.79 PLN; uplifted by CPI (+3.6% 2025 avg, +3.1% y/y May 2026) → ≈2,835 PLN; converted at 3.7635 PLN/USD (ECB 2026-07-02). Cross-checked against Eurostat price-level indices (PL ≈ 72% of EU27).
United Kingdom
$1,691/mo
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Mar 31, 2025
- Verified
- Sep 20, 2026
- Method
- Built from the Living Costs and Food Survey column for NON-RETIRED ONE-PERSON HOUSEHOLDS (4.95 million of them), the closest published match to this criterion’s single-person profile. Total expenditure across COICOP divisions 1–12 is £378.90 a week. Removed: net rent £66.60 and maintenance and repair of the dwelling £10.10, both from workbook 5 table 2.7 for the same household type, since rent is excluded by definition and repairs fall on the landlord for a renter. Water, energy and service charges stay in. Health and education are also removed because the ONS does not publish them separately for this household type (they account for £13.00 a week of the total), so the basket sums exactly to its published parts. Remainder £289.20 a week x 52/12 = £1,253.20 a month, at the 2026-08-13 ECB cross-rate of 1 GBP = 1.349164 USD = $1691.
- Notes
- Measured spending by people who actually live alone in the UK, not a priced shopping list, so it reflects British habits: transport is the single largest line at $317 a month, ahead of food. Excludes health and education, which understates by about 4%. It is a UK average — London runs well above it and the north of England below.
02Freelancer tax burden
Poland
23.6%
SettleMetric tax engine over official 2026 rules (biznes.gov.pl)
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jan 1, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 3, 2026
- Method
- Best eligible scheme pl-ryczalt-it-12 at €60,000 revenue = 257,400 PLN (ECB 4.29): ZUS social 21,459.48 + health 9,966.96 + Labor Fund 1,661.64 + 12% lump-sum tax 27,714.84 = 60,802.92 PLN → 23.6%. Expenses don't reduce ryczałt.
United Kingdomstronger
17%
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Apr 6, 2026
- Verified
- Sep 20, 2026
- Method
- Scheme gb-sole-trader at €60,000 revenue with 10% expenses, converted at the 2026-08-13 ECB reference rate (1 EUR = 0.8549 GBP) to £51,294 of revenue and £46,164.60 of profit. Income Tax on profit above the £12,570 Personal Allowance: £33,594.60 entirely within the 20% basic-rate band = £6,718.92. Class 4 National Insurance on the same £33,594.60 at 6% = £2,015.68. Class 2 is voluntary from 2024-25 and costs nothing at this profit. Total £8,734.60 of £51,294 = 17.03%. The limited-company route was computed on the same profile and came out worse at 19.6%, and the Scottish sole trader at 19.3%, so the plain English/Welsh/Northern Irish sole trader is the most favourable eligible scheme.
- Notes
- Unusually LOW for a high-income European country, and the reason is National Insurance rather than income tax: a self-employed person pays 6% on profit in the basic-rate band and 2% above it, with no employer-side charge and no separate health contribution because the NHS is funded from general taxation. An employee on the same money pays 8% plus 15% from the employer. The figure rises steeply above £50,270, where the 40% higher rate starts, and there is a 60% marginal band between £100,000 and £125,140 where the Personal Allowance is withdrawn.
03Homicide rate
Polandstronger
0.69/100k
Eurostat — police-recorded intentional homicide (ICCS 0101)
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Jul 3, 2026
- Notes
- Completed homicides. UNODC latest (2023): 0.80 per 100k. Polish police's ~503 'zabójstwa' (2024) includes attempts.
United Kingdom
0.85/100k
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Sep 20, 2026
- Method
- UNODC records the UK as three separate jurisdictions, so the national rate is built from all three: England and Wales 522 victims, Scotland 45, Northern Ireland 19 = 586, against the ONS mid-2024 UK population of 69,281,400 = 0.846 per 100,000. Read from the UNODC bulk file dated 12 July 2026. One timing detail: UNODC’s "2024" for England and Wales is the year ending March 2025, which is the 522 figure ONS itself published as the lowest number since the year to March 2015 and the lowest rate since 1977.
- Notes
- Among the lowest in the dataset and about a sixth of the United States rate. Knife crime, not firearms, drives the English and Welsh figure. The three jurisdictions are close to each other: 0.93, 1.04 and 0.52 per 100,000 respectively on UNODC’s own 2023 rates.
04Internet speed
Poland
42 Mbps
M-Lab NDT country aggregates for Poland
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2023
- Verified
- Jul 3, 2026
- Method
- Median of 343 daily country medians, 563,348 tests (2023 — latest full year in M-Lab's public stats API; 2025/2026 files not yet published).
- Notes
- M-Lab NDT is single-stream and reads well below Ookla-style figures — comparable only within this criterion.
United Kingdomstronger
49 Mbps
M-Lab NDT country aggregates for the United Kingdom
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2023
- Verified
- Sep 20, 2026
- Method
- Median of the 2023 daily country medians over 344 days and 32,367,951 tests. Monthly medians ran 46.9–50.3 Mbps with no seasonal pattern. 2023 is the last complete year M-Lab publishes for the UK — the 2024 file stops on 26 March — and it is the year the other countries in this dataset are measured on.
- Notes
- M-Lab measures what a browser-based test achieves end to end, which reads well below the line speeds advertised by UK ISPs and below Ofcom’s own connection-based figures. It is used across this dataset because it is the only free, licence-clean source measured the same way everywhere, so compare it with other countries here rather than with a national regulator’s number.
05English proficiency
Poland
Very high
EF EPI 2025 (rank 15/123, score 600 — Very High band)
Research
- Data as of
- Nov 1, 2025
- Verified
- Jul 3, 2026
- Notes
- Own band informed by EF EPI (attribution: EF Education First); English is broadly workable in cities and the service sector, less so in offices/government.
United Kingdomstronger
Native
GOV.UK — English language requirements for visas and settlement
Official source
- Data as of
- Sep 20, 2026
- Verified
- Sep 20, 2026
- Notes
- English is the national language and the language of government, courts, healthcare and business throughout the United Kingdom. Welsh has equal official standing in Wales and Scottish Gaelic and Irish have recognised status, but no part of the UK requires anything other than English of a resident. The direction of the requirement runs the other way here: most work and settlement visas require the APPLICANT to prove English at B1 or higher.
