The native Polish name for Poland is Polska.[19] The name is derived from the Polans, a West Slavic tribe who inhabited the Warta River basin of present-day Greater Poland region (6th–8th century CE).[20] The tribe's name stems from the Proto-Slavic noun pole meaning field, which in-itself originates from the Proto-Indo-European word *pleh₂- indicating flatland.[21] The etymology alludes to the topography of the region and the flat landscape of Greater Poland.[22][23] During the Middle Ages, the Latin form Polonia was widely used throughout Europe.[24]
The country's alternative archaic name is Lechia and its root syllable remains in official use in several languages, notably Hungarian, Lithuanian, and Persian.[25] The exonym possibly derives from either Lech, a legendary ruler of the Lechites, or from the Lendians, a West Slavic tribe that dwelt on the south-easternmost edge of Lesser Poland.[26][27] The origin of the tribe's name lies in the Old Polish word lęda (plain).[28] Initially, both names Lechia and Polonia were used interchangeably when referring to Poland by chroniclers during the Middle Ages.[29]
The first Stone Age archaic humans and Homo erectus species settled what was to become Poland approximately 500,000 years ago, though the ensuing hostile climate prevented early humans from founding more permanent encampments.[30] The arrival of Homo sapiens and anatomically modern humans coincided with the climatic discontinuity at the end of the Last Glacial Period (Northern Polish glaciation 10,000 BC), when Poland became habitable.[31]Neolithic excavations indicated broad-ranging development in that era; the earliest evidence of European cheesemaking (5500 BC) was discovered in Polish Kuyavia,[32] and the Bronocice pot is incised with the earliest known depiction of what may be a wheeled vehicle (3400 BC).[33]
Throughout antiquity (400 BC–500 AD), many distinct ancient populations inhabited the territory of present-day Poland, notably Celtic, Scythian, Germanic, Sarmatian, Baltic and Slavic tribes.[37] Furthermore, archaeological findings confirmed the presence of Roman Legions sent to protect the amber trade.[38] The Polish tribes emerged following the second wave of the Migration Period around the 6th century AD;[24] they were Slavic and may have included assimilated remnants of peoples that earlier dwelled in the area.[39][40] Beginning in the early 10th century, the Polans would come to dominate other Lechitic tribes in the region, initially forming a tribal federation and later a centralised monarchical state.[41]
Poland under the rule of Mieszko I, whose acceptance of Christianity under the auspices of the Roman Church and the Baptism of Poland marked the beginning of statehood in 966
Poland began to form into a recognisable unitary and territorial entity around the middle of the 10th century under the Piast dynasty.[42] In 966, ruler of the Polans Mieszko I accepted Christianity under the auspices of the Roman Church with the Baptism of Poland.[43] In 968, a missionary bishopric was established in Poznań. An incipit titled Dagome iudex first defined Poland's geographical boundaries with its capital in Gniezno and affirmed that its monarchy was under the protection of the Apostolic See.[44] The country's early origins were described by Gallus Anonymus in Gesta principum Polonorum, the oldest Polish chronicle.[45] An important national event of the period was the martyrdom of Saint Adalbert, who was killed by Prussian pagans in 997 and whose remains were reputedly bought back for their weight in gold by Mieszko's successor, Bolesław I the Brave.[44]
Casimir III the Great is the only Polish king to receive the title of Great. He built extensively during his reign, and reformed the Polish army along with the country's legal code, 1333–70.
In the first half of the 13th century, Henry I the Bearded and Henry II the Pious aimed to unite the fragmented dukedoms, but the Mongol invasion and the death of Henry II in battle hindered the unification.[56][57] As a result of the devastation which followed, depopulation and the demand for craft labour spurred a migration of German and Flemish settlers into Poland, which was encouraged by the Polish dukes.[58] In 1264, the Statute of Kalisz introduced unprecedented autonomy for the Polish Jews, who came to Poland fleeing persecution elsewhere in Europe.[59]
In the Baltic Sea region, the struggle of Poland and Lithuania with the Teutonic Knights continued and culminated at the Battle of Grunwald in 1410, where a combined Polish-Lithuanian army inflicted a decisive victory against them.[71] In 1466, after the Thirteen Years' War, king Casimir IV Jagiellon gave royal consent to the Peace of Thorn, which created the future Duchy of Prussia under Polish suzerainty and forced the Prussian rulers to pay tributes.[26] The Jagiellonian dynasty also established dynastic control over the kingdoms of Bohemia (1471 onwards) and Hungary.[72] In the south, Poland confronted the Ottoman Empire (at the Varna Crusade) and the Crimean Tatars, and in the east helped Lithuania to combat Russia.[26]
Poland was developing as a feudal state, with a predominantly agricultural economy and an increasingly powerful landed nobility that confined the population to private manorial farmstead known as folwarks.[73] In 1493, John I Albert sanctioned the creation of a bicameral parliament composed of a lower house, the Sejm, and an upper house, the Senate.[74] The Nihil novi act adopted by the Polish General Sejm in 1505, transferred most of the legislative power from the monarch to the parliament, an event which marked the beginning of the period known as Golden Liberty, when the state was ruled by the seemingly free and equal Polish nobles.[75]
The 16th century saw Protestant Reformation movements making deep inroads into Polish Christianity, which resulted in the establishment of policies promoting religious tolerance, unique in Europe at that time.[76] This tolerance allowed the country to avoid the religious turmoil and wars of religion that beset Europe.[76] In Poland, Nontrinitarian Christianity became the doctrine of the so-called Polish Brethren, who separated from their Calvinist denomination and became the co-founders of global Unitarianism.[77]
The Union of Lublin of 1569 established the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, a unified federal state with an elective monarchy, but largely governed by the nobility.[78] The latter coincided with a period of prosperity; the Polish-dominated union thereafter becoming a leading power and a major cultural entity, exercising political control over parts of Central, Eastern, Southeastern and Northern Europe. The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth occupied approximately 1 million km2 (390,000 sq mi) at its peak and was the largest state in Europe.[79][80] Simultaneously, Poland imposed Polonisation policies in newly acquired territories which were met with resistance from ethnic and religious minorities.[78]
The royal election of 1764 resulted in the elevation of Stanisław II Augustus Poniatowski to the monarchy.[95] His candidacy was extensively funded by his sponsor and former lover, Empress Catherine II of Russia.[96] The new king maneuvered between his desire to implement necessary modernising reforms, and the necessity to remain at peace with surrounding states.[97] His ideals led to the formation of the 1768 Bar Confederation, a rebellion directed against the Poniatowski and all external influence, which ineptly aimed to preserve Poland's sovereignty and privileges held by the nobility.[98] The failed attempts at government restructuring as well as the domestic turmoil provoked its neighbours to invade.[99]
In 1772, the First Partition of the Commonwealth by Prussia, Russia and Austria took place; an act which the Partition Sejm, under considerable duress, eventually ratified as a fait accompli.[100] Disregarding the territorial losses, in 1773 a plan of critical reforms was established, in which the Commission of National Education, the first government education authority in Europe, was inaugurated.[101] Corporal punishment of schoolchildren was officially prohibited in 1783. Poniatowski was the head figure of the Enlightenment, encouraged the development of industries, and embraced republican neoclassicism.[102] For his contributions to the arts and sciences he was awarded a Fellowship of the Royal Society.[103]
In 1791, Great Sejm parliament adopted the 3 May Constitution, the first set of supreme national laws, and introduced a constitutional monarchy.[104] The Targowica Confederation, an organisation of nobles and deputies opposing the act, appealed to Catherine and caused the 1792 Polish–Russian War.[105] Fearing the reemergence of Polish hegemony, Russia and Prussia arranged and in 1793 executed, the Second Partition, which left the country deprived of territory and incapable of independent existence. On 24 October 1795, the Commonwealth was partitioned for the third time and ceased to exist as a territorial entity.[106][107] Stanisław Augustus, the last King of Poland, abdicated the throne on 25 November 1795.[108]
Chief of State Marshal Józef Piłsudski was a hero of the Polish independence campaign and the nation's premiere statesman from 1918 until his death on 12 May 1935.
