Comparative Economic Research, Volume 20, Number 3, 2017 10.1515/cer-2017-0024 SŁAWOMIR PASTUSZKA * Regional Diferentiation of The Demographic Potential in Italy and Poland Abstract The aim of this paper is to compare the demographic potential of given Italian and Polish regions. The analysis shows that the demographic situation in Poland, unlike in Italy, is not directly related to the level of development of some regions and their geographical location. In Italy, the unfavorable demographic situation is typical of most of the less-developed southern regions, whereas in Poland it oc- curs in voivodships with diferent economic potential, situated in diferent parts of the country. This is probably the result of the current polycentric development of Poland, characteristic of a centralized economy, and the polar development in Italy. Certain demographic similarities, but of diferent levels, related to the dynamics of the population, the level of fertility, and net migration are observable in the macro-regions of Mezzogiorno and Eastern Poland. Keywords: demographic potential, Italian regions, Polish voivodships, regional development JEL: J10, J11, J13, J18 Sławomir Pastuszka * Ph.D., The Jan Kochanowski University in Kielce, Faculty of Law, Management and Admin- istration, e-mail: spastuszka@op.pl