06Private healthcare cost
Poland
$1,600/yr
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jul 3, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 3, 2026
- Method
- Comprehensive private plans that include inpatient/hospital cover — top-tier LuxMed/Medicover subscriptions (own or partner hospitals) and standalone health insurance (Signal Iduna, Allianz Zdrowie, PZU) — run ≈400–700 PLN/month. Healthy-35-year-old midpoint ≈ 500 PLN/mo ≈ 6,000 PLN/yr ≈ $1,595 at 3.7635 PLN/USD (range ≈ $1,275–$2,230). Premiums are quoted on request, so this is a curated market midpoint, not a public engine quote.
- Notes
- Residents are covered by mandatory public insurance (NFZ); private cover is optional. Most people buy only a cheaper OUTPATIENT subscription (LuxMed/Medicover ≈150–250 PLN/mo ≈ $600/yr) and use the public system for hospital care. This figure is the with-inpatient comprehensive tier, chosen to be comparable with other countries' comprehensive plans (the earlier $603 was an outpatient-only subscription mislabelled as comprehensive).
United Kingdom
no verified data
Verdict
Each lens weighs only the facts that matter to that plan, and names the side it favours.
Remote IT / freelancer
Contract or freelance in tech, billing clients abroad.
United Kingdom fits better — 3 of 5
01Freelancer tax burden
Poland
23.6%
SettleMetric tax engine over official 2026 rules (biznes.gov.pl)
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jan 1, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 3, 2026
- Method
- Best eligible scheme pl-ryczalt-it-12 at €60,000 revenue = 257,400 PLN (ECB 4.29): ZUS social 21,459.48 + health 9,966.96 + Labor Fund 1,661.64 + 12% lump-sum tax 27,714.84 = 60,802.92 PLN → 23.6%. Expenses don't reduce ryczałt.
United Kingdomstronger
17%
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Apr 6, 2026
- Verified
- Sep 20, 2026
- Method
- Scheme gb-sole-trader at €60,000 revenue with 10% expenses, converted at the 2026-08-13 ECB reference rate (1 EUR = 0.8549 GBP) to £51,294 of revenue and £46,164.60 of profit. Income Tax on profit above the £12,570 Personal Allowance: £33,594.60 entirely within the 20% basic-rate band = £6,718.92. Class 4 National Insurance on the same £33,594.60 at 6% = £2,015.68. Class 2 is voluntary from 2024-25 and costs nothing at this profit. Total £8,734.60 of £51,294 = 17.03%. The limited-company route was computed on the same profile and came out worse at 19.6%, and the Scottish sole trader at 19.3%, so the plain English/Welsh/Northern Irish sole trader is the most favourable eligible scheme.
- Notes
- Unusually LOW for a high-income European country, and the reason is National Insurance rather than income tax: a self-employed person pays 6% on profit in the basic-rate band and 2% above it, with no employer-side charge and no separate health contribution because the NHS is funded from general taxation. An employee on the same money pays 8% plus 15% from the employer. The figure rises steeply above £50,270, where the 40% higher rate starts, and there is a 60% marginal band between £100,000 and £125,140 where the Personal Allowance is withdrawn.
02Internet speed
Poland
42 Mbps
M-Lab NDT country aggregates for Poland
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2023
- Verified
- Jul 3, 2026
- Method
- Median of 343 daily country medians, 563,348 tests (2023 — latest full year in M-Lab's public stats API; 2025/2026 files not yet published).
- Notes
- M-Lab NDT is single-stream and reads well below Ookla-style figures — comparable only within this criterion.
United Kingdomstronger
49 Mbps
M-Lab NDT country aggregates for the United Kingdom
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2023
- Verified
- Sep 20, 2026
- Method
- Median of the 2023 daily country medians over 344 days and 32,367,951 tests. Monthly medians ran 46.9–50.3 Mbps with no seasonal pattern. 2023 is the last complete year M-Lab publishes for the UK — the 2024 file stops on 26 March — and it is the year the other countries in this dataset are measured on.
- Notes
- M-Lab measures what a browser-based test achieves end to end, which reads well below the line speeds advertised by UK ISPs and below Ofcom’s own connection-based figures. It is used across this dataset because it is the only free, licence-clean source measured the same way everywhere, so compare it with other countries here rather than with a national regulator’s number.
03English proficiency
Poland
Very high
EF EPI 2025 (rank 15/123, score 600 — Very High band)
Research
- Data as of
- Nov 1, 2025
- Verified
- Jul 3, 2026
- Notes
- Own band informed by EF EPI (attribution: EF Education First); English is broadly workable in cities and the service sector, less so in offices/government.
United Kingdomstronger
Native
GOV.UK — English language requirements for visas and settlement
Official source
- Data as of
- Sep 20, 2026
- Verified
- Sep 20, 2026
- Notes
- English is the national language and the language of government, courts, healthcare and business throughout the United Kingdom. Welsh has equal official standing in Wales and Scottish Gaelic and Irish have recognised status, but no part of the UK requires anything other than English of a resident. The direction of the requirement runs the other way here: most work and settlement visas require the APPLICANT to prove English at B1 or higher.
04Cost of living (single, excl. rent)
Polandstronger
$753/mo
GUS — Household Budget Survey 2024 (one-person households), CPI-uplifted
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- May 31, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 3, 2026
- Method
- GUS one-person household consumer spending 2,888.89 PLN/mo (2024) minus actual-rentals line 235.10 → 2,653.79 PLN; uplifted by CPI (+3.6% 2025 avg, +3.1% y/y May 2026) → ≈2,835 PLN; converted at 3.7635 PLN/USD (ECB 2026-07-02). Cross-checked against Eurostat price-level indices (PL ≈ 72% of EU27).