In the aftermath of World War I, the Allies agreed on the reconstitution of Poland, confirmed through the Treaty of Versailles of June 1919.[118] A total of 2 million Polish troops fought with the armies of the three occupying powers, and over 450,000 died.[119] Following the armistice with Germany in November 1918, Poland regained its independence as the Second Polish Republic.[120]
The inter-war period heralded a new era of Polish politics. Whilst Polish political activists had faced heavy censorship in the decades up until World War I, a new political tradition was established in the country. Many exiled Polish activists, such as Ignacy Jan Paderewski, who would later become prime minister, returned home. A significant number of them then went on to take key positions in the newly formed political and governmental structures. Tragedy struck in 1922 when Gabriel Narutowicz, inaugural holder of the presidency, was assassinated at the Zachęta Gallery in Warsaw by a painter and right-wing nationalist Eligiusz Niewiadomski.[122]
In 1926, the May Coup, led by the hero of the Polish independence campaign Marshal Józef Piłsudski, turned rule of the Second Polish Republic over to the nonpartisan Sanacja (Healing) movement to prevent radical political organisations on both the left and the right from destabilizing the country.[123] By the late 1930s, due to increased threats posed by political extremism inside the country, the Polish government became increasingly heavy-handed, banning a number of radical organisations, including communist and ultra-nationalist political parties, which threatened the stability of the country.[124]
The wartime resistance movement, and the Armia Krajowa (Home Army), fought against German occupation. It was one of the three largest resistance movements of the entire war, and encompassed a range of clandestine activities, which functioned as an underground state complete with degree-awarding universities and a court system.[134] The resistance was loyal to the exiled government and generally resented the idea of a communist Poland; for this reason, in the summer of 1944 it initiated Operation Tempest, of which the Warsaw Uprising that began on 1 August 1944 is the best-known operation.[133][135]
Nazi German forces under orders from Adolf Hitler set up six German extermination camps in occupied Poland, including Treblinka, Majdanek and Auschwitz. The Germans transported millions of Jews from across occupied Europe to be murdered in those camps.[136][137] Altogether, 3 million Polish Jews[138][139] – approximately 90% of Poland's pre-war Jewry – and between 1.8 and 2.8 million ethnic Poles[140][141][142] were killed during the German occupation of Poland, including between 50,000 and 100,000 members of the Polish intelligentsia – academics, doctors, lawyers, nobility and priesthood. During the Warsaw Uprising alone, over 150,000 Polish civilians were killed, most were murdered by the Germans during the Wola and Ochota massacres.[143][144] Around 150,000 Polish civilians were killed by Soviets between 1939 and 1941 during the Soviet Union's occupation of eastern Poland (Kresy), and another estimated 100,000 Poles were murdered by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) between 1943 and 1944 in what became known as the Wołyń Massacres.[145][146]Of all the countries in the war, Poland lost the highest percentage of its citizens: around 6 million perished – more than one-sixth of Poland's pre-war population – half of them Polish Jews.[147][148][149] About 90% of deaths were non-military in nature.[150]
At the insistence of Joseph Stalin, the Yalta Conference sanctioned the formation of a new provisional pro-Communist coalition government in Moscow, which ignored the Polish government-in-exile based in London. This action angered many Poles who considered it a betrayal by the Allies. In 1944, Stalin had made guarantees to Churchill and Roosevelt that he would maintain Poland's sovereignty and allow democratic elections to take place. However, upon achieving victory in 1945, the elections organised by the occupying Soviet authorities were falsified and were used to provide a veneer of legitimacy for Soviet hegemony over Polish affairs. The Soviet Union instituted a new communist government in Poland, analogous to much of the rest of the Eastern Bloc. As elsewhere in Communist Europe, the Soviet influence over Poland was met with armed resistance from the outset which continued into the 1950s.[155]
Despite widespread objections, the new Polish government accepted the Soviet annexation of the pre-war eastern regions of Poland[156] (in particular the cities of Wilno and Lwów) and agreed to the permanent garrisoning of Red Army units on Poland's territory. Military alignment within the Warsaw Pact throughout the Cold War came about as a direct result of this change in Poland's political culture. In the European scene, it came to characterise the full-fledged integration of Poland into the brotherhood of communist nations.[157]
Poland covers an administrative area of 312,722 km2 (120,743 sq mi), and is the ninth-largest country in Europe. Approximately 311,895 km2 (120,423 sq mi) of the country's territory consists of land, 2,041 km2 (788 sq mi) is internal waters and 8,783 km2 (3,391 sq mi) is territorial sea.[177] Topographically, the landscape of Poland is characterised by diverse landforms, water bodies and ecosystems.[178] The central and northern region bordering the Baltic Sea lie within the flat Central European Plain, but its south is hilly and mountainous.[179] The average elevation above the sea level is estimated at 173 metres.[177]
The mountainous belt in the extreme south of Poland is divided into two major mountain ranges; the Sudetes in the west and the Carpathians in the east. The highest part of the Carpathian massif are the Tatra Mountains, extending along Poland's southern border.[183] Poland's highest point is Mount Rysy at 2,501 metres (8,205 ft) in elevation, located in the Tatras.[184] The highest summit of the Sudetes massif is Mount Śnieżka at 1,603.3 metres (5,260 ft), shared with the Czech Republic.[185] The lowest point in Poland is situated at Raczki Elbląskie in the Vistula Delta, which is 1.8 metres (5.9 ft) below sea level.[177]
Morskie Oko alpine lake in the Tatra Mountains. Poland has one of the highest densities of lakes in the world.
