"text":"Poland's history as a state began near the middle of the 10th century. By the mid-16th century, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth ruled a vast tract of land in Central and Eastern Europe. During the 18th century, internal disorders weakened the nation, and in a series of agreements between 1772 and 1795, Russia, Prussia, and Austria partitioned Poland among 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. Labor turmoil in 1980 led to the formation of the independent trade union \"Solidarity\" that over time became a political force with over 10 million members. Free elections in 1989 and 1990 won Solidarity control of the parliament and the presidency, bringing the communist era to a close. A \"shock therapy\" program during the early 1990s enabled the country to transform its economy into one of the most robust in Central Europe. Poland joined NATO in 1999 and the EU in 2004. "
"text":"population concentrated in the southern area around Krakow and the central area around Warsaw and Lodz, with an extension to the northern coastal city of Gdansk"
},
"Natural hazards":{
"text":"flooding"
},
"Geography - note":{
"text":"historically, an area of conflict because of flat terrain and the lack of natural barriers on the North European Plain"
"text":"Polish (official) 98.2%, Silesian 1.4%, other 1.1%, unspecified 1.3%; note - data represent the language spoken at home; shares sum to more than 100% because some respondents gave more than one answer on the census; Poland ratified the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in 2009 recognizing Kashub as a regional language, Czech, Hebrew, Yiddish, Belarusian, Lithuanian, German, Armenian, Russian, Slovak, and Ukrainian as national minority languages, and Karaim, Lemko, Romani (Polska Roma and Bergitka Roma), and Tatar as ethnic minority languages (2011 est.)"
"text":"<br>Księga Faktów Świata, niezbędne źródło podstawowych informacji. (Polish)<br><br>The World Factbook, the indispensable source for basic information."
"text":"Catholic 85% (includes Roman Catholic 84.8% and other Catholic 0.3%), Orthodox 1.3% (almost all are Polish Autocephalous Orthodox), Protestant 0.4% (mainly Augsburg Evangelical and Pentecostal), other 0.3% (includes Jehovah's Witness, Buddhist, Hare Krishna, Gaudiya Vaishnavism, Muslim, Jewish, Church of Jesus Christ), unspecified 12.9% (2020 est.)"
"text":"population concentrated in the southern area around Krakow and the central area around Warsaw and Lodz, with an extension to the northern coastal city of Gdansk"
"text":"decreased emphasis on heavy industry and increased environmental concern by post-communist governments has improved environment; air pollution remains serious because of emissions from burning low-quality coals in homes and from coal-fired power plants; the resulting acid rain causes forest damage; water pollution from industrial and municipal sources is a problem, as is disposal of hazardous wastes"
},
"Environment - international agreements":{
"party to":{
"text":"Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Antarctic-Environmental Protection, Antarctic- Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Seals, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Climate Change-Paris Agreement, Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping-London Convention, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 2006, Wetlands, Whaling"
},
"signed, but not ratified":{
"text":"Air Pollution-Heavy Metals, Air Pollution-Multi-effect Protocol, Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants"
}
},
"Air pollutants":{
"particulate matter emissions":{
"text":"20.54 micrograms per cubic meter (2016 est.)"
},
"carbon dioxide emissions":{
"text":"299.04 megatons (2016 est.)"
},
"methane emissions":{
"text":"46.62 megatons (2020 est.)"