United Kingdom
$1,691/mo
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Mar 31, 2025
- Verified
- Sep 20, 2026
- Method
- Built from the Living Costs and Food Survey column for NON-RETIRED ONE-PERSON HOUSEHOLDS (4.95 million of them), the closest published match to this criterion’s single-person profile. Total expenditure across COICOP divisions 1–12 is £378.90 a week. Removed: net rent £66.60 and maintenance and repair of the dwelling £10.10, both from workbook 5 table 2.7 for the same household type, since rent is excluded by definition and repairs fall on the landlord for a renter. Water, energy and service charges stay in. Health and education are also removed because the ONS does not publish them separately for this household type (they account for £13.00 a week of the total), so the basket sums exactly to its published parts. Remainder £289.20 a week x 52/12 = £1,253.20 a month, at the 2026-08-13 ECB cross-rate of 1 GBP = 1.349164 USD = $1691.
- Notes
- Measured spending by people who actually live alone in the UK, not a priced shopping list, so it reflects British habits: transport is the single largest line at $317 a month, ahead of food. Excludes health and education, which understates by about 4%. It is a UK average — London runs well above it and the north of England below.
05Domestic delivery quality
Polandstronger
Excellent
InPost official news / carrier service pages (composite)
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2025
- Verified
- Jul 3, 2026
- Method
- InPost >28,000 parcel lockers (end-2025) with 98% next-day delivery and 763M parcels/yr; ORLEN Paczka ~14k pickup points; Poczta Polska 7.6k offices + 14.3k parcel points; DPD/DHL/GLS/UPS/FedEx nationwide. Next-day is the domestic norm.
United Kingdom
Good
Official source
- Data as of
- Jul 22, 2025
- Verified
- Sep 20, 2026
- Method
- Inputs: Royal Mail must deliver to every UK address at a uniform price. First Class letters keep a six-day-a-week next-working-day service, but Ofcom cut the headline target from 93% to 90% delivered next day in its 2025 reform, with 99% within three working days. Second Class was cut from six days a week to alternate weekdays, delivered within three working days at a 95% target and 99% within five. Ofcom opened an investigation into Royal Mail’s 2025/26 delivery performance. Next-day delivery therefore exists nationwide, which is the "excellent" test, but half the letter service is now a 1–3 day product and the regulator has both lowered the bar and is investigating failure to clear it — which is the "good" band.
- Notes
- This grades the regulated postal service, which is what has an official source. The UK parcel market is much faster than the letter service and is where most people’s experience comes from, but its carrier and parcel-locker networks could not be verified here — see the delivery-methods row.
Family
Relocating with a partner and school-age children.
A close call for this plan
01Homicide rate
Polandstronger
0.69/100k
Eurostat — police-recorded intentional homicide (ICCS 0101)
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Jul 3, 2026
- Notes
- Completed homicides. UNODC latest (2023): 0.80 per 100k. Polish police's ~503 'zabójstwa' (2024) includes attempts.
United Kingdom
0.85/100k
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Sep 20, 2026
- Method
- UNODC records the UK as three separate jurisdictions, so the national rate is built from all three: England and Wales 522 victims, Scotland 45, Northern Ireland 19 = 586, against the ONS mid-2024 UK population of 69,281,400 = 0.846 per 100,000. Read from the UNODC bulk file dated 12 July 2026. One timing detail: UNODC’s "2024" for England and Wales is the year ending March 2025, which is the 522 figure ONS itself published as the lowest number since the year to March 2015 and the lowest rate since 1977.
- Notes
- Among the lowest in the dataset and about a sixth of the United States rate. Knife crime, not firearms, drives the English and Welsh figure. The three jurisdictions are close to each other: 0.93, 1.04 and 0.52 per 100,000 respectively on UNODC’s own 2023 rates.
02Private healthcare cost
Poland
$1,600/yr
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jul 3, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 3, 2026
- Method
- Comprehensive private plans that include inpatient/hospital cover — top-tier LuxMed/Medicover subscriptions (own or partner hospitals) and standalone health insurance (Signal Iduna, Allianz Zdrowie, PZU) — run ≈400–700 PLN/month. Healthy-35-year-old midpoint ≈ 500 PLN/mo ≈ 6,000 PLN/yr ≈ $1,595 at 3.7635 PLN/USD (range ≈ $1,275–$2,230). Premiums are quoted on request, so this is a curated market midpoint, not a public engine quote.
- Notes
- Residents are covered by mandatory public insurance (NFZ); private cover is optional. Most people buy only a cheaper OUTPATIENT subscription (LuxMed/Medicover ≈150–250 PLN/mo ≈ $600/yr) and use the public system for hospital care. This figure is the with-inpatient comprehensive tier, chosen to be comparable with other countries' comprehensive plans (the earlier $603 was an outpatient-only subscription mislabelled as comprehensive).
United Kingdom
no verified data
03English proficiency
Poland
Very high
EF EPI 2025 (rank 15/123, score 600 — Very High band)
Research
- Data as of
- Nov 1, 2025
- Verified
- Jul 3, 2026
- Notes
- Own band informed by EF EPI (attribution: EF Education First); English is broadly workable in cities and the service sector, less so in offices/government.
United Kingdomstronger
Native
GOV.UK — English language requirements for visas and settlement
Official source
- Data as of
- Sep 20, 2026
- Verified
- Sep 20, 2026
- Notes
- English is the national language and the language of government, courts, healthcare and business throughout the United Kingdom. Welsh has equal official standing in Wales and Scottish Gaelic and Irish have recognised status, but no part of the UK requires anything other than English of a resident. The direction of the requirement runs the other way here: most work and settlement visas require the APPLICANT to prove English at B1 or higher.
Money & crypto
Optimising tax, banking and crypto rules.
United Kingdom fits better — 1 of 3
01Crypto regulation
Poland
Legal regulated
Polish tax authority — disposal of virtual currencies (PIT-38, 19%)
Official source
- Data as of
- Jul 1, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 3, 2026
- Notes
- Holding/trading legal for individuals; 19% flat tax on disposal gains (crypto-to-crypto swaps untaxed). EU MiCA applies; Poland's domestic implementing act was vetoed (latest 2026-06-11), so local CASP licensing is stalled — EU-passported providers serve the market.