Poland's longest rivers are the Vistula, the Oder, the Warta, and the Bug.[177] The country also possesses one of the highest densities of lakes in the world, numbering around ten thousand and mostly concentrated in the north-eastern region of Masuria, within the Masurian Lake District.[186] The largest lakes, covering more than 100 square kilometres (39 sq mi), are Śniardwy and Mamry, and the deepest is Lake Hańcza at 108.5 metres (356 ft) in depth.[177]
The climate of Poland is temperate transitional, and varies from oceanic in the north-west to continental in the south-east.[187] The mountainous southern fringes are situated within an alpine climate.[187] Poland is characterised by warm summers, with a mean temperature of around 20 °C (68.0 °F) in July, and moderately cold winters averaging −1 °C (30.2 °F) in December.[188] The warmest and sunniest part of Poland is Lower Silesia in the southwest and the coldest region is the northeast corner, around Suwałki in Podlaskie province, where the climate is affected by cold fronts from Scandinavia and Siberia.[189]Precipitation is more frequent during the summer months, with highest rainfall recorded from June to September.[188]
There is a considerable fluctuation in day-to-day weather and the arrival of a particular season can differ each year.[187]Climate change and other factors have further contributed to interannual thermal anomalies and increased temperatures; the average annual air temperature between 2011 and 2020 was 9.33 °C (48.8 °F), around 1.11 °C higher than in the 2001–2010 period.[189] Winters are also becoming increasingly drier, with less sleet and snowfall.[187]
Poland's legislative assembly is a bicameral parliament consisting of a 460-member lower house (Sejm) and a 100-member upper house (Senate).[201] The Sejm is elected under proportional representation according to the d'Hondt method for vote-seat conversion.[202] The Senate is elected under the first-past-the-post electoral system, with one senator being returned from each of the one hundred constituencies.[203] The Senate has the right to amend or reject a statute passed by the Sejm, but the Sejm may override the Senate's decision with a majority vote.[204]
With the exception of ethnic minority parties, only candidates of political parties receiving at least 5% of the total national vote can enter the Sejm.[203] Both the lower and upper houses of parliament in Poland are elected for a four-year term and each member of the Polish parliament is guaranteed parliamentary immunity.[205] Under current legislation, a person must be 21 years of age or over to assume the position of deputy, 30 or over to become senator and 35 to run in a presidential election.[205]
Members of the Sejm and Senate jointly form the National Assembly of the Republic of Poland.[206] The National Assembly, headed by the Sejm Marshal, is formed on three occasions – when a new president takes the oath of office; when an indictment against the president is brought to the State Tribunal; and in case a president's permanent incapacity to exercise his duties due to the state of his health is declared.[206]
Poland is divided into 16 provinces or states known as voivodeships.[207] As of 2022, the voivodeships are subdivided into 380 counties (powiats), which are further fragmented into 2,477 municipalities (gminas).[207] Major cities normally have the status of both gmina and powiat.[207] The provinces are largely founded on the borders of historic regions, or named for individual cities.[208] Administrative authority at the voivodeship level is shared between a government-appointed governor (voivode), an elected regional assembly (sejmik) and a voivodeship marshal, an executive elected by the assembly.[208]
The Constitution of 3 May adopted in 1791 was the first modern constitution in Europe.
The Constitution of Poland is the enacted supreme law, and Polish judicature is based on the principle of civil rights, governed by the code of civil law.[210] The current democratic constitution was adopted by the National Assembly of Poland on 2 April 1997; it guarantees a multi-party state with freedoms of religion, speech and gatherings, prohibits the practices of forced medical experimentation, torture or corporal punishment, and acknowledges the inviolability of the home, the right to form trade unions, and the right to strike.[211]
Poland has a low homicide rate at 0.7 murders per 100,000 people, as of 2018.[214] Rape, assault and violent crime remain at a very low level.[215] The country has imposed strict regulations on abortion, which is permitted only in cases of rape, incest or when the woman's life is in danger; congenital disorder and stillbirth are not covered by the law, prompting some women to seek abortion abroad.[216]
Poland is a middle power and is transitioning into a regional power in Europe.[221][222] It has a total of 53 representatives in the European Parliament as of 2024. Warsaw serves as the headquarters for Frontex, the European Union's agency for external border security as well as ODIHR, one of the principal institutions of the OSCE.[223][224] Apart from the European Union, Poland has been a member of NATO, the United Nations, and the WTO.
