Poland

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Poland

General Information
Geography
Government
Economy
Population
Health
Communications and media
Chronology


GENERAL INFORMATION

National name Rzeczpospolita Polska/Republic of Poland Area 312,683 sq km/120,726 sq mi Capital Warsaw Language Polish (official) Religion Roman Catholic 95% Time difference GMT +1 Major holidays 1 January, 1, 3, 9 May, 15 August, 1, 11 November, 25–26 December; variable: Corpus Christi, Easter Monday


GEOGRAPHY

Major towns/cities Lódz, Kraków, Wroclaw, Poznan, Gdansk, Szczecin, Katowice, Bydgoszcz, Lublin Major ports Gdansk (Danzig), Szczecin (Stettin), Gdynia (Gdingen) Physical features part of the great plain of Europe; Vistula, Oder, and Neisse rivers; Sudeten, Tatra, and Carpathian mountains on southern frontier Airports four international airports and six domestic airports; total passengers carried: 3.3 million (2003 est) Railways total length: 23,420 km/14,552 mi; total passenger journeys: 283.4 million (2003) Roads total road network: 423,997 km/263,459 mi, of which 69.7% paved (2003 est); passenger cars: 353.9 per 1,000 people (2003 est)


GOVERNMENT

Head of state Lech Kaczynski from 2006 Head of government Jaroslaw Kaczynski from 2006 Political system liberal democracy Political executive limited presidency Administrative divisions 16 provinces and three city governments (Warsaw, Kraków, and Lódz) Political parties Democratic Left Alliance (SLD), reform socialist (ex-communist); Polish Peasant Party (PSL), moderate, agrarian; Freedom Union (UW), moderate, centrist; Labour Union (UP), left wing; Non-Party Bloc in support of Reforms (BBWR), Christian Democrat, right of centre, pro-Walesa; Confederation for an Independent Poland (KPN), right wing; Solidarity Electoral Action (AWS), Christian, right wing Death penalty abolished in 1997 Armed forces 141,500; plus 234,000 reservists and paramilitary forces of 21,400 (2006 est) Conscription 12 months (to be nine months from 2004) Defence spend (% GDP) 1.8 (2005 est) Education spend (% GDP) 5.6 (2003 est) Health spend (% GDP) 4.5 (2004)


ECONOMY

Currency zloty GDP (US$) 299.2 billion (2005 est) Real GDP growth (% change on previous year) 5 (2006 est) GNI (US$) 271.4 billion (2005 est) GNI per capita (PPP) (US$) 13,490 (2005 est) Consumer price inflation 0.9% (2006 est) Unemployment 15.5% (2006 est) Labour force 17.4% agriculture, 29.2% industry, 53.4% services (2005) Foreign debt (US$) 105.5 billion (2005 est) Major trading partners Germany, France, Russia, Italy, the Netherlands, UK Resources coal (world's fifth-largest producer), copper, sulphur, silver, petroleum and natural gas reserves Industries machinery and transport equipment, food products, metals, chemicals, beverages, tobacco, textiles and clothing, petroleum refining, wood and paper products, tourism Exports machinery and transport equipment, textiles, chemicals, coal, coke, copper, sulphur, steel, food and agricultural products, clothing and leather products, wood and paper products. Principal market: Germany 28.1% (2005) Imports electro-engineering products, fuels and power (notably crude petroleum and natural gas), chemicals, textiles, food products, iron ore, fertilizers. Principal source: Germany 29.3% (2005) Arable land 40.3% (2006 est) Agricultural products wheat, rye, barley, oats, maize, potatoes, sugar beet; livestock rearing; forest resources


POPULATION

Population 38,498,600 (2006 est) Population growth rate -0.1% (2005–10) Population density (per sq km) 123 (2006 est) Urban population (% of total) 62 (2005 est) Age distribution (% of total population) 0–14 16%, 15–59 67%, 60+ 17% (2005 est) Ethnic groups 98% ethnic Western-Slav ethnic Poles; small ethnic German, Ukrainian, and Belarussian minorities Life expectancy 71 (men); 81 (women) (2005–10) Child mortality rate (under 5, per 1,000 live births) 8 (2004) Education (compulsory years) 9 Literacy rate 99% (men); 99% (women) (2004 est)


