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Background:
|
 Poland
is an ancient nation that was conceived around the middle of
the 10th century. Its golden age occurred in the 16th century.
During the following century, the strengthening of the gentry
and internal disorders weakened the nation. In a series of
agreements between 1772 and 1795, Russia, Prussia, and Austria
partitioned Poland amongst themselves. Poland regained its
independence in 1918 only to be overrun by Germany and the
Soviet Union in World War II. It became a Soviet satellite
state following the war, but its government was comparatively
tolerant and progressive. Labor turmoil in 1980 led to the
formation of the independent trade union
"Solidarity" that over time became a political force
and by 1990 had swept parliamentary elections and the
presidency. A "shock therapy" program during the
early 1990s enabled the country to transform its economy into
one of the most robust in Central Europe, but Poland currently
suffers low GDP growth and high unemployment. Solidarity
suffered a major defeat in the 2001 parliamentary elections
when it failed to elect a single deputy to the lower house of
Parliament, and the new leaders of the Solidarity Trade Union
subsequently pledged to reduce the Trade Union's political
role. Poland joined NATO in 1999 and is scheduled to accede to
the European Union along with nine other states on 1 May 2004. |
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Location:
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Central Europe,
east of Germany |
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Map references:
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Europe |
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Area:
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total:
312,685 sq km
water: 8,220 sq km
land: 304,465 sq km |
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Area - comparative:
|
slightly smaller
than New Mexico |
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Land boundaries:
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total:
2,788 km
border countries: Belarus 407 km, Czech Republic 658
km, Germany 456 km, Lithuania 91 km, Russia (Kaliningrad
Oblast) 206 km, Slovakia 444 km, Ukraine 526 km |
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Coastline:
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491 km |
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Climate:
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temperate with
cold, cloudy, moderately severe winters with frequent
precipitation; mild summers with frequent showers and
thundershowers |
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Terrain:
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mostly flat
plain; mountains along southern border |
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Elevation extremes:
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lowest point:
near Raczki Elblaskie -2 m
highest point: Rysy 2,499 m |
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Natural resources:
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coal, sulfur,
copper, natural gas, silver, lead, salt, amber, arable land |
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Land use:
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arable land:
45.81%
permanent crops: 1.23%
other: 52.96% (1998 est.) |
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Irrigated land:
|
1,000 sq km (1998
est.) |
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Natural hazards:
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flooding |
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Environment - current issues:
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situation has
improved since 1989 due to decline in heavy industry and
increased environmental concern by post-Communist governments;
air pollution nonetheless remains serious because of sulfur
dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants, and the
resulting acid rain has caused forest damage; water pollution
from industrial and municipal sources is also a problem, as is
disposal of hazardous wastes; pollution levels should continue
to decrease as industrial establishments bring their
facilities up to European Union code, but at substantial cost
to business and the government |
|
Environment - international agreements:
|
party to:
Air Pollution, Antarctic-Environmental Protocol,
Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Seals, Antarctic
Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto
Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental
Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Kyoto Protocol, Law of the
Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution,
Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: Air Pollution-Nitrogen
Oxides, Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air
Pollution-Sulfur 94 |
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Geography - note:
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historically, an
area of conflict because of flat terrain and the lack of
natural barriers on the North European Plain |
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Population:
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38,626,349 (July
2004 est.) |
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Age structure:
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0-14 years:
17.1% (male 3,388,247; female 3,216,085)
15-64 years: 70% (male 13,454,820; female 13,591,814)
65 years and over: 12.9% (male 1,896,940; female
3,078,443) (2004 est.) |
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Median age:
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total:
36.2 years
male: 34.3 years
female: 38.2 years (2004 est.) |
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Population growth rate:
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0.02% (2004 est.) |
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Birth rate:
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10.64
births/1,000 population (2004 est.) |
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Death rate:
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9.97 deaths/1,000
population (2004 est.) |
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Net migration rate:
|
-0.49 migrant(s)/1,000
population (2004 est.) |
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Sex ratio:
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at birth:
1.06 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.99 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.62 male(s)/female
total population: 0.94 male(s)/female (2004 est.) |
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Infant mortality rate:
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total:
8.73 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 7.59 deaths/1,000 live births (2004 est.)