United Kingdom
Legal regulated
Financial Conduct Authority — Cryptoassets
Official source
- Data as of
- Sep 20, 2026
- Verified
- Sep 20, 2026
- Method
- Holding, buying and selling cryptoassets is lawful for individuals and there is no restriction on it. Businesses carrying on cryptoasset activity have had to register with the FCA under the Money Laundering Regulations since 10 January 2020, and since 8 October 2023 any firm marketing cryptoassets to UK consumers falls under the FCA financial-promotions regime regardless of where the firm is based. Gains are taxed: HMRC treats cryptoassets as property for Capital Gains Tax, and trading as taxable income.
- Notes
- Not crypto-friendly in the tax sense — there is no exemption of the kind Portugal or Germany offer on long-held holdings. Two consumer restrictions are worth knowing: the FCA has banned the sale of crypto derivatives and exchange-traded notes to retail consumers, and cryptoassets are not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, so an exchange failure is not underwritten.
02Financial control level
Poland
Low
biznes.gov.pl — cash payment limits (art. 19 Prawo przedsiębiorców)
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- May 3, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 3, 2026
- Method
- Composite: no currency/capital controls for EU/OECD flows (Prawo dewizowe, Dz.U. 2024 poz. 1131); PLN fully convertible; B2B cash cap 15,000 PLN per transaction, no consumer cash limit; no FBAR-style foreign-account disclosure (NBP statistical reporting only above 7M PLN of foreign assets); standard EU CRS via banks.
United Kingdom
Low
GOV.UK — Take cash in and out of the UK
Official source
- Data as of
- Sep 20, 2026
- Verified
- Sep 20, 2026
- Method
- Inputs weighed: no exchange or capital controls on moving personal funds into or out of the country, and no limit on the size of a bank transfer; sterling floats freely; non-residents may open UK bank accounts subject to the banks’ own identity checks rather than a legal bar; and the only cross-border reporting duty on an individual is a declaration of cash of £10,000 or more carried in or out of Great Britain, with a penalty of up to £5,000 and seizure for failing to declare. Residents are taxed on worldwide income and must report it through Self Assessment, which is ordinary for a developed economy rather than a control on money.
- Notes
- Opening a first UK bank account without a UK address or credit history is the practical friction, not the law — it is a bank compliance problem, and it is why many new arrivals start with an e-money account.
03Freelancer tax burden
Poland
23.6%
SettleMetric tax engine over official 2026 rules (biznes.gov.pl)
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jan 1, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 3, 2026
- Method
- Best eligible scheme pl-ryczalt-it-12 at €60,000 revenue = 257,400 PLN (ECB 4.29): ZUS social 21,459.48 + health 9,966.96 + Labor Fund 1,661.64 + 12% lump-sum tax 27,714.84 = 60,802.92 PLN → 23.6%. Expenses don't reduce ryczałt.
United Kingdomstronger
17%
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Apr 6, 2026
- Verified
- Sep 20, 2026
- Method
- Scheme gb-sole-trader at €60,000 revenue with 10% expenses, converted at the 2026-08-13 ECB reference rate (1 EUR = 0.8549 GBP) to £51,294 of revenue and £46,164.60 of profit. Income Tax on profit above the £12,570 Personal Allowance: £33,594.60 entirely within the 20% basic-rate band = £6,718.92. Class 4 National Insurance on the same £33,594.60 at 6% = £2,015.68. Class 2 is voluntary from 2024-25 and costs nothing at this profit. Total £8,734.60 of £51,294 = 17.03%. The limited-company route was computed on the same profile and came out worse at 19.6%, and the Scottish sole trader at 19.3%, so the plain English/Welsh/Northern Irish sole trader is the most favourable eligible scheme.
- Notes
- Unusually LOW for a high-income European country, and the reason is National Insurance rather than income tax: a self-employed person pays 6% on profit in the basic-rate band and 2% above it, with no employer-side charge and no separate health contribution because the NHS is funded from general taxation. An employee on the same money pays 8% plus 15% from the employer. The figure rises steeply above £50,270, where the 40% higher rate starts, and there is a 60% marginal band between £100,000 and £125,140 where the Personal Allowance is withdrawn.
Calm lifestyle
Prioritising safety, air, and an easy daily life.
Poland fits better — 2 of 2
01Homicide rate
Polandstronger
0.69/100k
Eurostat — police-recorded intentional homicide (ICCS 0101)
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Jul 3, 2026
- Notes
- Completed homicides. UNODC latest (2023): 0.80 per 100k. Polish police's ~503 'zabójstwa' (2024) includes attempts.
United Kingdom
0.85/100k
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Sep 20, 2026
- Method
- UNODC records the UK as three separate jurisdictions, so the national rate is built from all three: England and Wales 522 victims, Scotland 45, Northern Ireland 19 = 586, against the ONS mid-2024 UK population of 69,281,400 = 0.846 per 100,000. Read from the UNODC bulk file dated 12 July 2026. One timing detail: UNODC’s "2024" for England and Wales is the year ending March 2025, which is the 522 figure ONS itself published as the lowest number since the year to March 2015 and the lowest rate since 1977.
- Notes
- Among the lowest in the dataset and about a sixth of the United States rate. Knife crime, not firearms, drives the English and Welsh figure. The three jurisdictions are close to each other: 0.93, 1.04 and 0.52 per 100,000 respectively on UNODC’s own 2023 rates.
02Cost of living (single, excl. rent)
Polandstronger
$753/mo
GUS — Household Budget Survey 2024 (one-person households), CPI-uplifted
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- May 31, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 3, 2026
- Method
- GUS one-person household consumer spending 2,888.89 PLN/mo (2024) minus actual-rentals line 235.10 → 2,653.79 PLN; uplifted by CPI (+3.6% 2025 avg, +3.1% y/y May 2026) → ≈2,835 PLN; converted at 3.7635 PLN/USD (ECB 2026-07-02). Cross-checked against Eurostat price-level indices (PL ≈ 72% of EU27).
