Poland

[Country map of Poland]

Map ©1996 NGS Cartographic Division. Developed in association with GeoSystems Global Corp. World Map

Geography

Location: Central Europe, east of Germany

Map references: Ethnic Groups in Eastern Europe, Europe

Area:
total area: 312,680 sq km
land area: 304,510 sq km
comparative area: slightly smaller than New Mexico

Land boundaries: total 3,114 km, Belarus 605 km, Czech Republic 658 km, Germany 456 km, Lithuania 91 km, Russia (Kaliningrad Oblast) 432 km, Slovakia 444 km, Ukraine 428 km

Coastline: 491 km

Climate: temperate with cold, cloudy, moderately severe winters with frequent precipitation; mild summers with frequent showers and thundershowers

Terrain: mostly flat plain; mountains along southern border

Natural resources: coal, sulfur, copper, natural gas, silver, lead, salt

Land use:
arable land: 46%
permanent crops: 1%
meadows and pastures: 13%
forest and woodland: 28%
other: 12%

Irrigated land: 1,000 sq km (1989 est.)


People

Population: 38,792,442 (July 1995 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 23% (female 4,349,467; male 4,559,536)
15-64 years: 66% (female 12,849,300; male 12,698,179)
65 years and over: 11% (female 2,693,407; male 1,642,553) (July 1995 est.)

Population growth rate: 0.36% (1995 est.)

Birth rate: 13.34 births/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Death rate: 9.23 deaths/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Net migration rate: -0.52 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 12.4 deaths/1,000 live births (1995 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 73.13 years
male: 69.15 years
female: 77.33 years (1995 est.)

Total fertility rate: 1.92 children born/woman (1995 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Pole(s)
adjective: Polish

Ethnic divisions: Polish 97.6%, German 1.3%, Ukrainian 0.6%, Byelorussian 0.5% (1990 est.)

Religions: Roman Catholic 95% (about 75% practicing), Eastern Orthodox, Protestant, and other 5%

Languages: Polish

Literacy: age 15 and over can read and write (1978)
total population: 99%
male: 99%
female: 98%

Labor force: 17.321 million (1993 annual average)
by occupation: industry and construction 32.0%, agriculture 27.6%, trade, transport, and communications 14.7%, government and other 25.7% (1992)


Government

Names:
conventional long form: Republic of Poland
conventional short form: Poland
local long form: Rzeczpospolita Polska
local short form: Polska

Digraph: PL

Type: democratic state

Capital: Warsaw

Administrative divisions: 49 provinces (wojewodztwa, singular - wojewodztwo); Biala Podlaska, Bialystok, Bielsko Biala, Bydgoszcz, Chelm, Ciechanow, Czestochowa, Elblag, Gdansk, Gorzow, Jelenia Gora, Kalisz, Katowice, Kielce, Konin, Koszalin, Krakow, Krosno,Legnica, Leszno, Lodz, Lomza, Lublin, Nowy Sacz, Olsztyn, Opole, Ostroleka, Pila, Piotrkow, Plock, Poznan, Przemysl, Radom, Rzeszow, Siedlce, Sieradz, Skierniewice, Slupsk, Suwalki, Szczecin, Tarnobrzeg, Tarnow, Torun, Walbrzych, Warszawa, Wloclawek, Wroclaw, Zamosc, Zielona Gora

Independence: 11 November 1918 (independent republic proclaimed)

National holiday: Constitution Day, 3 May (1791)

Constitution: interim "small constitution" came into effect in December 1992 replacing the Communist-imposed constitution of 22 July 1952; new democratic constitution being drafted

Legal system: 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; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal


Economy

Overview: Poland continues to make good progress in the difficult transition to a market economy that began on 1 January 1990, when the new democratic government instituted "shock therapy" by decontrolling prices, slashing subsidies, and drastically reducing import barriers. Real GDP fell sharply in 1990 and 1991, but in 1992 Poland became the first country in the region to resume economic growth with a 2.6% increase. Growth increased to 3.8% in 1993 and 5.5% in 1994 - the highest rate in Europe except for Albania. All of the growth since 1991 has come from the booming private sector, which now accounts for at least 55% of GDP, even though privatization of the state-owned enterprises is proceeding slowly and most industry remains in state hands. Industrial production increased 12% in 1994 - led by 50% jumps in the output of motor vehicles, radios and televisions, and pulp and paper - and is now well above the 1990 level. Inflation, which had approached 1,200% annually in early 1990, was down to about 30% in 1994, as the government held the budget deficit to 1.5% of GDP. After five years of steady increases, unemployment has leveled off at about 16% nationwide, although it approaches 30% in some regions. The trade deficit was sharply reduced in 1994, due mainly to increased exports to Western Europe, Poland's main customer. The leftist government elected in September 1993 gets generally good marks from foreign observers for its management of the budget but is often criticized for not moving faster on privatization.