In recent years, Poland significantly strengthened its relations with the United States, thus becoming one of its closest allies and strategic partners in Europe.[225] Historically, Poland maintained strong cultural and political ties to Hungary; this special relationship was recognised by the parliaments of both countries in 2007 with the joint declaration of 23 March as "The Day of Polish-Hungarian Friendship".[226]
Poland ranks 14th in the world in terms of military expenditures; the country allocates 3.8% of its total GDP on military spending, equivalent to approximately US$31.6 billion in 2023.[230] From 2022, Poland initiated a programme of mass modernisation of its armed forces, in close cooperation with American, South Korean and local Polish defence manufacturers.[231] Also, the Polish military is set to increase its size to 250,000 enlisted and officers, and 50,000 defence force personnel.[232] According to SIPRI, the country exported €487 million worth of arms and armaments to foreign countries in 2020.[233]
Compulsory military service for men, who previously had to serve for nine months, was discontinued in 2008.[234] Polish military doctrine reflects the same defensive nature as that of its NATO partners and the country actively hosts NATO's military exercises.[229] Since 1953, the country has been a large contributor to various United Nations peacekeeping missions,[235] and currently maintains military presence in the Middle East, Africa, the Baltic states and southeastern Europe.[229]
Law enforcement in Poland is performed by several agencies which are subordinate to the Ministry of Interior and Administration – the State Police (Policja), assigned to investigate crimes or transgression; the Municipal City Guard, which maintains public order; and several specialised agencies, such as the Polish Border Guard.[236] Private security firms are also common, although they possess no legal authority to arrest or detain a suspect.[236][237] Municipal guards are primarily headed by provincial, regional or city councils; individual guards are not permitted to carry firearms unless instructed by the superior commanding officer.[238] Security service personnel conduct regular patrols in both large urban areas or smaller suburban localities.[239]
As of 2023[update], Poland's economy and gross domestic product (GDP) is the sixth largest in the European Union by nominal standards and the fifth largest by purchasing power parity. It is also one of the fastest growing within the Union and reached a developed market status in 2018.[250] The unemployment rate published by Eurostat in 2023 amounted to 2.8%, which was the second-lowest in the EU.[248] As of 2023[update], around 62% of the employed population works in the service sector, 29% in manufacturing, and 8% in the agricultural sector.[251] Although Poland is a member of the European single market, the country has not adopted the Euro as legal tender and maintains its own currency – the Polish złoty (zł, PLN).
Poland is the regional economic leader in Central Europe, with nearly 40 per cent of the 500 biggest companies in the region (by revenues) as well as a high globalisation rate.[252] The country's largest firms compose the WIG20 and WIG30indexes, which is traded on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. According to reports made by the National Bank of Poland, the value of Polish foreign direct investments reached almost 300 billion PLN at the end of 2014. The Central Statistical Office estimated that in 2014 there were 1,437 Polish corporations with interests in 3,194 foreign entities.[253]
Poland has the largest banking sector in Central Europe,[254] with 32.3 branches per 100,000 adults.[255] It was the only European economy to have avoided the recession of 2008.[256] The country is the 20th largest exporter of goods and services in the world.[257] Exports of goods and services are valued at approximately 56% of GDP, as of 2020.[258] In 2019, Poland passed a law that would exempt workers under the age of 26 from income tax.[259]
In 2020, the total value of the tourism industry in Poland was 104.3 billion PLN, then equivalent to 4.5% of the Polish GDP.[260] Tourism contributes considerably to the overall economy and makes up a relatively large proportion of the country's service market.[261] Nearly 200,000 people were employed in the accommodation and catering (hospitality) sector in 2020.[260] In 2021, Poland ranked 12th most visited country in the world by international arrivals.[262]
Transport in Poland is provided by means of rail, road, marine shipping and air travel. The country is part of EU's Schengen Area and is an important transport hub due to its strategic geographical position in Central Europe.[267] Some of the longest European routes, including the E30 and E40, run through Poland. The country has a good network of highways consisting of express roads and motorways. As of August 2023, Poland has the world's 21st-largest road network, maintaining over 5,000 km (3,100 mi) of highways in use.[268]
In 2022, the nation had 19,393 kilometres (12,050 mi) of railway track, the third longest in the European Union after Germany and France.[269] The Polish State Railways (PKP) is the dominant railway operator, with certain major voivodeships or urban areas possessing their own commuter and regional rail.[270] Poland has a number of international airports, the largest of which is Warsaw Chopin Airport.[271] It is the primary global hub for LOT Polish Airlines, the country's flag carrier.[272]
The electricity generation sector in Poland is largely fossil-fuel–based. Coal production in Poland is a major source of employment and the largest source of the nation's greenhouse gas emissions.[274] Many power plants nationwide use Poland's position as a major European exporter of coal to their advantage by continuing to use coal as the primary raw material in the production of their energy. The three largest Polish coal mining firms (Węglokoks, Kompania Węglowa and JSW) extract around 100 million tonnes of coal annually.[275] After coal, Polish energy supply relies significantly on oil—the nation is the third-largest buyer of Russian oil exports to the EU.[276]
The new Energy Policy of Poland until 2040 (EPP2040) would reduce the share of coal and lignite in electricity generation by 25% from 2017 to 2030. The plan involves deploying new nuclear plants, increasing energy efficiency, and decarbonising the Polish transport system in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prioritise long-term energy security.[274][277]
Poland's tertiary education institutions; traditional universities, as well as technical, medical, and economic institutions, employ around tens of thousands of researchers and staff members. There are hundreds of research and development institutes.[283] However, in the 19th and 20th centuries many Polish scientists worked abroad; one of the most important of these exiles was Marie Curie, a physicist and chemist who lived much of her life in France. In 1925, she established Poland's Radium Institute.[278]
Population of Poland from 1900 to 2010 in millions of inhabitants
Around 60% of the country's population lives in urban areas or major cities and 40% in rural zones.[288] In 2020, 50.2% of Poles resided in detached dwellings and 44.3% in apartments.[289] The most populous administrative province or state is the Masovian Voivodeship and the most populous city is the capital, Warsaw, at 1.8 million inhabitants with a further 2–3 million people living in its metropolitan area.[290][291][292] The metropolitan area of Katowice is the largest urban conurbation with a population between 2.7 million[293] and 5.3 million residents.[294] Population density is higher in the south of Poland and mostly concentrated between the cities of Wrocław and Kraków.[295]
In the 2011 Polish census, 37,310,341 people reported Polish identity, 846,719 Silesian, 232,547 Kashubian and 147,814 German. Other identities were reported by 163,363 people (0.41%) and 521,470 people (1.35%) did not specify any nationality.[296] Official population statistics do not include migrant workers who do not possess a permanent residency permit or Karta Polaka.[297] More than 1.7 million Ukrainian citizens worked legally in Poland in 2017.[298] The number of migrants is rising steadily; the country approved 504,172 work permits for foreigners in 2021 alone.[299] According to the Council of Europe, 12,731 Romani people live in Poland.[300]
Largest cities or towns in Poland
Statistics Poland (GUS) 2021[301] and GUS BDL 2021[302]
John Paul II, born Karol Wojtyła, held the papacy between 1978 and 2005 and was the first Pole to become a Roman Catholic Pope.