}
},
"Climate":{
"text":"temperate with cold, cloudy, moderately severe winters with frequent precipitation; mild summers with frequent showers and thundershowers"
"text":"name derives from the Polanians, a west Slavic tribe that united several surrounding Slavic groups (9th-10th centuries A.D.) and who passed on their name to the country; the name of the tribe likely comes from the Slavic \"pole\" (field or plain), indicating the flat nature of their country"
}
},
"Government type":{
"text":"parliamentary republic"
},
"Capital":{
"name":{
"text":"Warsaw"
},
"geographic coordinates":{
"text":"52 15 N, 21 00 E"
},
"time difference":{
"text":"UTC+1 (6 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time)"
},
"daylight saving time":{
"text":"+1hr, begins last Sunday in March; ends last Sunday in October"
"text":"the origin of the name is unknown; the Polish designation \"Warszawa\" was the name of a fishing village and several legends/traditions link the city's founding to a man named Wars or Warsz"
"text":"11 November 1918 (republic proclaimed); notable earlier dates: 14 April 966 (adoption of Christianity, traditional founding date), 1 July 1569 (Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth created)"
},
"National holiday":{
"text":"Constitution Day, 3 May (1791)"
},
"Constitution":{
"history":{
"text":"several previous; latest adopted 2 April 1997, approved by referendum 25 May 1997, effective 17 October 1997"
},
"amendments":{
"text":"proposed by at least one fifth of Sejm deputies, by the Senate, or by the president of the republic; passage requires at least two-thirds majority vote in the Sejm and absolute majority vote in the Senate; amendments to articles relating to sovereignty, personal freedoms, and constitutional amendment procedures also require passage by majority vote in a referendum; amended 2006, 2009"
}
},
"Legal system":{
"text":"civil law system; judicial review of legislative, administrative, and other governmental acts; constitutional law rulings of the Constitutional Tribunal are final"
},
"International law organization participation":{
"text":"accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction with reservations; accepts ICCt jurisdiction"
"text":"Prime Minister Mateusz MORAWIECKI (since 11 December 2017); Deputy Prime Ministers Piotr GLINSKI (since 16 November 2015), Jacek SASIN (since 15 November 2019), Jaroslaw KACZYNSKI (6 October 2020) and Henryk KOWALCZYK (26 October 2021)"
"text":"Council of Ministers proposed by the prime minister, appointed by the president, and approved by the Sejm"
},
"elections/appointments":{
"text":"president directly elected by absolute majority popular vote in 2 rounds if needed for a 5-year term (eligible for a second term); election last held on 28 June 2020 with a second round on 12 July 2020 (next to be held in 2025); prime minister, deputy prime ministers, and Council of Ministers appointed by the president and confirmed by the Sejm"
"text":"<em><br>2020:</em> Andrzej DUDA reelected president in runoff; percent of vote - Andrzej DUDA (independent) 51%, Rafal TRZASKOWSKI (KO) 49%<br><br><em>2015:</em> Andrzej DUDA elected president in runoff; percent of vote - Andrzej DUDA (independent) 51.5%, Bronislaw KOMOROWSKI (independent) 48.5%"
"text":"bicameral Parliament consists of:<br>Senate or Senat (100 seats; members directly elected in single-seat constituencies by simple majority vote to serve 4-year terms)<br>Sejm (460 seats statutory - current 459; members elected in multi-seat constituencies by party-list proportional representation vote with 5% threshold of total votes needed for parties and 8% for coalitions to gain seats; minorities exempt from threshold; members serve 4-year terms)"
"text":"<br>Senate - last held on 13 October 2019 (next to be held in October 2023)<br>Sejm - last held on 13 October 2019 (next to be held in October 2023)"
"text":"<br>Senate - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - PiS 48, KO 43, PSL 3, SLD 2, independent 4; composition (as of October 2021) - men 76, women 24, percent of women 24%<br>Sejm - percent of vote by party - PiS 43.6%, KO 27.4%, SLD 12.6%, PSL 8.5% Confederation 6.8%, other 1.1%; seats by party - PiS 235, KO 134, SLD 49, PSL 30, KWiN 11, MN 1; men 329, women 130, percent of women 28.3%; note - total Parliament percent of women 27.5%"
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> the designation National Assembly or Zgromadzenie Narodowe is only used on those rare occasions when the 2 houses meet jointly"
"text":"Supreme Court or Sad Najwyzszy (consists of the first president of the Supreme Court and 120 justices organized in criminal, civil, labor and social insurance, and extraordinary appeals and public affairs and disciplinary chambers); Constitutional Tribunal (consists of 15 judges, including the court president and vice president)"
