Research objectives and hypothesis/research questions:
The following research question was addressed in the article: what were the changes in the birth-to-death ratio in Poland in selected years, and to what extent did they vary regionally between voivodeships and spatially between urban and rural areas? The aim of this study is to present and explain changes in the birth-to-death ratio in Poland in selected years, taking into account the division into voivodeships and urban and rural areas. The following research hypothesis is outlined: it is assumed that during the analyzed period, Poland experienced a significant decline in the birth-to-death ratio in all voivodeships, with the scale and pace of those changes varying regionally and between urban and rural areas.

Research methods:
A source analysis approach was used in the study, employing research techniques such as inference and analogy. The research tool used was SI Statistica.

Main results:
Research also emphasizes the importance of coherence and long-term family policy (Super Biznes, 2026). Frequent changes to support instruments lower public trust and limit their effectiveness, while stable, predictable solutions encourage reproductive decisions at a younger age. In practice, that means a stronger focus on public policy, fostering care services, flexible employment, and a partnership-based family model, while treating migration as a complementary, not a substitute, element of demographic strategy.

Implications for theory and practice:
The research has significant implications for both the theory of demographic processes and public policy practice. Theoretically, the results confirm the assumptions of the second demographic transition, according to which the decline in fertility and the permanent shift to negative natural increase are a consequence of long-term cultural (Poland in Practice, 2025), economic, and institutional changes, not solely short-term fluctuations in economic activity. Regional and sectoral (urban–rural) analysis indicates that those processes are universal, but their pace and intensity vary significantly across space, challenging simplistic approaches that treat demography as a homogeneous phenomenon nationwide. A particularly important theoretical finding is the observed reversal of demographic relations between cities and rural areas, which points to the growing role of structural factors, such as suburbanization (Królczyk-Lewandowska, 2025), selective internal migration, and the aging of the urban population, in shaping contemporary reproductive patterns.