This, the 26th edition of the annual report on the Polish economy published by the Warsaw School of Economics' World Economy Research Institute, aims to provide a detailed assessment of Poland's competitive performance in the world economy in 2010 seen from a comparative perspective. Competitiveness is defined here as a country's ability to achieve a sustainable increase in the standard of living, along with an improvement in the country's role in the global marketplace and its enhanced investment attractiveness. Within the framework of this definition, a set of indicators describing the effects and determinants of Poland's competitiveness have been analyzed for the period of 2004-2010, and compared with those of other European Union countries, in particular the 10 new member states from Central and Eastern Europe (EU10). The cross-country comparison is conducted in both quantitative and qualitative terms, which makes it possible to forecast future trends and indicate some areas of policy priorities.