"text":"president of the Supreme Court nominated by the General Assembly of the Supreme Court and selected by the president of Poland; other judges nominated by the 25-member National Judicial Council and appointed by the president of Poland; judges serve until retirement, usually at age 65, but tenure can be extended; Constitutional Tribunal judges chosen by the Sejm for single 9-year terms"
"text":"administrative courts; military courts; local, regional and appellate courts subdivided into military, civil, criminal, labor, and family courts"
"text":"Civic Coalition or KO [Donald TUSK]<br>Confederation Liberty and Independence or KWiN [Janusz KORWIN-MIKKE, Robert WINNICKI, Grzegorz BRAUN]<br>New Left [Wlodzimierz CZARZASTY]<br>German Minority or MN [Ryszard GALLA]<br>Kukiz 15 or K15 [Pawel KUKIZ]<br>Law and Justice or PiS [Jaroslaw KACZYNSKI]<br>TERAZ! (NOW!) [Ryszard PETRU]<br>Nowoczesna (Modern) or N [Adam SZLAPKA]<br>Poland 2050 or PL2050 [Szymon HOLOWNIA]<br>Polish People's Party or PSL [Wladyslaw KOSINIAK-KAMYSZ]<br>Razem (Together) [collective leadership]"
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> adopted 1927; the anthem, commonly known as \"Jeszcze Polska nie zginela\" (Poland Has Not Yet Perished), was written in 1797; the lyrics resonate strongly with Poles because they reflect the numerous occasions in which the nation's lands have been occupied"
"text":"Historic Krakow (c); Historic Warsaw (c); Medieval Torun (c); Wooden Tserkvas of the Carpathian Region (c); Castle of the Teutonic Order in Malbork (c); Wieliczka and Bochnia Royal Salt Mines (c); Auschwitz Birkenau Concentration Camp (c); Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians (n); Białowieza Forest (n); Old City of Zamość (c)"
"text":"<p>Poland has the sixth-largest economy in the EU and has long had a reputation as a business-friendly country with largely sound macroeconomic policies. Since 1990, Poland has pursued a policy of economic liberalization. During the 2008-09 economic slowdown Poland was the only EU country to avoid a recession, in part because of the government’s loose fiscal policy combined with a commitment to rein in spending in the medium-term Poland is the largest recipient of EU development funds and their cyclical allocation can significantly impact the rate of economic growth.</p><p></p><p>The Polish economy performed well during the 2014-17 period, with the real GDP growth rate generally exceeding 3%, in part because of increases in government social spending that have helped to accelerate consumer-driven growth. However, since 2015, Poland has implemented new business restrictions and taxes on foreign-dominated economic sectors, including banking and insurance, energy, and healthcare, that have dampened investor sentiment and has increased the government’s ownership of some firms. The government reduced the retirement age in 2016 and has had mixed success in introducing new taxes and boosting tax compliance to offset the increased costs of social spending programs and relieve upward pressure on the budget deficit. Some credit ratings agencies estimate that Poland during the next few years is at risk of exceeding the EU’s 3%-of-GDP limit on budget deficits, possibly impacting its access to future EU funds. Poland’s economy is projected to perform well in the next few years in part because of an anticipated cyclical increase in the use of its EU development funds and continued, robust household spending.</p><p></p><p>Poland faces several systemic challenges, which include addressing some of the remaining deficiencies in its road and rail infrastructure, business environment, rigid labor code, commercial court system, government red tape, and burdensome tax system, especially for entrepreneurs. Additional long-term challenges include diversifying Poland’s energy mix, strengthening investments in innovation, research, and development, as well as stemming the outflow of educated young Poles to other EU member states, especially in light of a coming demographic contraction due to emigration, persistently low fertility rates, and the aging of the Solidarity-era baby boom generation.</p>"
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> data cover general government debt and include debt instruments issued (or owned) by government entities other than the treasury; the data include treasury debt held by foreign entities, the data include subnational entities, as well as intragovernmental debt; intragovernmental debt consists of treasury borrowings from surpluses in the social funds, such as for retirement, medical care, and unemployment; debt instruments for the social funds are not sold at public auctions"
"text":"liberalized telecom market supported by market competition in broadband and mobile sectors ensuring access to cable and fiber infrastructure; rapid extension of LTE networks and development of mobile data service; mobile penetration is above European average; fixed broadband benefits from DSL infrastructure and investment in fiber through EU support; major importer of broadcasting equipment and accessories from Germany (2020)"