According to the 2021 census, 71.3% of all Polish citizens adhere to the Roman Catholic Church, with 6.9% identifying as having no religion and 20.6% refusing to answer.[3]
Poland is one of the most religious countries in Europe, where Roman Catholicism remains a part of national identity and Polish-born Pope John Paul II is widely revered.[311][312] In 2015, 61.6% of respondents outlined that religion is of high or very high importance.[313] However, church attendance has greatly decreased in recent years; only 28% of Catholics attended mass weekly in 2021, down from around half in 2000.[314] According to The Wall Street Journal, "Of [the] more than 100 countries studied by the Pew Research Center in 2018, Poland was secularizing the fastest, as measured by the disparity between the religiosity of young people and their elders."[311]
Freedom of religion in Poland is guaranteed by the Constitution, and Poland's concordat with the Holy See enables the teaching of religion in public schools.[315] Historically, the Polish state maintained a high degree of religious tolerance and provided asylum for refugees fleeing religious persecution in other parts of Europe.[316] Poland hosted Europe's largest Jewish diaspora, and the country was a centre of Ashkenazi Jewish culture and traditional learning until the Holocaust.[317]
Medical service providers and hospitals in Poland are subordinate to the Ministry of Health; it provides administrative oversight and scrutiny of general medical practice, and is obliged to maintain a high standard of hygiene and patient care. Poland has a universal healthcare system based on an all-inclusive insurance system; state subsidised healthcare is available to all citizens covered by the general health insurance program of the National Health Fund (NFZ). Private medical complexes exist nationwide; over 50% of the population uses both public and private sectors.[319][320][321]
According to the Human Development Report from 2020, the average life expectancy at birth is 79 years (around 75 years for an infant male and 83 years for an infant female);[322] the country has a low infant mortality rate (4 per 1,000 births).[323] In 2019, the principal cause of death was ischemic heart disease; diseases of the circulatory system accounted for 45% of all deaths.[324] In the same year, Poland was also the 15th-largest importer of medications and pharmaceutical products.[325]
The framework for primary, secondary and higher tertiary education are established by the Ministry of Education and Science. One year of kindergarten is compulsory for six-year-olds.[331][332] Primary education traditionally begins at the age of seven, although children aged six can attend at the request of their parents or guardians.[332] Elementary school spans eight grades and secondary schooling is dependent on student preference – a four-year high school (liceum), a five-year technical school (technikum) or various vocational studies (szkoła branżowa) can be pursued by individual pupils.[332] A liceum or technikum is concluded with a maturity exit exam (matura), which must be passed in order to apply for a university or other institutions of higher learning.[333]
The culture of Poland is closely connected with its intricate 1,000-year history, and forms an important constituent in the Western civilisation.[341] The Poles take great pride in their national identity which is often associated with the colours white and red, and exuded by the expression biało-czerwoni ("whitereds").[342] National symbols, chiefly the crowned white-tailed eagle, are often visible on clothing, insignia and emblems.[343] The architectural monuments of great importance are protected by the National Heritage Board of Poland.[344] Over 100 of the country's most significant tangible wonders were enlisted onto the Historic Monuments Register,[345] with further 17 being recognised by UNESCO as World Heritage Sites.[346]
Particular traditions and superstitious customs observed in Poland are not found elsewhere in Europe. Though Christmas Eve (Wigilia) is not a public holiday, it remains the most memorable day of the entire year. Trees are decorated on 24 December, hay is placed under the tablecloth to resemble Jesus' manger, Christmas wafers (opłatek) are shared between gathered guests and a twelve-dish meatless supper is served that same evening when the first star appears.[348] An empty plate and seat are symbolically left at the table for an unexpected guest.[349] On occasion, carolers journey around smaller towns with a folk Turoń creature until the Lent period.[350]
A widely-popular doughnut and sweet pastry feast occurs on Fat Thursday, usually 52 days prior to Easter.[351]Eggs for Holy Sunday are painted and placed in decorated baskets that are previously blessed by clergymen in churches on Easter Saturday. Easter Monday is celebrated with pagan dyngus festivities, where the youth is engaged in water fights.[352][351] Cemeteries and graves of the deceased are annually visited by family members on All Saints' Day; tombstones are cleaned as a sign of respect and candles are lit to honour the dead on an unprecedented scale.[353]
The origins of Polish music can be traced to the 13th century; manuscripts have been found in Stary Sącz containing polyphonic compositions related to the Parisian Notre Dame School. Other early compositions, such as the melody of Bogurodzica and God Is Born (a coronation polonaise tune for Polish kings by an unknown composer), may also date back to this period, however, the first known notable composer, Nicholas of Radom, lived in the 15th century. Diomedes Cato, a native-born Italian who lived in Kraków, became a renowned lutenist at the court of Sigismund III; he not only imported some of the musical styles from southern Europe but blended them with native folk music.[355]
In the 17th and 18th centuries, Polish baroque composers wrote liturgical music and secular compositions such as concertos and sonatas for voices or instruments. At the end of the 18th century, Polish classical music evolved into national forms like the polonaise. Wojciech Bogusławski is accredited with composing the first Polish national opera, titled Krakowiacy i Górale, which premiered in 1794.[356]
Poland today has an active music scene, with the jazz and metal genres being particularly popular among the contemporary populace. Polish jazz musicians such as Krzysztof Komeda created a unique style, which was most famous in the 1960s and 1970s and continues to be popular to this day. Poland has also become a major venue for large-scale music festivals, chief among which are the Pol'and'Rock Festival,[357]Open'er Festival, Opole Festival and Sopot Festival.[358]
The cuisine of Poland is eclectic and shares similarities with other regional cuisines. Among the staple or regional dishes are pierogi (filled dumplings), kielbasa (sausage), bigos (hunter's stew), kotlet schabowy (breaded cutlet), gołąbki (cabbage rolls), barszcz (borscht), żurek (soured rye soup), oscypek (smoked cheese), and tomato soup.[395][396]Bagels, a type of bread roll, also originated in Poland.[397]
