Research background and purpose:
Demographic transition creates management challenges that extend beyond declining fertility and population ageing to labour-resource availability, work–family reconciliation and increasing demand for age-related services. Public-policy responses therefore need to combine measures intended to influence future demographic trajectories with instruments enabling adaptation to structural demographic change. This study assesses whether selected public-policy instruments in Poland are formally aligned with the principal demographic-management pressures and how the resulting policy portfolio is distributed between mitigation- and adaptation-oriented responses.

Design/methodology/approach:
The study applies a structured document-based policy analysis to eight nationwide policy instruments operational as of 30 June 2026. Five demographic-management dimensions were identified: low fertility and family-formation constraints (P1), work–family reconciliation (P2), labour-resource contraction (P3), active ageing and longer working lives (P4), and age-related service adaptation (P5). Instrument–problem relationships were coded on an ordinal 0–2 scale and aggregated using a Policy Alignment Score (PAS). Portfolio-level alignment concentrations were additionally calculated across the five dimensions.

Findings:
The highest portfolio-level concentration of formal alignment was identified for labour-resource contraction (P3; A₃ = 8), followed by work–family reconciliation and age-related service adaptation (P2 = P5; A₂ = A₅ = 6). The lowest concentration was identified for low fertility and family-formation constraints (P1; A₁ = 3), with no analysed instrument showing direct P1 alignment. The labour-market policy framework achieved the highest instrument-level PAS (6), followed by Active Parent and Active Maluch (5 each). Overall, the portfolio demonstrates a stronger adaptation-oriented than directly fertility-oriented profile.

Value added and limitations:
The study develops a transparent instrument-level PAS that distinguishes policy existence, policy alignment and policy effectiveness and enables demographic instruments to be assessed as a portfolio rather than individually. Empirically, PAS diagnoses the breadth, strength and distribution of formal policy alignment; conceptually, the resulting portfolio architecture is interpreted in relation to adaptive capacity and demographic resilience in public management. The analysis therefore treats adaptive capacity and demographic resilience as broader management concepts rather than direct outcomes of the PAS measurement. The purposively selected portfolio does not constitute an exhaustive assessment of all demographic-related policies in Poland.