United Kingdom
$1,691/mo
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Mar 31, 2025
- Verified
- Sep 20, 2026
- Method
- Built from the Living Costs and Food Survey column for NON-RETIRED ONE-PERSON HOUSEHOLDS (4.95 million of them), the closest published match to this criterion’s single-person profile. Total expenditure across COICOP divisions 1–12 is £378.90 a week. Removed: net rent £66.60 and maintenance and repair of the dwelling £10.10, both from workbook 5 table 2.7 for the same household type, since rent is excluded by definition and repairs fall on the landlord for a renter. Water, energy and service charges stay in. Health and education are also removed because the ONS does not publish them separately for this household type (they account for £13.00 a week of the total), so the basket sums exactly to its published parts. Remainder £289.20 a week x 52/12 = £1,253.20 a month, at the 2026-08-13 ECB cross-rate of 1 GBP = 1.349164 USD = $1691.
- Notes
- Measured spending by people who actually live alone in the UK, not a priced shopping list, so it reflects British habits: transport is the single largest line at $317 a month, ahead of food. Excludes health and education, which understates by about 4%. It is a UK average — London runs well above it and the north of England below.
Details
Taxes
CriterionPolandUnited Kingdom
01+−Freelancer tax burden% effective burden at €60k/year self-employed profilePoland23.6United Kingdomstronger17
What this measures
Effective total burden (income tax + mandatory social and health contributions) for a solo IT freelancer with €60,000/year revenue and 10% deductible expenses, using the most favourable eligible scheme in the country's tax-schemes data. Computed by the SettleMetric tax engine; recorded as a curated value with the winning scheme id in method.
Lower is better· % effective burden at €60k/year self-employed profile· re-verified every 365 days
Poland
SettleMetric tax engine over official 2026 rules (biznes.gov.pl)
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jan 1, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 3, 2026
- Method
- Best eligible scheme pl-ryczalt-it-12 at €60,000 revenue = 257,400 PLN (ECB 4.29): ZUS social 21,459.48 + health 9,966.96 + Labor Fund 1,661.64 + 12% lump-sum tax 27,714.84 = 60,802.92 PLN → 23.6%. Expenses don't reduce ryczałt.
United Kingdom
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Apr 6, 2026
- Verified
- Sep 20, 2026
- Method
- Scheme gb-sole-trader at €60,000 revenue with 10% expenses, converted at the 2026-08-13 ECB reference rate (1 EUR = 0.8549 GBP) to £51,294 of revenue and £46,164.60 of profit. Income Tax on profit above the £12,570 Personal Allowance: £33,594.60 entirely within the 20% basic-rate band = £6,718.92. Class 4 National Insurance on the same £33,594.60 at 6% = £2,015.68. Class 2 is voluntary from 2024-25 and costs nothing at this profit. Total £8,734.60 of £51,294 = 17.03%. The limited-company route was computed on the same profile and came out worse at 19.6%, and the Scottish sole trader at 19.3%, so the plain English/Welsh/Northern Irish sole trader is the most favourable eligible scheme.
- Notes
- Unusually LOW for a high-income European country, and the reason is National Insurance rather than income tax: a self-employed person pays 6% on profit in the basic-rate band and 2% above it, with no employer-side charge and no separate health contribution because the NHS is funded from general taxation. An employee on the same money pays 8% plus 15% from the employer. The figure rises steeply above £50,270, where the 40% higher rate starts, and there is a 60% marginal band between £100,000 and £125,140 where the Personal Allowance is withdrawn.
Legalization
CriterionPolandUnited Kingdom
01+−Remote-work legalization easePolandLong stay pathUnited KingdomLong stay path
What this measures
Best available legalization route for a location-independent earner with a median (non-EU, non-US) passport, classified from this country's legalization-paths data: dedicated digital-nomad visa; general freelance/self-employment permit; realistic long-stay path (e.g. renewable temporary residence); only short visa-free/tourist stays; effectively none.
Rated by category· re-verified every 180 days
Poland
Wielkopolska Voivodeship Office — business-activity residence permit
Official source
- Data as of
- Jul 3, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 3, 2026
- Notes
- No digital nomad visa (verified absent on gov.pl); Poland Business Harbour suspended since Jan 2024. Realistic long-stay route: temporary residence via business activity (renewable, up to 3 years) — but sole-proprietorship registration is limited to specific statuses, so most non-EU/non-US freelancers route through a company.
United Kingdom
Official source
- Data as of
- Sep 20, 2026
- Verified
- Sep 20, 2026
- Method
- Classified from this country’s legalization data. The United Kingdom has NO digital-nomad visa and no general freelance or self-employment permit — the old Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) and self-employment routes are closed. What exists for someone working for themselves is the Global Talent visa: up to 5 years at a time, no sponsor, self-employment allowed, open to any nationality, and it leads to settlement after 3 or 5 years. It is not granted for being a freelancer — it requires endorsement as a leader or potential leader in academia, the arts or digital technology — so it is a realistic long-stay path rather than a freelance permit. The High Potential Individual visa also permits self-employment without a sponsor but lasts only 2–3 years, cannot be extended and does not count towards settlement.
- Notes
- Everyone else works from the UK as a visitor. Since January 2024 the Immigration Rules explicitly allow a visitor to work remotely for an overseas employer or their own overseas business, provided that is not the primary purpose of the visit — which legalises the short stay but is capped at 6 months and is not a residence route.
Cost of living
CriterionPolandUnited Kingdom
01+−Cost of living (single, excl. rent)USD/month, single person, excluding rentPolandstronger753United Kingdom1,691
What this measures
Monthly cost of a defined single-person basket (food, transport, utilities, mobile+internet, modest leisure) excluding rent, curated from national statistics office price data and large local retailers' published prices, converted to USD at the ECB rate recorded in fx-rates. The method field of each value itemizes the basket inputs.
Lower is better· USD/month, single person, excluding rent· re-verified every 365 days
Poland
GUS — Household Budget Survey 2024 (one-person households), CPI-uplifted
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- May 31, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 3, 2026
- Method
- GUS one-person household consumer spending 2,888.89 PLN/mo (2024) minus actual-rentals line 235.10 → 2,653.79 PLN; uplifted by CPI (+3.6% 2025 avg, +3.1% y/y May 2026) → ≈2,835 PLN; converted at 3.7635 PLN/USD (ECB 2026-07-02). Cross-checked against Eurostat price-level indices (PL ≈ 72% of EU27).
