Poverty in Austrian Galicia

Poverty in Galicia was extreme, particularly in the late 19th century. Galicia in that period has been described as not only the poorest province of the Austro-Hungary, but the poorest province of Europe. Reasons for this poverty included little interest in reform from the major landholders and the Austrian government, population growth resulting in small peasant plots, lack of education and primitive agricultural techniques, and a vicious circle of chronic malnutrition, famine, and disease, reducing productivity. Poverty in the province was so widespread that the term "Galician misery" or "Galician poverty" (bieda galicyjska) has become proverbial.

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