HEALTH

Physicians (per 10,000 people) 22 (2004 est) Hospital beds (per 1,000 people) 5.6 (2003 est) HIV infection (% of population aged 15–49) 0.1 (2005 est) AIDS deaths <1,000 (2005 est) Access to drinking-water source (% of total population) 100 (urban); 100 (rural) (2002)


COMMUNICATIONS AND MEDIA

Landline telephones (per 100 people) 30.6 (2005 est) Mobile phone subscribers (per 100 people) 75.7 (2005 est) Radios (per 1,000 people) 523 (2001 est) TV sets (per 1,000 people) 229 (2004 est) Personal computer users (per 100 people) 19.1 (2005 est) Internet users (per 100 people) 26 (2005 est)


CHRONOLOGY

966 Polish Slavic tribes under Mieszko I, leader of Piast dynasty, adopted Christianity and united region around Poznan to form first Polish state. 1241 Devastated by Mongols. 13th–14th centuries German and Jewish refugees settled among Slav population. 1386 Jagellonian dynasty came to power: golden age for Polish culture. 1569 Poland united with Lithuania to become the largest state in Europe. 1572 Jagellonian dynasty became extinct; future kings were elected by nobility and gentry, who formed 10% of the population. mid-17th century Defeat in war against Russia, Sweden, and Brandenburg (in Germany) set in a process of irreversible decline. 1772–95 Partitioned between Russia, which ruled the northeast; Prussia, the west, including Pomerania; and Austria in the south-centre, including Galicia, where there was greatest autonomy. 1815 After Congress of Vienna, Russian eastern portion of Poland re-established as kingdom within Russian Empire. 1830 and 1863 Uprisings against repressive Russian rule. 1892 Nationalist Polish Socialist Party (PPS) founded. 1918 Independent Polish republic established after World War I, with Marshal Józef Pilsudski, founder of the PPS, elected president. 1919–21 Abortive advance into Lithuania and Ukraine. 1926 Pilsudski seized full power in coup and established an autocratic regime. 1935 On Pilsudski's death, a military regime held power under Marshal Smigly-Rydz. 1939 Invaded by Germany; western Poland incorporated into Nazi Reich (state) and the rest became a German colony; 6 million Poles – half of them Jews – slaughtered in following five years. 1944–45 Liberated from Nazi rule by Soviet Union's Red Army; boundaries redrawn westwards at the Potsdam Conference. 1947 Communist republic proclaimed after manipulated election. 1949 Joined Comecon. early 1950s Nationalization, rural collectivization, and persecution of Catholic Church. 1955 Joined Warsaw Pact defence organization. 1956 Strikes and riots in Poznan. 1960s Private farming reintroduced and Catholicism tolerated. 1970s Poland heavily indebted to foreign creditors after failed attempt to boost economic growth. 1980 Solidarity, led by Lech Walesa, emerged as free trade union following labour disturbances in Gdansk. 1981 Martial law imposed by General Wojciech Jaruzelski, trade-union activity banned, and Solidarity leaders and supporters arrested. 1983 Martial law ended. 1984 Amnesty for 35,000 political prisoners. 1988 Solidarity-led strikes and demonstrations. 1989 Agreement to adopt more democratic constitution; Solidarity success in first open elections for 40 years; formation of noncommunist ‘grand coalition’ government. 1990 Walesa elected president. 1990s Free-market economic restructuring, but political instability. 1994 Poland joined NATO ‘partnership for peace’ programme; last Russian troops withdrawn. 1997 New constitution approved. 1998 Start of negotiations on European Union (EU) membership. 1999 Poland became full member of NATO. 2003 Accession to EU endorsed in referendum. 2004 Poland became EU member. 2005 Conservative Law and Justice Party (PiS) won parliamentary elections; PiS candidate Lech Kaczynski became president. 2006 Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz resigned as PiS prime minister; replaced as premier by President Lech Kaczynski's twin brother, Jaroslaw.


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