Wojsko i potencjał demograficzny Polski, migracje, w przeddzień wstąpienia do Unii Europejskiej

The author presented fundamental tendencies of demographic development based on the analysis of data taken from the Main Statistic Office. He demonstrated the threats that could appear in connection with Poland’s entrance into the EU structures and that could result from demographic tendencies, their influence on Poland’s demographic potential. In the second part of the article, a problem of the Polish Armed Forces’ financing has been touched on. A particular attention has been drawn to the comparison of soldiers’ earnings with selected professional groups outside the army. In the conclusion the author pointed at a significant influence of financial factors relating to soldiers’ salary on providing an appropriate overall level of the Polish Armed Forces.