National product: GDP - purchasing power parity - $191.1 billion (1994 est.)

National product real growth rate: 5.5% (1994 est.)

National product per capita: $4,920 (1994 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 30% (1994)

Unemployment rate: 16.1% (November 1994)

Budget:
revenues: $27.1 billion
expenditures: $30 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (1994 est.)

Exports: $16.3 billion (f.o.b., 1994 est.)
commodities: intermediate goods 26.5%, machinery and transport equipment 18.1%, miscellaneous manufactures 16.7%, foodstuffs 9.4%, fuels 8.4% (1993)
partners: Germany 33.4%, Russia 10.2%, Italy 5.3%, UK 4.3% (1993)

Imports: $18.1 billion (f.o.b., 1994 est.)
commodities: machinery and transport equipment 29.6%, intermediate goods 18.5%, chemicals 13.3%, fuels 12.5%, miscellaneous manufactures 10.1%
partners: Germany 35.8%, Italy 9.2%, Russia 8.5%, UK 6.6% (1993)

External debt: $47 billion (1993); note - Poland's Western government creditors promised in 1991 to forgive 30% of Warsaw's $35 billion official debt immediately and to forgive another 20% in 1994; foreign banks agreed in early 1994 to forgive 45% of their $12 billion debt claim

Industrial production: growth rate 12% (1994 est.)

Electricity:
capacity: 31,120,000 kW
production: 124 billion kWh
consumption per capita: 2,908 kWh (1993)

Industries: machine building, iron and steel, extractive industries, chemicals, shipbuilding, food processing, glass, beverages, textiles

Agriculture: accounts for 7% of GDP; 75% of output from private farms, 25% from state farms; productivity remains low by European standards; leading European producer of rye, rapeseed, and potatoes; wide variety of other crops and livestock; major exporter of pork products; normally self-sufficient in food

Currency: 1 zloty (Zl) = 100 groszy

Fiscal year: calendar year


Transportation

Railroads:
total: 25,528 km
broad gauge: 659 km 1.520-m gauge
standard gauge: 23,014 km 1.435-m gauge (11,496 km electrified; 8,978 km double track)
narrow gauge: 1,855 km various gauges including 1.000-m, 0.785-m, 0.750-m, and 0.600-m (1994)

Highways:
total: 367,000 km (excluding farm, factory and forest roads)
paved: 235,247 km (257 km of which are limited access expressways)
unpaved: 131,753 km (1992)

Inland waterways: 3,997 km navigable rivers and canals (1991)

Pipelines: crude oil 1,986 km; petroleum products 360 km; natural gas 4,600 km (1992)

Ports: Gdansk, Gdynia, Gliwice, Kolobrzeg, Szczecin, Swinoujscie, Ustka, Warsaw, Wrocaw

Merchant marine:
total: 152 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 2,186,405 GRT/3,270,914 DWT
ships by type: bulk 89, cargo 38, chemical tanker 4, container 7, oil tanker 1, passenger 1, roll-on/roll-off cargo 8, short-sea passenger 4
note: in addition, Poland owns 9 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 76,501 DWT that operate under Bahamian, Liberian, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Vanuatu, Panamanian, and Cypriot registry

Airports:
total: 134
with paved runways over 3,047 m: 2
with paved runways 2,438 to 3,047 m: 30
with paved runways 1,524 to 2,437 m: 27
with paved runways 914 to 1,523 m: 3
with paved runways under 914 m: 7
with unpaved runways 2,438 to 3,047 m: 5
with unpaved runways 1,524 to 2,438 m: 10
with unpaved runways 914 to 1,523 m: 32
with unpaved runways under 914 m: 18


Flag by Dream Maker Software, Inc.
Information obtained from CIA, The World Factbook 1995