Traditional dishes are hearty and abundant in pork, potatoes, eggs, cream, mushrooms, regional herbs, and sauce.[398] Polish food is characteristic for its various kinds of kluski (soft dumplings), soups, cereals and a variety of breads and open sandwiches. Salads, including mizeria (cucumber salad), coleslaw, sauerkraut, carrot and seared beets, are common. Meals conclude with a dessert such as sernik (cheesecake), makowiec (poppy seed roll), or napoleonka (mille-feuille) cream pie.[399]
Traditional alcoholic beverages include honey mead, widespread since the 13th century, beer, wine and vodka.[400] The world's first written mention of vodka originates from Poland.[401] The most popular alcoholic drinks at present are beer and wine which took over from vodka more popular in the years 1980–1998.[402]Grodziskie, sometimes referred to as "Polish Champagne", is an example of a historical beer style from Poland.[403] Tea remains common in Polish society since the 19th century, whilst coffee is drunk widely since the 18th century.[404]
Several Polish designers and stylists left a legacy of beauty inventions and cosmetics; including Helena Rubinstein and Maksymilian Faktorowicz, who created a line of cosmetics company in California known as Max Factor and formulated the term "make-up" which is now widely used as an alternative for describing cosmetics.[405] Faktorowicz is also credited with inventing modern eyelash extensions.[406][407] As of 2020, Poland possesses the sixth-largest cosmetic market in Europe. Inglot Cosmetics is the country's largest beauty products manufacturer,[408] and the retail store Reserved is the country's most successful clothing store chain.[409]
Historically, fashion has been an important aspect of Poland's national consciousness or cultural manifestation, and the country developed its own style known as Sarmatism at the turn of the 17th century.[410] The national dress and etiquette of Poland also reached the court at Versailles, where French dresses inspired by Polish garments included robe à la polonaise and the witzchoura. The scope of influence also entailed furniture; rococo Polish beds with canopies became fashionable in French châteaus.[411] Sarmatism eventually faded in the wake of the 18th century.[410]
Headquarters of the publicly funded national television network TVP in Warsaw
According to the Eurobarometer Report (2015), 78 percent of Poles watch the television daily.[415] In 2020, 79 percent of the population read the news more than once a day, placing it second behind Sweden.[416] Poland has a number of major domestic media outlets, chiefly the public broadcasting corporation TVP, free-to-air channels TVN and Polsat as well as 24-hour news channels TVP Info, TVN 24 and Polsat News.[417] Public television extends its operations to genre-specific programmes such as TVP Sport, TVP Historia, TVP Kultura, TVP Rozrywka, TVP Seriale and TVP Polonia, the latter a state-run channel dedicated to the transmission of Polish-language telecasts for the Polish diaspora. In 2020, the most popular types of newspapers were tabloids and socio-political news dailies.[415]
In the 21st century, the country has seen a growth of popularity of tennis and produced a number of successful tennis players including World No. 1 Iga Świątek, winner of five Grand Slam singles titles; former World No. 2 Agnieszka Radwanska, winner of 20 WTA career singles titles including 2015 WTA Finals; Top 10 ATP player Hubert Hurkacz; former World No. 1 doubles player Łukasz Kubot, winner of two Grand Slam doubles titles and Jan Zieliński, winner of two Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. Poland also won the 2015 Hopman Cup with Agnieszka Radwańska and Jerzy Janowicz representing the country.[427][428]
Poles made significant achievements in mountaineering, in particular, in the Himalayas and the winter ascending of the eight-thousanders (e.g. Jerzy Kukuczka, Krzysztof Wielicki, Wanda Rutkiewicz). Polish mountains are one of the tourist attractions of the country. Hiking, climbing, skiing and mountain biking and attract numerous tourists every year from all over the world.[266] Water sports are the most popular summer recreation activities, with ample locations for fishing, canoeing, kayaking, sailing and windsurfing especially in the northern regions of the country.[429]
^Multiple national identity was available in the census.
^"The dukes (dux) were originally the commanders of an armed retinue (drużyna) with which they broke the authority of the chieftains of the clans, thus transforming the original tribal organization into a territorial unit."[10]
^"Mieszko accepted Roman Catholicism via Bohemia in 966. A missionary bishopric directly dependent on the papacy was established in Poznań. This was the true beginning of Polish history, for Christianity was a carrier of Western civilization with which Poland was henceforth associated."[10]
^Veser, Ernst[in German] (23 September 1997). "Semi-Presidentialism-Duverger's Concept — A New Political System Model"(PDF). Department of Education, School of Education, University of Cologne, zh. pp. 39–60. Retrieved 21 August 2017. Duhamel has developed the approach further: He stresses that the French construction does not correspond to either parliamentary or the presidential form of government, and then develops the distinction of 'système politique' and 'régime constitutionnel'. While the former comprises the exercise of power that results from the dominant institutional practice, the latter is the totality of the rules for the dominant institutional practice of power. In this way, France appears as 'presidentialist system' endowed with a 'semi-presidential regime' (1983: 587). By this standard, he recognizes Duverger's pléiade as semi-presidential regimes, as well as Poland, Romania, Bulgaria and Lithuania (1993: 87).
^Shugart, Matthew Søberg (December 2005). "Semi-Presidential Systems: Dual Executive And Mixed Authority Patterns"(PDF). French Politics. 3 (3): 323–351. doi:10.1057/palgrave.fp.8200087. Retrieved 21 August 2017. Even if the president has no discretion in the forming of cabinets or the right to dissolve parliament, his or her constitutional authority can be regarded as 'quite considerable' in Duverger's sense if cabinet legislation approved in parliament can be blocked by the people's elected agent. Such powers are especially relevant if an extraordinary majority is required to override a veto, as in Mongolia, Poland, and Senegal. In these cases, while the government is fully accountable to Parliament, it cannot legislate without taking the potentially different policy preferences of the president into account.
^Jurek, Krzysztof (2019). Poznać przeszłość 1. Karty pracy ucznia. Poziom podstawowy (in Polish). Warszawa (Warsaw): Nowa Era. p. 93. ISBN978-83-267-3653-7.
^Brather, Sebastian (2004). "The Archaeology of the Northwestern Slavs (Seventh To Ninth Centuries)". East Central Europe. 31 (1): 78–81. doi:10.1163/187633004x00116.
