Over the past 15 years, a quarter of Poland’s maternity wards have closed as the country’s birth rate plummeted from 413,000 in 2010 to a projected 238,000 in 2025.
Falling Birth Rates and Hospital Closures
Data from the Ministry of Health and the Central Statistical Office (GUS) reveal a significant decline in both births and the availability of maternity wards across Poland.
The number of maternity wards decreased from 406 in 2010 to 305 in November 2025, according to the Ministry of Health data presented in February during a Parliamentary Group meeting on Patient Rights.
Ward Closures: A Recent Trend
Twelve gynecology and obstetrics departments closed in 2020, followed by 10 in 2021, and 11 in 2022. This trend continued with 7 closures in 2023, 11 in 2024, and 27 in 2025. In January 2026, three more were closed, and 12 were suspended, according to the Ministry of Health.
Financial Strain on Maternity Wards
Hospitals with low birth rates are facing financial difficulties. While the National Health Fund (NFZ) covers the cost of deliveries, hospitals must still cover staff costs, including on-call doctors and midwives, even when deliveries are infrequent. The average occupancy rate in maternity wards in 2024 was just under 60 percent.
The NFZ pays hospitals approximately 12,000 PLN per birth, including neonatal care.
Demographic Shift as Primary Cause
Bernadeta Skóbel of the Polish Association of Counties attributes the closures primarily to demographic changes. She stated in January that county hospitals maintain maternity wards despite unprofitability when a need exists, but the current funding system favors specialized hospitals.
Unaffordable Costs and Limited Funding
Joanna Pietrusiewicz, president of the “Rodzić po Ludzku” (Humanely Giving Birth) Foundation, noted in February that even highly-rated maternity wards are closing due to the current demographic situation and their inability to remain sustainable. Hospitals emphasize that the current birth rate makes the cost of a delivery insufficient.
New “Birth Rooms” Initiative
Since February, the NFZ has been funding so-called “birth rooms” staffed by midwives in hospitals without maternity wards, located more than 25 km from the nearest obstetrics and gynecology department. As of early March, no hospital had yet decided to establish such a room.