United Kingdom
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Mar 31, 2025
- Verified
- Sep 20, 2026
- Method
- Built from the Living Costs and Food Survey column for NON-RETIRED ONE-PERSON HOUSEHOLDS (4.95 million of them), the closest published match to this criterion’s single-person profile. Total expenditure across COICOP divisions 1–12 is £378.90 a week. Removed: net rent £66.60 and maintenance and repair of the dwelling £10.10, both from workbook 5 table 2.7 for the same household type, since rent is excluded by definition and repairs fall on the landlord for a renter. Water, energy and service charges stay in. Health and education are also removed because the ONS does not publish them separately for this household type (they account for £13.00 a week of the total), so the basket sums exactly to its published parts. Remainder £289.20 a week x 52/12 = £1,253.20 a month, at the 2026-08-13 ECB cross-rate of 1 GBP = 1.349164 USD = $1691.
- Notes
- Measured spending by people who actually live alone in the UK, not a priced shopping list, so it reflects British habits: transport is the single largest line at $317 a month, ahead of food. Excludes health and education, which understates by about 4%. It is a UK average — London runs well above it and the north of England below.
Monthly spending by category (excl. rent)
Poland
United Kingdom
GUS Household Budget Survey 2024 (one-person households), CPI-uplifted
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- May 31, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 3, 2026
- Method
- GUS 2024 one-person household spending by COICOP category, minus the actual-rentals line, CPI-uplifted to mid-2026 (×1.068) and converted at 3.7635 PLN/USD. Categories sum to the ~$753/mo cost-of-living aggregate. National average — city living runs somewhat higher.
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Mar 31, 2025
- Verified
- Sep 20, 2026
- Method
- The COICOP divisions of the same one-person household column, each converted from £/week at 52/12 weeks a month and 1 GBP = 1.349164 USD. The housing line is division 4 less net rent and less maintenance and repair, so it is water, energy and service charges only. Health and education are not published for this household type and are therefore absent rather than estimated.
01Food & non-alcoholic drinks
Polandcheaper
$205
United Kingdom
$236
02Transport
Polandcheaper
$59
United Kingdom
$317
03Recreation & culture
Polandcheaper
$55
United Kingdom
$236
04Utilities (water, energy and service charges)
Poland
—
United Kingdom
$218
05Household goods & services
Poland
—
United Kingdom
$164
06Miscellaneous goods & services
Poland
—
United Kingdom
$163
07Restaurants & hotels
Poland
—
United Kingdom
$158
08Utilities (electricity, gas, water)
Poland
$147
United Kingdom
—
09Clothing & footwear
Polandcheaper
$26
United Kingdom
$61
10Communication
Poland
—
United Kingdom
$87
11Other (alcohol, tobacco, misc.)
Poland
$77
United Kingdom
—
12Restaurants & eating out
Poland
$59
United Kingdom
—
13Health (out-of-pocket)
Poland
$55
United Kingdom
—
14Alcohol & tobacco
Poland
—
United Kingdom
$50
15Household goods
Poland
$38
United Kingdom
—
16Communications
Poland
$32
United Kingdom
—
Total (excl. rent)
Poland$753/mo
United Kingdom$1,690/mo
Housing
Rent by apartment type
Asking rent, central price with outside-centre in parentheses ($/mo).
Poland
United Kingdom
SettleMetric — population-weighted average of covered cities (Kraków, Warsaw)
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jul 3, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 3, 2026
- Method
- Population-weighted mean of the rent-breakdown matrices of Kraków, Warsaw; each cell averages the cities that report it. See each city page for its exact local matrix.
- Notes
- Averaged over 2 of 4 covered cities (others have no published matrix yet).
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Aug 31, 2026
- Verified
- Sep 20, 2026
- Method
- Population-weighted mean of the rent-breakdown matrices of Birmingham, Glasgow, Leeds, London, Manchester; each cell averages the cities that report it. See each city page for its exact local matrix.
01Studio
Poland
$853$534 outside
United Kingdom
—
021-bedroom
Polandcheaper
$1,174$735 outside
United Kingdom
$2,223$1,645 outside
032-bedroom
Polandcheaper
$1,632$1,019 outside
United Kingdom
$2,783$2,049 outside
043-bedroom
Polandcheaper
$2,193$1,370 outside
United Kingdom
$3,201$2,443 outside
Safety
CriterionPolandUnited Kingdom
01+−Homicide rateintentional homicides per 100,000/yearPolandstronger0.7United Kingdom0.9
What this measures
Intentional homicide victims per 100,000 population, latest available year. Country level: UNODC national series. City level: official municipal/police statistics where published; otherwise null (country value shown as country-level).
Lower is better· intentional homicides per 100,000/year· re-verified every 730 days
Poland
Eurostat — police-recorded intentional homicide (ICCS 0101)
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Jul 3, 2026
- Notes
- Completed homicides. UNODC latest (2023): 0.80 per 100k. Polish police's ~503 'zabójstwa' (2024) includes attempts.
United Kingdom
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Sep 20, 2026
- Method
- UNODC records the UK as three separate jurisdictions, so the national rate is built from all three: England and Wales 522 victims, Scotland 45, Northern Ireland 19 = 586, against the ONS mid-2024 UK population of 69,281,400 = 0.846 per 100,000. Read from the UNODC bulk file dated 12 July 2026. One timing detail: UNODC’s "2024" for England and Wales is the year ending March 2025, which is the 522 figure ONS itself published as the lowest number since the year to March 2015 and the lowest rate since 1977.
- Notes
- Among the lowest in the dataset and about a sixth of the United States rate. Knife crime, not firearms, drives the English and Welsh figure. The three jurisdictions are close to each other: 0.93, 1.04 and 0.52 per 100,000 respectively on UNODC’s own 2023 rates.
Healthcare
CriterionPolandUnited Kingdom
01+−Private healthcare costUSD/year, comprehensive private insurance premium, healthy 35-year-oldPoland1,600United Kingdomno verified data
What this measures
Median of at least three publicly quoted annual premiums for comprehensive private medical insurance (outpatient + inpatient, ~$100k coverage, small deductible) for a healthy 35-year-old resident foreigner, from local and international insurers. Method field lists the insurers quoted.
