Demographic changes in post-state farm localities in Poland

The article presents research results conducted in specific localities, different from the rest of the country, where State Agricultural Farms (PGR) operated after World War II. The main objective of the presented research was the demographic transformations between 1950 and 2021 in so-called ‘post-state farm localities’. As a result, an analysis of population changes between census periods covering 71 years was carried out. Then, based on the constructed scheme, the course of the path dependence between the feminisation coefficient and the old-age index for the studied post-state farm localities was examined. It concerned the dynamics of population changes in 1950–2021, specifying two periods—the operation of PGR and the period after their liquidation; these changes were compared to the processes observed in Poland. The research showed that the functioning and liquidation of State Agricultural Farms impacted population changes in the localities in which they operated. It was found that post-state farm localities were characterised by higher dynamics of population changes than Poland’s average. After PGR liquidation, the rejuvenation of the demographic structure through the influx of the young population during the period of PGR operation translated into a dynamic aging process and unfavourable changes in the population structure by gender in post-state farm localities. These unfavourable changes occurred primarily in those post-state farm localities for which a population decline of more than 20% was recorded between 1950 and 2021.