Uwarunkowania i przebieg emigracji Polaków przed i po wstąpieniu Polski do Unii Europejskiej

The purpose of this article is to analyse the emigration of Poles before and after Polish accession to the European Union. The phenomenon of emigration is an essential component of contemporary international social and economic relations. Its directions and causes, changing in time, are the basis for conducting research into this process. The following article concentrates on the causes, extent, and main directions of foreign emigration of Poles since 1989. The article is divided into two parts. The first part characterizes the researched phenomenon between the years 1989 and 2004. In the second part, the author focuses on the analysis of the foreign emigration of Poles since Poland’s accession to the European Union. The study uses adocument research method, statistical method and literature analysis.