Lower is better· USD/year, comprehensive private insurance premium, healthy 35-year-old· re-verified every 365 days
Poland
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jul 3, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 3, 2026
- Method
- Comprehensive private plans that include inpatient/hospital cover — top-tier LuxMed/Medicover subscriptions (own or partner hospitals) and standalone health insurance (Signal Iduna, Allianz Zdrowie, PZU) — run ≈400–700 PLN/month. Healthy-35-year-old midpoint ≈ 500 PLN/mo ≈ 6,000 PLN/yr ≈ $1,595 at 3.7635 PLN/USD (range ≈ $1,275–$2,230). Premiums are quoted on request, so this is a curated market midpoint, not a public engine quote.
- Notes
- Residents are covered by mandatory public insurance (NFZ); private cover is optional. Most people buy only a cheaper OUTPATIENT subscription (LuxMed/Medicover ≈150–250 PLN/mo ≈ $600/yr) and use the public system for hospital care. This figure is the with-inpatient comprehensive tier, chosen to be comparable with other countries' comprehensive plans (the earlier $603 was an outpatient-only subscription mislabelled as comprehensive).
United Kingdom
Not priced. No UK private medical insurer publishes a rate table: Bupa, AXA Health, Aviva and Vitality all quote only through a form that requires personal details, so there is no public figure to take a median of and we do not fill in quote engines. The criterion also fits the UK badly. Healthcare here is not bought — anyone ordinarily resident uses the NHS free at the point of use, and a migrant on a visa of more than six months pays the Immigration Health Surcharge instead, £1,035 a year on most work routes and £776 a year on the Youth Mobility and student routes, which buys full NHS access. Private cover in the UK is a top-up bought mainly for faster elective treatment, not a substitute, so a premium would not be comparable with the figures other countries in this dataset carry.
Money & crypto
CriterionPolandUnited Kingdom
01+−Crypto regulationPolandLegal regulatedUnited KingdomLegal regulated
What this measures
Own classification of the legal status of holding, trading and cashing out cryptocurrency for individuals: legal-friendly (legal with clear, favourable rules or explicit tax exemptions), legal-regulated (legal under standard licensing/AML and taxation), restricted (partial bans: payments or banking access prohibited), banned (holding/trading prohibited). Classified from national regulators' and central banks' official positions.
Rated by category· re-verified every 180 days
Poland
Polish tax authority — disposal of virtual currencies (PIT-38, 19%)
Official source
- Data as of
- Jul 1, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 3, 2026
- Notes
- Holding/trading legal for individuals; 19% flat tax on disposal gains (crypto-to-crypto swaps untaxed). EU MiCA applies; Poland's domestic implementing act was vetoed (latest 2026-06-11), so local CASP licensing is stalled — EU-passported providers serve the market.
United Kingdom
Financial Conduct Authority — Cryptoassets
Official source
- Data as of
- Sep 20, 2026
- Verified
- Sep 20, 2026
- Method
- Holding, buying and selling cryptoassets is lawful for individuals and there is no restriction on it. Businesses carrying on cryptoasset activity have had to register with the FCA under the Money Laundering Regulations since 10 January 2020, and since 8 October 2023 any firm marketing cryptoassets to UK consumers falls under the FCA financial-promotions regime regardless of where the firm is based. Gains are taxed: HMRC treats cryptoassets as property for Capital Gains Tax, and trading as taxable income.
- Notes
- Not crypto-friendly in the tax sense — there is no exemption of the kind Portugal or Germany offer on long-held holdings. Two consumer restrictions are worth knowing: the FCA has banned the sale of crypto derivatives and exchange-traded notes to retail consumers, and cryptoassets are not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, so an exchange failure is not underwritten.
02+−Financial control levelPolandLowUnited KingdomLow
What this measures
Own composite of state control over personal money flows: currency/capital controls (IMF AREAER), restrictions on foreign accounts and transfers, mandatory income declaration scope for residents, cash payment limits, banking access for foreigners. Low = free movement of personal funds and easy non-resident banking; very-high = strict capital controls and pervasive reporting. Method field on each value lists the inputs used.
Rated by category· re-verified every 365 days
Poland
biznes.gov.pl — cash payment limits (art. 19 Prawo przedsiębiorców)
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- May 3, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 3, 2026
- Method
- Composite: no currency/capital controls for EU/OECD flows (Prawo dewizowe, Dz.U. 2024 poz. 1131); PLN fully convertible; B2B cash cap 15,000 PLN per transaction, no consumer cash limit; no FBAR-style foreign-account disclosure (NBP statistical reporting only above 7M PLN of foreign assets); standard EU CRS via banks.
United Kingdom
GOV.UK — Take cash in and out of the UK
Official source
- Data as of
- Sep 20, 2026
- Verified
- Sep 20, 2026
- Method
- Inputs weighed: no exchange or capital controls on moving personal funds into or out of the country, and no limit on the size of a bank transfer; sterling floats freely; non-residents may open UK bank accounts subject to the banks’ own identity checks rather than a legal bar; and the only cross-border reporting duty on an individual is a declaration of cash of £10,000 or more carried in or out of Great Britain, with a penalty of up to £5,000 and seizure for failing to declare. Residents are taxed on worldwide income and must report it through Self Assessment, which is ordinary for a developed economy rather than a control on money.
- Notes
- Opening a first UK bank account without a UK address or credit history is the practical friction, not the law — it is a bank compliance problem, and it is why many new arrivals start with an e-money account.
Infrastructure
CriterionPolandUnited Kingdom
01+−Domestic delivery qualityPolandstrongerExcellentUnited KingdomGood
What this measures
Quality of in-country parcel delivery. excellent = nationwide next-day widely available, dense parcel-locker network, real-time tracking standard; good = 1–3 day delivery, lockers in major cities; basic = reliable but slow (3–7 days), mostly to-door or post-office pickup; poor = unreliable delivery, street addresses often unusable, informal workarounds common. Classified from official service/coverage data of the national postal operator and the two largest private carriers; inputs itemized in each value's method field.
