Country Summary
Introduction
Background
Poland's history as a state began near the middle of the 10th century. By the mid-16th century, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth ruled a vast tract of land in Central and Eastern Europe. During the 18th century, internal disorders weakened the nation, and in a series of agreements between 1772 and 1795, Russia, Prussia, and Austria partitioned Poland among themselves. Poland became a Soviet satellite state following World War II. Free elections in 1989 and 1990 brought the communist era to a close.
Geography
Area
total: 312,685 sq km
land: 304,255 sq km
water: 8,430 sq km
Climate
temperate with cold, cloudy, moderately severe winters with frequent precipitation; mild summers with frequent showers and thundershowers
Natural resources
coal, sulfur, copper, natural gas, silver, lead, salt, amber, arable land
People and Society
Population
38,093,101 (2022 est.)
Ethnic groups
Polish 96.9%, Silesian 1.1%, German 0.2%, Ukrainian 0.1%, other and unspecified 1.7% (2011 est.)
Languages
Polish (official) 98.2%, Silesian 1.4%, other 1.1%, unspecified 1.3%; note - data represent the language spoken at home; shares sum to more than 100% because some respondents gave more than one answer on the census; Poland ratified the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in 2009 recognizing Kashub as a regional language, Czech, Hebrew, Yiddish, Belarusian, Lithuanian, German, Armenian, Russian, Slovak, and Ukrainian as national minority languages, and Karaim, Lemko, Romani (Polska Roma and Bergitka Roma), and Tatar as ethnic minority languages (2011 est.)
Religions
Catholic 85% (includes Roman Catholic 84.8% and other Catholic 0.3%), Orthodox 1.3% (almost all are Polish Autocephalous Orthodox), Protestant 0.4% (mainly Augsburg Evangelical and Pentecostal), other 0.3% (includes Jehovah's Witness, Buddhist, Hare Krishna, Gaudiya Vaishnavism, Muslim, Jewish, Church of Jesus Christ), unspecified 12.9% (2020 est.)
Population growth rate
-0.26% (2022 est.)
Government
Government type
parliamentary republic
Capital
name: Warsaw
Executive branch
chief of state: President Andrzej DUDA (since 6 August 2015)
head of government: Prime Minister Mateusz MORAWIECKI (since 11 December 2017); Deputy Prime Ministers Piotr GLINSKI (since 16 November 2015), Jacek SASIN (since 15 November 2019), Jaroslaw KACZYNSKI (6 October 2020) and Henryk KOWALCZYK (26 October 2021)
Legislative branch
description: bicameral Parliament consists of:
Senate or Senat (100 seats; members directly elected in single-seat constituencies by simple majority vote to serve 4-year terms)
Sejm (460 seats; members elected in multi-seat constituencies by party-list proportional representation vote with 5% threshold of total votes needed for parties and 8% for coalitions to gain seats; minorities exempt from threshold; members serve 4-year terms)
Economy
Economic overview
diversified, high-growth European economy; COVID-19 led to first recession in nearly 3 decades, albeit small; EU and NATO member; bolstering US relations; economic concentration in western region; aging labor force; growing debt
Real GDP (purchasing power parity)
$1,223,460,000,000 (2020 est.)
Real GDP per capita
$32,200 (2020 est.)
Agricultural products
milk, sugar beet, wheat, potatoes, triticale, maize, barley, apples, mixed grains, rye
Industries
machine building, iron and steel, coal mining, chemicals, shipbuilding, food processing, glass, beverages, textiles
Exports
$333.54 billion (2020 est.)
Exports - partners
Germany 27%, Czechia 6%, United Kingdom 6%, France 6%, Italy 5% (2019)
Exports - commodities
cars and vehicle parts, seats, furniture, computers, video displays (2019)
Imports
$292.44 billion (2020 est.)
Imports - partners
Germany 25%, China 10%, Italy 5%, Netherlands 5% (2019)
Imports - commodities
cars and vehicle parts, crude petroleum, packaged medicines, broadcasting equipment, office machinery/parts (2019)
Exchange rates
zlotych (PLN) per US dollar -
Page last updated: Saturday, July 30, 2022