^Knoll, Paul W.; Schaer, Frank, eds. (2003), Gesta Principum Polonorum / The Deeds of the Princes of the Poles, Central European Medieval Texts, General Editors János M. Bak, Urszula Borkowska, Giles Constable & Gábor Klaniczay, vol. 3, Budapest/ New York: Central European University Press, pp. 87–211, ISBN978-963-9241-40-4
^Urbańczyk, Przemysław (2017). Bolesław Chrobry – lew ryczący (in Polish). Toruń: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Mikołaja Kopernika. pp. 309–310. ISBN978-8-323-13886-0.
^Wróbel, Piotr (2004). "Poland". In Frucht, Richard C. (ed.). Eastern Europe: An Introduction to the People, Lands, and Culture. Vol. 1. ABC-CLIO. p. 10. ISBN978-1-57607-800-6. Retrieved 8 April 2013. At the same time, when most of Europe was decimated by the Black Death, Poland developed quickly and reached the levels of the wealthiest countries of the West in its economy and culture.
^Halecki, Oscar (1991). Jadwiga of Anjou and the Rise of East-Central Europe. Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America. pp. 116–117, 152. ISBN978-0-88033-206-4.
^Norman Davies (1996). Europe: a history. Oxford University Press. p. 428. ISBN978-0-19-820171-7. By 1490 the Jagiellons controlled Poland–Lithuania, Bohemia, and Hungary, but not the Empire.
^Józef Andrzej Gierowski – Historia Polski 1764–1864 [History of Poland 1764–1864], Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe (Polish Scientific Publishers PWN), Warszawa 1986, ISBN978-83-01-03732-1, pp. 1–74
^Gardner, Monica Mary (1942). "The Rising of Kościuszko (Chapter VII)". Kościuszko: A Biography. G. Allen & Unwin., ltd, 136 pages. Archived from the original on 19 March 2022. Retrieved 29 October 2014 – via Project Gutenberg.
^Nicholls, David (1999). Napoleon. Oxford: ABC-CLIO. p. 204. ISBN978-0-87436-957-1. Archived from the original on 18 April 2023. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
^According to Margaret MacMillan, "The rebirth of Poland was one of the great stories of the Paris Peace Conference." Margaret MacMillan, Paris 1919: Six Months that Changed the World (2001), p. 208.
^Glenn E. Curtis (1994). Poland: A Country Study. Vol. 550 (3 ed.). Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress. p. 29. ISBN978-0-8444-0827-9.
^Piotr S. Wandycz (2009). "The Second Republic, 1921–1939". The Polish Review. 54 (2). University of Illinois Press: 159–171. JSTOR25779809.
^Marjan Kukiel (1929). "The Polish-Soviet Campaign of 1920". The Slavonic and East European Review. 8 (22). Modern Humanities Research Association: 48–65. JSTOR4202361.
^Bitter glory: Poland and its fate, 1918 to 1939; p. 179
^Robert Machray (November 1930). "Pilsudski, the Strong Man of Poland". Current History. 33 (2). University of California Press: 195–199. doi:10.1525/curh.1930.33.2.195. JSTOR45333442.
^Brian Porter-Szücs (6 January 2014). Poland in the Modern World: Beyond Martyrdom. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN978-1-118-59808-5.
^Browning, Christopher R.; Matthäus, Jürgen (2004). The origins of the Final Solution: the evolution of Nazi Jewish policy, September 1939 – March 1942. Comprehensive history of the Holocaust. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. ISBN978-0-8032-1327-2.
^Snyder, Timothy (2015). Black earth: the Holocaust as history and warning (First ed.). New York: Tim Duggan Books. ISBN978-1-101-90345-2.
^Materski & Szarota (2009)Quote: Liczba Żydów i Polaków żydowskiego pochodzenia, obywateli II Rzeczypospolitej, zamordowanych przez Niemców sięga 2,7- 2,9 mln osób. Translation: The number of Jewish victims is estimated at 2,9 million. This was about 90% of the 3.3 million Jews living in prewar Poland. Source: IPN.
^Materski & Szarota (2009)Quote: Łączne straty śmiertelne ludności polskiej pod okupacją niemiecką oblicza się obecnie na ok. 2 770 000. Translation: Current estimate is roughly 2,770,000 victims of German occupation. This was 11.3% of the 24.4 million ethnic Poles in prewar Poland.
^Grzegorz Motyka, Od rzezi wołyńskiej do akcji "Wisła". Konflikt polsko-ukraiński 1943–1947. Kraków 2011, p. 447. See also: Book review by Tomasz Stańczyk: "Grzegorz Motyka oblicza, że w latach 1943–1947 z polskich rąk zginęło 11–15 tys. Ukraińców. Polskie straty to 76–106 tys. zamordowanych, w znakomitej większości podczas rzezi wołyńskiej i galicyjskiej."
^"What were the Volhynian Massacres?". 1943 Wołyń Massacres Truth and Remembrance. Institute of National Remembrance. 2013. Archived from the original on 13 August 2013. Retrieved 17 July 2016.
^Kowalik, Tadeusz (2011). From Solidarity to Sell-Out: The Restoration of Capitalism in Poland. New York, NY: Monthly Review Press.
^Spieser, Catherine (April 2007). "Labour Market Policies in Post-communist Poland: Explaining the Peaceful Institutionalisation of Unemployment". Politique européenne. 21 (1): 97–132. doi:10.3917/poeu.021.0097.
^Poláčková, Hana (1994). "Regional Cooperation in Central Europe: Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia: from Visegrad to CEFTA". Perspectives (3). SAGE Publishers: 117–129. JSTOR23615759.
^Szczerbiak, Aleks (September 2004). "History Trumps Government Unpopularity: The June 2003 Polish EU Accession Referendum". West European Politics. 27 (4): 671–690. doi:10.1080/0140238042000249876. S2CID153998856.
^Kundera, Jaroslaw (September 2014). "Poland in the European Union. The economic effects of ten years of membership". Rivista di Studi Politici Internazionali. 81 (3): 377–396. JSTOR43580712.
^Christine Zuchora-Walske (2013). "The Lakes Region". Poland. ABDO Publishing. p. 28. ISBN978-1-61480-877-0. Archived from the original on 24 July 2023. Retrieved 24 July 2023. Insert: Poland is home to 9,300 lakes. Finland is the only European nation with a higher density of lakes than Poland.