male: 9.82 deaths/1,000 live births |
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Life expectancy at birth:
|
total
population: 74.16 years
male: 70.04 years
female: 78.52 years (2004 est.) |
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HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
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0.1% - note: no
country specific models provided (2001 est.) |
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Nationality:
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noun:
Pole(s)
adjective: Polish |
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Ethnic groups:
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Polish 96.7%,
German 0.4%, Belarusian 0.1%, Ukrainian 0.1%, other 2.7%
(2002) |
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Religions:
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Roman Catholic
95% (about 75% practicing), Eastern Orthodox, Protestant, and
other 5% |
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Languages:
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Polish |
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Literacy:
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definition:
age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 99.8%
male: 99.8%
female: 99.7% (2003 est.) |
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Country name:
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conventional
long form: Republic of Poland
conventional short form: Poland
local short form: Polska
local long form: Rzeczpospolita Polska |
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Government type:
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republic |
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Capital:
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Warsaw |
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Administrative divisions:
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16 provinces (wojewodztwa,
singular - wojewodztwo); Dolnoslaskie, Kujawsko-Pomorskie,
Lodzkie, Lubelskie, Lubuskie, Malopolskie, Mazowieckie,
Opolskie, Podkarpackie, Podlaskie, Pomorskie, Slaskie,
Swietokrzyskie, Warminsko-Mazurskie, Wielkopolskie,
Zachodniopomorskie |
|
Independence:
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11 November 1918
(independent republic proclaimed) |
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National holiday:
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Constitution Day,
3 May (1791) |
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Constitution:
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16 October 1997;
adopted by the National Assembly 2 April 1997; passed by
national referendum 23 May 1997 |
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Legal system:
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mixture of
Continental (Napoleonic) civil law and holdover Communist
legal theory; changes being gradually introduced as part of
broader democratization process; limited judicial review of
legislative acts, but rulings of the Constitutional Tribunal
are final; court decisions can be appealed to the European
Court of Justice in Strasbourg |
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Executive branch:
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chief of
state: President Aleksander KWASNIEWSKI (since 23 December
1995)
elections: president elected by popular vote for a
five-year term; election last held 8 October 2000 (next to be
held NA October 2005); prime minister and deputy prime
ministers appointed by the president and confirmed by the Sejm
head of government: Prime Minister Leszek MILLER (SLD)
(since 19 October 2001), Deputy Prime Ministers Marek POL
(since 19 October 2001), Jerzy HAUSNER (since 11 June 2003),
Jozef OLEKSY (since 19 January 2004)
cabinet: Council of Ministers responsible to the prime
minister and the Sejm; the prime minister proposes, the
president appoints, and the Sejm approves the Council of
Ministers
election results: Aleksander KWASNIEWSKI reelected
president; percent of popular vote - Aleksander KWASNIEWSKI
53.9%, Andrzej OLECHOWSKI 17.3%, Marian KRZAKLEWSKI 15.6%,
Lech WALESA 1% |
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Legislative branch:
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bicameral
National Assembly or Zgromadzenie Narodowe consists of the
Sejm (460 seats; members are elected under a complex system of
proportional representation to serve four-year terms) and the
Senate or Senat (100 seats; members are elected by a majority
vote on a provincial basis to serve four-year terms)
elections: Sejm elections last held 23 September 2001
(next to be held by September 2005); Senate - last held 23
September 2001 (next to be held by September 2005)
election results: Sejm - percent of vote by party - SLD-UP
