Poverty in Austrian Galicia

Poverty in Austrian Galicia was extreme, particularly in the late 19th century. Reasons included little interest in reforms on the part of major landowners and the Austrian government, population growth resulting in small peasant plots, inadequate education, primitive agricultural techniques, a vicious circle of chronic malnutrition, famines and disease, reducing productivity.

Poverty in the province was so widespread that the expression "Galician misery" (nędza galicyjska) or "Galician poverty" (bieda galicyjska) became proverbial,^[1] and Poles often mockingly distorted the name of the province of Galicia and Lodomeria to "Golicja i Głodomeria", incorporating plays on the Polish words, respectively, for "naked" and "hungry" ("Nakedia and Hungrymeria"). The poverty and regular famines in the region were often compared to those in British Ireland.