22/2025
2025-10-24
Should Ukrainian Refugees Get Child Benefit and Free Health Care?
After the question of whether Ukrainian refugees should be eligible for child benefit or free health care became hotly debated in public, CBOS asked Poles for their opinions. The key issue for the people surveyed turned out to be working and paying taxes in Poland. A majority of respondents (58%) stated that child benefit and free health care should be available to all Ukrainians (not just refugees) who work and pay taxes here. Every fourth respondent (25%) said that as well as working and paying taxes, Ukrainians should have refugee status. One in twelve (8%) was of the opinion that no Ukrainians in Poland should be eligible for such services. Only a very small percentage of respondents (3%) thought these services should be available without limitations to Ukrainian refugees who had come to Poland after the outbreak of war, which has been the situation up to now, or generally to all Ukrainians living in Poland.
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Inhabitants of the largest Polish cities and people who assessed their own financial position as reasonable were more likely to think that all Ukrainians working and paying taxes in Poland should have access to benefits. On the other hand, the minority opinion that no Ukrainians should be eligible for benefits was more likely to be expressed by the youngest respondents (aged 18–24), inhabitants of rural areas, less well-educated people, those who assessed their financial situation as poor and those without clear political views.
More on this subject in the CBOS report.
This ‘Current Events and Problems’ survey (425) was conducted using a mixed-mode procedure on a representative sample of named adult residents of Poland, randomly selected from the National Identity Number (PESEL) register. Respondents independently selected one of the following methods: Computer Assisted Personal Interview (CAPI); Computer Assisted Telephone Interview (CATI), respondents receiving researchers’ telephone numbers in an introductory letter from CBOS; Computer Assisted Web Interview (CAWI), where respondents filled in the online questionnaire independently, gaining access by means of a login and password provided in an introductory letter from CBOS. In all three cases the questionnaire had the same structure and comprised the same questions. The survey was carried out between 11–22 September 2025 inclusive on a sample of 969 people (65.4% using the CAPI method, 22.1% CATI and 12.5% CAWI). CBOS has been conducting statutory research using the above procedure since May 2020, stating in each case the percentage of personal, telephone and internet interviews.