^ abZbigniew Ustrunul; Agnieszka Wypych; Ewa Jakusik; Dawid Biernacik; Danuta Czekierda; Anna Chodubska (2020). Climate of Poland(PDF) (Report). Institute of Meteorology and Water Management – National Research Institute (IMGW). p. 7. Archived(PDF) from the original on 28 June 2022. Retrieved 3 April 2022.
^Milewski, Wawrzyniec (2017). Forests in Poland 2017(PDF). Warsaw (Warszawa): State Forests Information Centre. p. 8. ISBN978-83-65659-23-1. Archived(PDF) from the original on 31 May 2022. Retrieved 3 April 2022.
^Aniskiewicz, Alena (2016). "That's Polish: Exploring the History of Poland's National Emblems". culture.pl. Adam Mickiewicz Institute. Archived from the original on 3 April 2022. Retrieved 3 April 2022. "A white eagle [...], the profile of a shaggy bison in a field of grass. These are emblems of Poland". "Nation's (somewhat disputed) national flower – the corn poppy".
^Kowalczyk, Barbara; Mikowski, Rafał; Mikowski, Łukasz (2019). Environmental law in Poland. Alphen aan den Rijn: Kluwer Law International. ISBN978-94-035-0950-1. Archived from the original on 2 October 2023. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
^Kamarad, Ewa; Wysocka-Bar, Anna (2020). "General Introduction, s. 3". Private International Law in Poland. Alphen aan den Rijn: Kluwer Law International. ISBN978-94-035-2961-5. Archived from the original on 2 October 2023. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
^Kamarad, Ewa; Wysocka-Bar, Anna (2020). "General Introduction, s. 2". Private International Law in Poland. Alphen aan den Rijn: Kluwer Law International. ISBN978-94-035-2961-5. Archived from the original on 2 October 2023. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
^Nations, United (2020). "Human Development Indicators – Poland". Human Development Reports. United Nations Development Programme. Archived from the original on 28 January 2019. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
^Government of Poland (2019). Eksport uzbrojenia i sprzętu wojskowego Polski(PDF) (Report). Warszawa (Warsaw): Ministerstwo Spraw Zagranicznych MSZ (Ministry of Foreign Affairs). p. 4. Archived(PDF) from the original on 28 March 2022. Retrieved 24 March 2022.
^ abNarodowego, Biuro Bezpieczeństwa. "Potencjał ochronny". Biuro Bezpieczeństwa Narodowego. Archived from the original on 24 January 2022. Retrieved 2 December 2020.
^Antykorupcyjne, Centralne Biuro. "Aktualności". Centralne Biuro Antykorupcyjne. Archived from the original on 21 June 2022. Retrieved 2 December 2020.
^Internet, J. S. K. "Status prawny". Centralne Biuro Śledcze Policji. Archived from the original on 14 June 2022. Retrieved 2 December 2020.
^Thomas White International (September 2011), Prominent Banks in Poland. Emerging Market Spotlight. Banking Sector in Poland (Internet Archive). Retrieved 6 November 2014.
^"World Tourism Barometer"(PDF). World Tourism Organization. 21 (2). May 2023. Archived from the original on 2 August 2023. Retrieved 8 July 2024.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
^Pickup, Gilly (7 March 2019). The 50 Greatest Castles and Palaces of the World. Icon Books. ISBN978-1-78578-458-3.
^Neil Wilson; Tom Parkinson; Richard Watkins (2005). "The Eagles' Nests". Poland. Lonely Planet. ISBN978-1-74059-522-3.
^Departament Rynku Pracy MRPiPS (2021). "Zezwolenia na pracę cudzoziemców". psz.praca.gov.pl (in Polish). Archived from the original on 31 May 2022. Retrieved 6 March 2022.
^Nations, United (2020). "Poland – Human Development Indicators". Human Development Reports. United Nations Development Programme. Archived from the original on 28 January 2019. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
^Adam Zamoyski, The Polish Way: A Thousand Year History of the Poles and Their Culture. Published 1993, Hippocrene Books, Poland, ISBN978-0-7818-0200-0
^Many designs imitated the arcaded courtyard and arched loggias of the Wawel palace. Michael J. Mikoś. "Renaissance Cultural Background". www.staropolska.pl. p. 9. Retrieved 23 April 2009.
^Stanley, John (2004). "Reviewed Work: Literary Activities and Attitudes in the Stanislavian Age in Poland (1764–1795): A Social System? by Jan I.J. van der Meer". Canadian Slavonic Papers. 46 (1/2): 226–229. JSTOR40870954.
^Carter, F.W. (2006). Trade and Urban Development in Poland: An Economic Geography of Cracow, from Its Origins to 1795. Cambridge University Press. p. 364. ISBN978-0-521-02438-9.
^Peter Melville Logan, ed. (2014). The Encyclopedia of the Novel. Associate editors:Olakunle George, Susan Hegeman, EfraÃn Kristal. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN978-1-118-77907-1. Retrieved 24 May 2017 – via Google Books.
^"Always home-made, tomato soup is one of the first things a Polish cook learns to prepare." [in:] Marc E. Heine. Poland. 1987
^"Tu się w lasy schroniły wygnane ze zbytkowych stołów, narodowe potrawy, Barszcz, Bigos, Zrazy, Pirogi i Pieczeń" [in:] Jan N. de Bobrowicz. Maxymilian arcyksiąże Austryacki obrany Król polski. 1848. s. 74; "barszcz, rosół, sztuka mięsa, pieczenie huzarskie, bigos, pierogi, kiełbasa z kapustą, przede wszystkim zaś rozmaite kasze" Zbigniew Kuchowicz Obyczaje staropolskie XVII-XVIII wieku. 1975; "pieczeń cielęca pieczona (panierowana), pieczeń cielęca zapiekana w sosie beszamelowym, pieczeń huzarska (=pieczeń wołowa przekładana farszem), pieczeń rzymska (klops), pieczeń rzymska (klops z cielęciny) w sosie śmietanowym, pieczeń rzymska z królika " [in:] Stanisław Berger. Kuchnia polska. 1974.; Polish Holiday Cookery by Robert Strybel. Strybel, Robert (2003). Polish Holiday Cookery. Hippocrene Books. ISBN978-0-7818-0994-8 – via Google Books.
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