Sustainable consumption in macroeconomic approach in Poland

Abstract

Motivation: The studies on sustainable consumption are conducted in Poland and worldwide on the basis of various source data. Macroeconomic perspective is one of research approaches. The data obtained from the system of national accounts are especially important for the assessment of the situation in Poland. As a result of research specific indicators are obtained which express changes in various areas of functioning of consumption entities in the perspective of sustainable consumption.

Aim: to indicate the main trends of research on sustainable consumption in macroeconomic approach in Poland and to recognise the changes in the area of sustainable consumption on the basis of indicators adopted in the research on sustainable development conducted by Central Statistical Office.

Results: In Polish official statistics, the process of tracing sustainable development which includes sustainable consumption as an integral part, can be conducted with the use of the set of indicators monitoring four main orders, i.e. social, economic, environmental and institutional, as well as political order. Indicators related to the patterns of sustainable consumption are located in the group of indicators of social order and include such measures as the structure of average monthly expenditure per capita in households by type, the structure of passenger cars by age groups and electricity consumption in households per capita. Conducted research shows that in the years 2004–2019 favourable changes were reported in Poland in the structure of individual consumption in the household sector. They were related to the decrease in the value of the food index and the increase in the expenditures free choice indicator. At the same time, the data from Central Statistical Office shows that a regression was observed in the other two research areas, i.e. the structure of passenger cars by age and energy consumption in households.