Does the process of shrinking concern also small towns? lessons from Poland

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Shrinking small towns in Poland: basic information_

Number of population	Number of small towns	Number of shrinking small towns	Share of shrinking small towns
up to 5,000	320 (47%)	11 (37%)	3.4%
5,000–10,000	177 (26%)	10 (33%)	5.6%
10,000–15,000	107 (15.5%)	2 (7%)	1.9%
15,000–20,000	79 (11.5%)	7 (23%)	8.9%
In total	683	30	4.4%

Affiliation of shrinking small towns to the appointed types of changes in the level of social and economic development (Table 4)_

Type 2002
A	–	Błaszki	Świeradów Zdrój	Strzegom, Śląskie, Głuchołazy Ząbkowice
B	Dobrodzień	Lipsko, Kazimierza Wielka, Ożarów	Bogatynia, Wołczyn, Siemiatycze	Ziębice, Strzelce Opolskie, Krapkowice, Paczków, Hel
C	Poniatowa, Żychlin, Działoszyce, Pienięż- no	Węgliniec	Ozimek	–
D	Gozdnica, Korsze, Dąbrowa Białostocka	Ścinawa, Małomice, Sokółka	Łapy	–
	D	C	B	A	Type 2014

Values of part I and I of the indicator calculated with a shift-and-share analysis for the selected 5 shrinking small towns_

Town	Values of part III of the method according to sectors				Real difference in the number of business entities in town between 2002 and 2014	Hypothetical increase in the number of business entities – part I of the method	Difference be- tween real and hypothetical (part I) change in the number of business entities	Difference between real and hypothetical (part I) change in the number of business entities
	sector I	sector II	sector III	sector IV
Błaszki	0.2	−0.3	−0.3	−0.5	−72	28.360	−100	−354
Ożarów	−0.2	−0.3	−0.3	−0.5	−112	50.170	−162	−323
Żychlin	0.2	−0.2	−0.2	−0.4	−97	72.490	−169	−234
Sokółka	−0.2	−0.1	−0.1	−0.3	−49	168.633	−218	−129
Dobrodzień	−0.2	0.0	−0.2	−0.1	−4	39.420	−43	−110

The way of singling out 16 types of development levels of small towns in Poland between 2002 and 2014_

Type 2002
A	I	II	III	IV
B	V	VI	VII	VIII
C	IX	X	XI	XII
D	XIII	XIV	XV	XVI
	D	C	B	A	Type 2014

Population dynamics in small towns between 1970 and 2014_

Population dynamics (base year = 100)	1970–2014	1970–1978	1978–1988	1988–2002	2002–2014
102 and more	544	482	570	370	179
98–102	20	83	33	135	190
over 98	73	72	34	132	268