41%, PO 12.7%, Samoobrona 10.2%, PiS 9.5%, PSL 9%, LPR 7.9%,
AWSP 5.6% UW 3.1%, other 1%; seats by party (as of 16 January
2004) - SLD 190, PO 56, PiS 43, PSL 37, SO 31, LPR 29, UP 16,
PLD 10, SKL 8, PBL 6, PRS 5, RKN 5, PP 3, ROP 3, German
minorities 2, independents 16; Senate - percent of vote by
party - NA%; seats by party (as of 16 January 2004)- SLD-UP
74, Block Senate 2001 10, PSL and unaffiliated 5, UW 4, SO 2,
LPR 2, independents 2, PiS 1
note: two seats are assigned to ethnic minority parties |
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Judicial branch:
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Supreme Court
(judges are appointed by the president on the recommendation
of the National Council of the Judiciary for an indefinite
period); Constitutional Tribunal (judges are chosen by the
Sejm for nine-year terms) |
|
Political parties and leaders:
|
Catholic-National
Movement or RKN [Antoni MACIEREWICZ]; Citizens Platform or PO
[Donald TUSK]; Coalition Electoral Action Solidarity of the
Right or AWSP; Conservative Peasants Party or SKL-RNP [Artur
BALAZS]; Democratic Left Alliance or SLD [Leszek MILLER];
Freedom Union or UW [Wladyslaw FRASYNIUK]; German Minority of
Lower Silesia or MNSO [Henryk KROLL]; Law and Justice or PiS [Jaroslaw
KACZYNSKI]; League of Polish Families or LPR [Marek
KOTLINOWSKI]; Movement for the Reconstruction of Poland or ROP
[Jan OLSZEWSKI]; Peasant-Democratic Party or PLD [Roman
JAGIELINSKI]; Polish Accord or PP [Jan LOPUSZANSKI]; Polish
Peasant Bloc or PBL [Wojciech MOJZESOWICZ]; Polish Peasant
Party or PSL [Jaroslaw KALINOWSKI]; Polish Raison d'Etat or
PRS [Zbigniew Witaszek]; Samoobrona or SO [Andrzej LEPPER];
Social Movement or RS [Krzysztof PIESIEWICZ]; Union of Labor
or UP [Marek POL] |
|
Political pressure groups and leaders:
|
All Poland Trade
Union Alliance or OPZZ (trade union) [Maciej MANICKI]; Roman
Catholic Church [Cardinal Jozef GLEMP]; Solidarity Trade Union
[Janusz SNIADEK] |
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Diplomatic representation in the US:
|
chief of
mission: Ambassador Przemyslaw GRUDZINSKI
chancery: 2640 16th Street NW, Washington, DC 20009
FAX: [1] (202) 328-6270
consulate(s) general: Chicago, Los Angeles, and New
York
telephone: [1] (202) 234-3800 through 3802 |
|
Diplomatic representation from the US:
|
chief of
mission: Ambassador Christopher R. HILL
embassy: Aleje Ujazdowskie 29/31 00-540 Warsaw P1
mailing address: American Embassy Warsaw, US Department
of State, 5010 Warsaw Place, Washington, DC 20521-5010 (pouch)
telephone: [48] (22) 504-2000
FAX: [48] (22) 504-2951
consulate(s) general: Krakow |
|
Economy - overview:
|
Poland has
steadfastly pursued a policy of economic liberalization
throughout the 1990s and today stands out as a success story
among transition economies. Even so, much remains to be done.
The privatization of small and medium state-owned companies
and a liberal law on establishing new firms has encouraged the
development of the private business sector, but legal and
bureaucratic obstacles alongside persistent corruption are
hampering its further development. Poland's agricultural
sector remains handicapped by structural problems, surplus
labor, inefficient small farms, and lack of investment.
Restructuring and privatization of "sensitive
sectors" (e.g., coal, steel, railroads, and energy),
while recently initiated, have stalled. Reforms in health
care, education, the pension system, and state administration
have resulted in larger than expected fiscal pressures.
Further progress in public finance depends mainly on
privatization of Poland's remaining state sector, the
reduction of state employment, and an overhaul of the tax code
to incorporate the growing gray economy and farmers, most of
whom pay no tax. The government's determination to enter the
EU has shaped most aspects of its economic policy and new
legislation; in a nationwide referendum in November 2003, 77%
of the voters voted in favor of Poland's EU accession, now
scheduled for May 2004. Improving Poland's export
competitiveness and containing the internal budget deficit are
top priorities. Due to political uncertainty, the zloty has
recently depreciated in relation to the euro, while currencies
of the other euro-zone aspirants have been appreciating. GDP
per capita equals that of the three Baltic states. |
|
GDP:
|
purchasing power
parity - $426.7 billion (2003 est.) |
|
GDP - real growth rate:
|
3.6% (2003 est.) |
|
GDP - per capita:
|
purchasing power
parity - $11,000 (2003 est.) |
|
GDP - composition by sector:
|
agriculture:
3.1%
industry: 30.4%
services: 66.5% (2003 est.) |
|
Population below poverty line:
|
18.4% (2000 est.) |
|
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
|
0.7% (2003 est.) |
|
Labor force:
|
17.6 million
(2000 est.) |
|
Labor force - by occupation:
