To join this group, a consumer must owe at least PLN 1 million. Yet the average Polish ‘millionaire in the red’ owes more than twice that amount. According to the National Debt Register, 320 consumers with at least PLN 1 million in arrears owe a combined PLN 654.3 million, or an average of PLN 2.04 million each. And the debt does not necessarily involve dozens of creditors — more than half of the group owes money to just one.
Among the 320 consumers with debt of at least PLN 1 million, 173 have only one creditor. Their combined liabilities exceed PLN 380 million. Another 75 people have two creditors, which means almost eight in ten ‘millionaires in the red’ owe money to no more than two entities. Together, this group accounts for PLN 520.6 million, or almost 80% of the total debt.
‘A millionaire debtor is not always financially inexperienced. On the contrary, such people often understand very well how creditors, courts and enforcement work. Some deliberately avoid repayment for years, while their assets may be dispersed, transferred to other people or difficult to identify,’ says Jakub Kostecki, vice-president of debt collection company Kaczmarski Inkasso.
Fewer names, but the debt remains enormous
The number of ‘millionaires in the red’ has fallen compared with 15 months earlier. In May 2025 there were 371 such consumers with a combined PLN 790 million in debt. Today the group numbers 320 and owes PLN 654.3 million. Average debt has fallen only slightly and still exceeds PLN 2 million per person.
‘Almost two-thirds of this debt — more than PLN 400 million — consists of unpaid loans, reported either by banks or by securitisation funds that purchased the receivables. The second major category is unpaid court fines and penalties, amounting to PLN 168.5 million,’ Kostecki explains.
Million-zloty debt can take very different forms
Two counties in the Warmian-Masurian region illustrate the contrast. In Bartoszyce county, one consumer has just four liabilities, but their total value reaches PLN 16.3 million, or more than PLN 4 million per debt. In Lidzbark county, another ‘millionaire debtor’ owes PLN 3.07 million across as many as 196 unpaid liabilities, averaging PLN 15,700 each.
Mazowieckie province has the largest number of such debtors: 67 people owing a combined PLN 115.3 million. Silesia follows with 42 people and Lower Silesia with 27. Świętokrzyskie has the fewest, with only three.
Among cities with county status, Warsaw stands out with 40 ‘millionaires in the red’ owing PLN 73.9 million in total. Łódź has 12, Wrocław 11 and Kraków seven. Gdańsk and Poznań each have six, as do the smaller cities of Częstochowa and Ruda Śląska.
Most are over 45
As many as 273 of the 320 consumers with million-zloty debt are over the age of 45, accounting for more than 85% of the group. The largest cohort — 105 people — is aged 46–55 and owes PLN 239.2 million, or roughly PLN 2.28 million each. Another 85 people are aged 56–65, with PLN 175.4 million in arrears, while 83 are over 65 and owe PLN 152.8 million.
Younger ‘millionaires in the red’ are much less common, but their debts are not necessarily smaller. Only seven people aged 26–35 fall into this category, yet they owe PLN 15.4 million, or an average of PLN 2.2 million each. There are no such debtors in the 18–24 age group.
Men dominate the group: 222 people, or 69%, owe PLN 488.3 million in total, averaging PLN 2.2 million each. The 98 women in the group owe almost PLN 166 million, or around PLN 1.7 million per person.
