Reports – the Polish language and foreigners in numbers

What you will find in the reports

The section has three reports; each answers a different question and ends with a practical conclusion for a person learning Polish. They complement the guides in the knowledge centre – on grammar, vocabulary and official matters.

How we prepare the reports

A report contains only numbers that a public institution has published or that the media have reported citing such an institution. For each number we indicate the source and the date it refers to. The data was collected and checked by the Pol-Langua Editorial Team on 3 October 2026.

• We do not fill gaps. If we do not have a checked number for a given year, we leave that year out instead of estimating.
• We do not add up data from different registers. The GUS estimate, the number insured with ZUS and the number of residence permits measure different things and have different dates – so we show them side by side, not together.
• We separate facts from conclusions. The numbers come from sources, and the section with conclusions is our interpretation – we always mark it as such.
• We mark calculations. If we calculate a percentage change or a share, we say that it is a calculation by the editorial team based on source data.
• No school data. We do not give the number of our students or their exam results.

Why these numbers matter for a person learning Polish

The numbers help you make practical decisions: when to register for the exam, what level you need and how much competition for places at the centres is growing. For example, a rapid rise in the number of candidates means that for popular sessions it is worth registering right after the list of centres is published. In turn, data on new citizens show how many people follow a path on which a certificate of at least B1 is needed.

Language requirements – what level and what document are needed for citizenship, EU long-term resident status or studies – we describe separately in our guide to Polish in residence matters, and proficiency levels in the description of levels A1–C2. You can read about the exam itself in the guide to the B1 exam.

How to cite the reports

You can use the numbers from the reports, but cite primarily the original source – the institution that published the data. If you refer to our compilation, give the name of the report, the date of the data and the original source, e.g.: "The Polish exam in numbers", Pol-Langua, as at 3.10.2026, data of the State Commission for the Certification of Proficiency in Polish as a Foreign Language.