"text":"several nation-wide networks provide mobile-cellular service; fixed-line roughly 15 per 100 (service lags in rural areas), mobile-cellular over 130 per 100 persons (2020)"
"text":"country code - 48; landing points for the Baltica and the Denmark-Poland2 submarine cables connecting Poland, Denmark and Sweden; international direct dialing with automated exchanges; satellite earth station - 1 with access to Intelsat, Eutelsat, Inmarsat, and Intersputnik (2019)"
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> the COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a significant impact on production and supply chains globally; since 2020, some aspects of the telecom sector have experienced downturn, particularly in mobile device production; many network operators delayed upgrades to infrastructure; progress towards 5G implementation was postponed or slowed in some countries; consumer spending on telecom services and devices was affected by large-scale job losses and the consequent restriction on disposable incomes; the crucial nature of telecom services as a tool for work and school from home became evident, and received some support from governments"
"text":"state-run public TV operates 2 national channels supplemented by 16 regional channels and several niche channels; privately owned entities operate several national TV networks and a number of special interest channels; many privately owned channels broadcasting locally; roughly half of all households are linked to either satellite or cable TV systems providing access to foreign television networks; state-run public radio operates 5 national networks and 17 regional radio stations; 2 privately owned national radio networks, several commercial stations broadcasting to multiple cities, and many privately owned local radio stations (2019)"
"text":"Polish Armed Forces: Land Forces (Wojska Ladowe), Navy (Marynarka Wojenna), Air Force (Sily Powietrzne), Special Forces (Wojska Specjalne), Territorial Defense Force (Wojska Obrony Terytorialnej); Ministry of the Interior: Border Guard (includes coast guard duties) (2021)",
"note":"note - the Polish Armed Forces are organized into a General Staff, an Armed Forces General Command, an Armed Forces Operational Command, Territorial Defense Forces (established 2017), Military Police, and the Warsaw Garrison Command"
"note":"note - in June 2019, the Polish Government approved a plan to increase the size of the military over a period of 10 years to over 200,000 troops, including doubling the size of the Territorial Defense Forces"
"text":"the inventory of the Polish Armed Forces consists of a mix of Soviet-era and more modern Western weapons systems; since 2010, the leading suppliers of armaments to Poland are Finland, Germany, Italy, and the US (2021)",
"note":"note - in late 2018, Poland announced a 7-year (through 2026) approximately $50 billion defense modernization plan that would include such items as 5th generation combat aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles, rocket artillery, helicopters, submarines, frigates, and improved cyber security"
"text":"18-28 years of age for male and female voluntary military service; conscription phased out in 2009-12; professional soldiers serve on a permanent basis (for an unspecified period of time) or on a contract basis (for a specified period of time); initial contract period is 24 months; women serve in the military on the same terms as men (2021)",
"note":"note - as of 2019, women made up about 7% of the military's full-time personnel"
"text":"240 Kosovo (NATO/KFOR); up to 175 Latvia (NATO); 250 Lebanon (UNIFIL) (2021)",
"note":"note: Poland contributes about 2,500 troops to the Lithuania, Poland, and Ukraine joint military brigade (LITPOLUKRBRIG), which was established in 2014; the brigade is headquartered in Poland and is comprised of an international staff, three battalions, and specialized units"
"text":"Poland joined NATO in 1999; Czechia, Hungary, and Poland were invited to begin accession talks at NATO's Madrid Summit in 1997, and in March 1999 they became the first former members of the Warsaw Pact to join the Alliance<br> <p>since 2017, Poland has hosted a US-led multi-national NATO ground force battlegroup as part of the Alliance’s Enhanced Forward Presence initiative</p>"
"text":"Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham (ISIS)",
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> details about the history, aims, leadership, organization, areas of operation, tactics, targets, weapons, size, and sources of support of the group(s) appear(s) in Appendix-T"
"text":"<p>as a member state that forms part of the EU's external border, Poland has implemented the strict Schengen border rules to restrict illegal immigration and trade along its eastern borders with Belarus and Ukraine</p>"
