This publication contains the most important, currently available data on the extent and social differentiation of poverty and privation in Poland and also shows the situation in our country in comparison to other European Union countries. The data presented are mainly for the years 2019-2020 and refer to both the period before the COVID-19 pandemic and the first year of its existence. The results presented in the publication come from annual household surveys carried out by the Statistics Poland, namely the Household Budget Survey and the European Survey of Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC). In case of information on the European Union Member States, data from the Eurostat database were used.