|
industry 22.1%,
agriculture 27.5%, services 50.4% (1999) |
|
Unemployment rate:
|
18% (2003) |
|
Budget:
|
revenues:
$49.6 billion
expenditures: $52.3 billion, including capital
expenditures of $NA (1999) |
|
Industries:
|
machine building,
iron and steel, coal mining, chemicals, shipbuilding, food
processing, glass, beverages, textiles |
|
Industrial production growth rate:
|
3% (2003) |
|
Electricity - production:
|
135 billion kWh
(2001) |
|
Electricity - production by source:
|
fossil fuel:
98.1%
hydro: 1.5%
other: 0.4% (2001)
nuclear: 0% |
|
Electricity - consumption:
|
118.8 billion kWh
(2001) |
|
Oil - production:
|
17,180 bbl/day
(2001 est.) |
|
Oil - consumption:
|
424,100 bbl/day
(2001 est.) |
|
Natural gas - production:
|
5.471 billion cu
m (2001 est.) |
|
Natural gas - consumption:
|
13.85 billion cu
m (2001 est.) |
|
Agriculture - products:
|
potatoes, fruits,
vegetables, wheat; poultry, eggs, pork |
|
Exports:
|
$57.6 billion
f.o.b. (2003 est.) |
|
Exports - commodities:
|
machinery and
transport equipment 30.2%, intermediate manufactured goods
25.5%, miscellaneous manufactured goods 20.9%, food and live
animals 8.5% (1999) |
|
Exports - partners:
|
Germany 32.3%,
France 6%, Italy 5.5%, UK 5.2%, Netherlands 4.5%, Czech
Republic 4% (2002) |
|
Imports:
|
$63.65 billion
f.o.b. (2003 est.) |
|
Imports - commodities:
|
machinery and
transport equipment 38.2%, intermediate manufactured goods
20.8%, chemicals 14.3%, miscellaneous manufactured goods 9.5%
(1999) |
|
Imports - partners:
|
Germany 24.3%,
Italy 8.4%, Russia 8%, France 7% (2002) |
|
Debt - external:
|
$79.7 billion
(2003) |
|
Economic aid - recipient:
|
EU structural
adjustment funds (2000) |
|
Currency:
|
zloty (PLN) |
|
Currency code:
|
PLN |
|
Exchange rates:
|
zlotych per US
dollar - 3.89 (2003), 4.08 (2002), 4.09 (2001), 4.35 (2000),
3.97 (1999)
note: zlotych is the plural form of zloty |
|
Fiscal year:
|
calendar year |
|
Telephones - main lines in use:
|
11.4 million
(2002) |
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Telephones - mobile cellular:
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14 million (2002) |
|
Telephone system:
|
general
assessment: underdeveloped and outmoded system in the
process of being overhauled; partial privatization of the
state-owned telephone monopoly is underway; the long waiting
list for main line telephone service has resulted in a boom in
mobile cellular telephone use
domestic: cable, open-wire, and microwave radio relay;
3 cellular networks; local exchanges 56.6% digital
international: country code - 48; satellite earth
stations - 2 Intelsat, NA Eutelsat, 2 Inmarsat (Atlantic and
Indian Ocean regions), and 1 Intersputnik (Atlantic Ocean
region) |
|
Radio broadcast stations:
|
AM 14, FM 777,
shortwave 1 (1998) |
|
Television broadcast stations:
|
179 (plus 256
repeaters) (September 1995) |
|
Internet country code:
|
.pl |
|
Internet hosts:
|
657,495 (2002) |
|
Internet users:
|
8.88 million
(2002) |
|
Railways:
|
total:
23,420 km
broad gauge: 646 km 1.524-m gauge
standard gauge: 21,639 km 1.435-m gauge (11,626 km
electrified)
narrow gauge: 1,135 km various gauges including
1.000-m, 0.785-m, 0.750-m, and 0.600-m (2002) |
|
Highways:
|
total:
364,656 km
paved: 249,060 km (including 358 km of expressways)
unpaved: 115,596 km (2000) |
|
Waterways:
|
3,812 km
(navigable rivers and canals) (1996) |
|
Pipelines:
|
gas 12,901 km;
oil 737 km (2003) |
|
Ports and harbors:
|
Gdansk, Gdynia,
Gliwice, Kolobrzeg, Szczecin, Swinoujscie, Ustka, Warsaw,
Wroclaw |
|
Merchant marine:
|
total: 14
ships (1,000 GRT or over) 154,710 GRT/228,132 DWT
by type: bulk 7, cargo 3, chemical tanker 3, roll
on/roll off 1
registered in other countries: 100 (2003 est.) |
|
Airports:
|
122 (2003 est.) |
|
Airports - with paved runways:
|
total: 83
over 3,047 m: 3
2,438 to 3,047 m: 30
914 to 1,523 m: 8
under 914 m: 2 (2003 est.)
1,524 to 2,437 m: 40 |
|
Airports - with unpaved runways:
|
total: 39
2,438 to 3,047 m: 1
1,524 to 2,437 m: 4
under 914 m: 21 (2003 est.)
914 to 1,523 m: 13 |
|
Heliports:
|
3 (2003 est.) |
|
Military branches:
|
Land Forces,
Navy, Air Force |
|
Military manpower - military age:
|
19 years of age
(2004 est.) |
|
Military manpower - availability:
|
males age
15-49: 10,291,628 (2004 est.) |
|
Military manpower - fit for military service:
|
males age
15-49: 8,034,577 (2004 est.) |
|
Military manpower - reaching military age annually:
|
males:
329,743 (2004 est.) |
|
Military expenditures - dollar figure:
|
$3.5 billion
(2002) |
|
Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
|
1.71% (2002) |
|
Disputes - international:
|
none |
|
Illicit drugs:
|
major illicit
producer of synthetic drugs for the international market;
minor transshipment point for Asian and Latin American illicit
drugs to Western Europe |
This page was last updated on 11 May, 2004
|