Rated by category· re-verified every 730 days
Poland
InPost official news / carrier service pages (composite)
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2025
- Verified
- Jul 3, 2026
- Method
- InPost >28,000 parcel lockers (end-2025) with 98% next-day delivery and 763M parcels/yr; ORLEN Paczka ~14k pickup points; Poczta Polska 7.6k offices + 14.3k parcel points; DPD/DHL/GLS/UPS/FedEx nationwide. Next-day is the domestic norm.
United Kingdom
Official source
- Data as of
- Jul 22, 2025
- Verified
- Sep 20, 2026
- Method
- Inputs: Royal Mail must deliver to every UK address at a uniform price. First Class letters keep a six-day-a-week next-working-day service, but Ofcom cut the headline target from 93% to 90% delivered next day in its 2025 reform, with 99% within three working days. Second Class was cut from six days a week to alternate weekdays, delivered within three working days at a 95% target and 99% within five. Ofcom opened an investigation into Royal Mail’s 2025/26 delivery performance. Next-day delivery therefore exists nationwide, which is the "excellent" test, but half the letter service is now a 1–3 day product and the regulator has both lowered the bar and is investigating failure to clear it — which is the "good" band.
- Notes
- This grades the regulated postal service, which is what has an official source. The UK parcel market is much faster than the letter service and is where most people’s experience comes from, but its carrier and parcel-locker networks could not be verified here — see the delivery-methods row.
02+−International delivery easePolandMinor frictionUnited KingdomMinor friction
What this measures
Ease of receiving goods from abroad. seamless = major international carriers deliver door-to-door, meaningful duty-free de-minimis threshold, customs clearance predictable in days; minor-friction = carriers present but low de-minimis, extra paperwork or routine delays; significant-friction = frequent customs holds, high brokerage fees, some marketplaces refuse to ship; unreliable = parcels regularly lost or blocked, informal import channels dominate. De-minimis thresholds and clearance rules from the national customs authority (official source, cite the regulation); carrier presence from carriers' official pages.
Rated by category· re-verified every 365 days
Poland
European Commission — removal of the €150 customs duty exemption (Reg. EU 2026/382)
Official source
- Data as of
- Jul 1, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 3, 2026
- Notes
- Intra-EU shipping is frictionless (single market, all major carriers). Non-EU imports: the €150 duty-free threshold was removed on 2026-07-01 — a temporary flat €3/item duty applies to ≤€150 IOSS consignments (until the 2028 Customs Data Hub); VAT collected at checkout via IOSS. Predictable but no longer duty-free.
United Kingdom
GOV.UK — Tax and duty on goods sent from abroad
Official source
- Data as of
- Sep 20, 2026
- Verified
- Sep 20, 2026
- Method
- The UK left the EU customs union, so every consignment from abroad is cleared. Customs duty is relieved on non-excise goods worth £135 or less; above that, duty applies at tariff rates. VAT is due on everything except gifts of £39 or less — on consignments of £135 or less the overseas seller is required to charge it at the point of sale, above that the carrier collects it before delivery and adds a handling fee. All the major international carriers deliver door to door and clearance is routine rather than uncertain. Northern Ireland follows different rules for goods "at risk" of entering the EU.
- Notes
- The £135 threshold is low enough that most ordinary online orders from outside the UK carry VAT, and the sting is usually the carrier’s handling fee rather than the tax. Nothing is blocked and nothing is unpredictable, which is what separates this from significant-friction.
03+−Internet speedMbps, median fixed downloadPoland41.7United Kingdomstronger49.2
What this measures
Median fixed-broadband download speed over the trailing 6 months from M-Lab NDT open data (CC0), aggregated at country or city level. Not comparable with Ookla figures (different test methodology) — do not mix sources within this criterion.
Higher is better· Mbps, median fixed download· re-verified every 365 days
Poland
M-Lab NDT country aggregates for Poland
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2023
- Verified
- Jul 3, 2026
- Method
- Median of 343 daily country medians, 563,348 tests (2023 — latest full year in M-Lab's public stats API; 2025/2026 files not yet published).
- Notes
- M-Lab NDT is single-stream and reads well below Ookla-style figures — comparable only within this criterion.
United Kingdom
M-Lab NDT country aggregates for the United Kingdom
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2023
- Verified
- Sep 20, 2026
- Method
- Median of the 2023 daily country medians over 344 days and 32,367,951 tests. Monthly medians ran 46.9–50.3 Mbps with no seasonal pattern. 2023 is the last complete year M-Lab publishes for the UK — the 2024 file stops on 26 March — and it is the year the other countries in this dataset are measured on.
- Notes
- M-Lab measures what a browser-based test achieves end to end, which reads well below the line speeds advertised by UK ISPs and below Ofcom’s own connection-based figures. It is used across this dataset because it is the only free, licence-clean source measured the same way everywhere, so compare it with other countries here rather than with a national regulator’s number.
Language
CriterionPolandUnited Kingdom
01+−English proficiencyPolandVery highUnited KingdomstrongerNative
What this measures
Own banding of how far English gets a resident in daily life (government offices, healthcare, housing, services). Informed by EF EPI band (research source, cited with attribution, not republished) plus official language status and service-sector realities. Values are our bands, not EF scores.
Rated by category· re-verified every 730 days
Poland
EF EPI 2025 (rank 15/123, score 600 — Very High band)
Research
- Data as of
- Nov 1, 2025
- Verified
- Jul 3, 2026
- Notes
- Own band informed by EF EPI (attribution: EF Education First); English is broadly workable in cities and the service sector, less so in offices/government.
United Kingdom
GOV.UK — English language requirements for visas and settlement
Official source
- Data as of
- Sep 20, 2026
- Verified
- Sep 20, 2026
- Notes
- English is the national language and the language of government, courts, healthcare and business throughout the United Kingdom. Welsh has equal official standing in Wales and Scottish Gaelic and Irish have recognised status, but no part of the UK requires anything other than English of a resident. The direction of the requirement runs the other way here: most work and settlement visas require the APPLICANT to prove English at B1 or higher.
Deep dives: taxes in Poland ·taxes in United Kingdom ·net-income calculator