The functioning of a family and its shape are conditioned by several macro structural factors such as: economic system, urban life style, social policy. The same is true regarding the Polish family of the turn of the 21st century. The following factors are responsible for its condition and its functioning: struggling with economic difficulties, unemployment, poverty, antifamily ideologies, economic emigration. Those factors predominantly determine the state of the Polish family at the beginning of the 21st century. Integral elements of that state include: poverty of many Polish families, high unemployment, low birth rate, large number of unmarried (single) people, cohabitation, divorces. There are currently no significant reasons for hope that the situation will improve in the nearest future.