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Republic of Poland Rzeczpospolita Polska (Polish) | |
|---|---|
| Anthem: "Mazurek Dąbrowskiego"[a] ("Poland Is Not Yet Lost") | |
.svg)  Location of Poland (dark green) – in Europe (green & dark grey) | |
| Capital and largest city | Warsaw 52°13′N 21°02′E / 52.217°N 21.033°E |
| Official language | Polish[1] |
| Ethnic groups (2021)[2] |
|
| Religion (2021[3]) |
|
| Demonym(s) |
|
| Government | Unitary parliamentary republic[4][5][6][7] |
| Andrzej Duda | |
| Donald Tusk | |
| Legislature | Parliament |
| Senate | |
| Sejm | |
| Formation | |
| c. 960 | |
| 14 April 966 | |
| 18 April 1025 | |
| 1 July 1569 | |
| 11 November 1918 | |
| 17 September 1939 | |
| 22 July 1944 | |
| 31 December 1989[9] | |
| Area | |
• Total | 312,696 km2 (120,733 sq mi)[11][12] (69th) |
• Water (%) | 1.48 (2015)[10] |
| Population | |
• 2022 census |  38,036,118[13] (38th) |
• Density | 122/km2 (316.0/sq mi) (75th) |
| GDP (PPP) | 2024 estimate |
• Total |  $1.890 trillion[14] (20th) |
• Per capita | $51,628[14] (39th) |
| GDP (nominal) | 2024 estimate |
• Total | $862.908 billion[14] (21st) |
• Per capita | $23,563[14] (45th) |
| Gini (2022) |  26.3[15]low inequality |
| HDI (2022) | 0.881[16] very high (36th) |
| Currency | Złoty (PLN) |
| Time zone | UTC+1 (CET) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC+2 (CEST) |
| Date format | dd.mm.yyyy (CE) |
| Drives on | right |
| Calling code | +48 |
| ISO 3166 code | PL |
| Internet TLD | .pl [a] |
| |
Poland,[e] officially the Republic of Poland,[f] is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia[g] to the northeast, Belarus and Ukraine to the east, Slovakia and the Czech Republic to the south, and Germany to the west. The territory is characterised by a varied landscape, diverse ecosystems, and temperate transitional climate. Poland is composed of sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 million people, and the fifth largest EU country by land area, covering a combined area of 312,696 km2 (120,733 sq mi). The capital and largest city is Warsaw; other major cities include Kraków, Wrocław, Łódź, Poznań, and Gdańsk.
Prehistoric human activity on Polish soil dates to the Lower Paleolithic, with continuous settlement since the end of the Last Glacial Period. Culturally diverse throughout late antiquity, in the early medieval period the region became inhabited by the West Slavic tribal Polans, who gave Poland its name. The process of establishing statehood coincided with the conversion of a pagan ruler of the Polans to Christianity, under the auspices of the Roman Catholic Church in 966. The Kingdom of Poland emerged in 1025, and in 1569 cemented its long-standing association with Lithuania, thus forming the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. At the time, the Commonwealth was one of the great powers of Europe, with an elective monarchy and a uniquely liberal political system, which adopted Europe's first modern constitution in 1791.
With the passing of the prosperous Polish Golden Age, the country was partitioned by neighbouring states at the end of the 18th century. Poland regained its independence at the end of World War I in 1918 with the creation of the Second Polish Republic, which emerged victorious in various conflicts of the interbellum period. In September 1939, the invasion of Poland by Germany and the Soviet Union marked the beginning of World War II, which resulted in the Holocaust and millions of Polish casualties. Forced into the Eastern Bloc in the global Cold War, the Polish People's Republic was a founding signatory of the Warsaw Pact. Through the emergence and contributions of the Solidarity movement, the communist government was dissolved and Poland re-established itself as a democratic state in 1989, as the first of its neighbors, initiating the fall of the Iron Curtain.
Poland is a parliamentary republic with its bicameral legislature comprising the Sejm and the Senate. Considered a middle power, it is a developed market and high-income economy that is the sixth largest in the EU by nominal GDP and the fifth largest by GDP (PPP). Poland enjoys a very high standard of living, safety, and economic freedom, as well as free university education and universal health care. The country has 17 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, 15 of which are cultural. Poland is a founding member state of the United Nations and a member of the World Trade Organization, OECD, NATO, and the European Union (including the Schengen Area).
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- ^ Constitution of the Republic of Poland, Article 27.
- ^ "National Population and Housing Census 2021 Population. Size and demographic-social structure in the light of the 2021 Census results".
- ^ "Final results of the National Population and Housing Census 2021". Statistics Poland.
- ^ Wiesław Skrzydło (2008). Ustrój polityczny RP w świetle Konstytucji z 1997 r. Wolters Kluwer Polska Sp. z o.o. p. 69. ISBN 978-83-7526-573-6.
- ^ "system parlamentarno-gabinetowy". Polskie Wydawnictwo Nauk.
- ^ "Konstytucja RP". Encyklopedia PWN.
- ^ Leszek Garlicki (2007). Polish constitutional law. Liber. p. 25. ISBN 978-83-7206-142-3.
- ^ a b "Poland". Encyclopedia Britannica. 2023. Archived from the original on 19 January 2024. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
- ^ "The Act of December 29, 1989 amending the Constitution of the Polish People's Republic". Internetowy System Aktów Prawnych. Archived from the original on 19 October 2020. Retrieved 18 October 2020. (in Polish)
- ^ "Surface water and surface water change". Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Archived from the original on 24 March 2021. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
- ^ GUS. "Powierzchnia i ludność w przekroju terytorialnym w 2023 roku". Archived from the original on 22 September 2023. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
- ^ "Poland country profile". BBC News. 12 November 2023. Archived from the original on 21 October 2023. Retrieved 12 November 2023.
- ^ "Statistical Bulletin No 11/2022". Statistics Poland. Archived from the original on 23 December 2022. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
- ^ a b c d "World Economic Outlook Database, October 2024 Edition. (Poland)". International Monetary Fund. 22 October 2024. Retrieved 22 October 2024.
- ^ "Gini coefficient of equivalised disposable income – EU-SILC survey". ec.europa.eu. Eurostat. Retrieved 13 April 2024.
- ^ "Human Development Report 2023/2024". United Nations Development Programme. 19 March 2024. Archived from the original on 19 March 2024. Retrieved 19 March 2024.