"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 1.2%; 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"
}
},
"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), Henryk KOWALCZYK (26 October 2021), and Mariusz BLASZCZAK (since 22 June 2022)"
"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; all presidential candidates resign their party affiliation"
"text":"<p><em>2020:</em> Andrzej DUDA reelected president in second round; percent of vote - Andrzej DUDA 51%, Rafal TRZASKOWSKI (KO) 49%<br><br><em>2015:</em> Andrzej DUDA elected president in second round; percent of vote - Andrzej DUDA 51.5%, Bronislaw KOMOROWSKI (independent) 48.5%</p> <p></p>"
"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; 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; minority parties exempt from threshold; members serve 4-year terms)"
"text":"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 330, 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":"Agreement [Jaroslaw GOWIN]<br>Civic Platform or PO [Donald TUSK]<br>Konfederacja [Krzysztof BOSAK]<br>Law and Justice or PiS [Jaroslaw KACZYNSKI]<br>New Left or NL [Wlodzimierz CZARZASTY and Robert BIEDRON]<br>Poland 2050 [Szymon HOLOWNIA]<br>Polish People's Party or PSL [Wladyslaw KOSINIAK-KAMYSZ]<br>Republican Party or R [Adam BIELAN]<br>United Poland or SP [Zbigniew ZIOBRO]"
"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":"diversified, high-growth European economy; COVID-19 led to first recession in nearly 3 decades, albeit small; EU and NATO member; bolstering US relations; economic concentration in western region; aging labor force; growing debt"
"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":"the liberalized telecom market has seen considerable development in the broadband and mobile sectors; the regulatory environment has encouraged market competition, partly by encouraging operators to secure spectrum and also by ensuring access to cable and fiber infrastructure; the mobile market in recent years has been characterized by the rapid extension of LTE networks and the development of mobile data services based on newly released and re-farmed spectrum; the regulator’s attempts to auction spectrum in a range of bands has been delayed, with spectrum in the 5G-suitable 3.4-3.8GHz range having been suspended to later in 2021 as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak and legislative changes (2021)"
"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)"
"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)"
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> paved runways have a concrete or asphalt surface but not all have facilities for refueling, maintenance, or air traffic control; the length of a runway required for aircraft to safely operate depends on a number of factors including the type of aircraft, the takeoff weight (including passengers, cargo, and fuel), engine types, flap settings, landing speed, elevation of the airport, and average maximum daily air temperature; paved runways can reach a length of 5,000 m (16,000 ft.), but the “typical” length of a commercial airline runway is between 2,500-4,000 m (8,000-13,000 ft.)"
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> unpaved runways have a surface composition such as grass or packed earth and are most suited to the operation of light aircraft; unpaved runways are usually short, often less than 1,000 m (3,280 ft.) in length; airports with unpaved runways often lack facilities for refueling, maintenance, or air traffic control"
"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) (2023)",
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> the police force is a national law enforcement body with regional and municipal units overseen by the Ministry of Interior and Administration; the Border Guard is responsible for border (including coastal) security and combating irregular migration and also reports to the Ministry of Interior and Administration"
"note":"<strong>note: </strong>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; in 2021, it announced additional plans to increase the size of the military to over 300,000 personnel"
"text":"the military's inventory consists of a mix of Soviet-era and more modern, NATO-compatible, weapons systems; in recent years, the leading suppliers of armaments have included several European countries, South Korea, and the US; Poland has a large domestic defense sector that produces or provides upgrades to a wide variety of weapons systems, particularly ground systems such as tanks and other armored vehicles; it also cooperates with the European and US defense sectors (2023)",
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> 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; in 2022, it signed large military weapons contracts with South Korea and the US"
"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 (2022)",
"note":"<strong>note 1:</strong> as of 2019, women made up about 7% of the military's full-time personnel<br><br><strong>note 2: </strong>in May 2022, Poland announced a new 12-month voluntary military service program with recruits going through a 1-month basic training period with a military unit, followed by 11 months of specialized training; upon completion of service, the volunteers would be allowed to join the Territorial Defense Forces or the active reserve, and have priority to join the professional army and be given preference for employment in the public sector; the program is part of an effort to increase the size of the Polish military"
"text":"250 Kosovo (NATO/KFOR); up to 180 Latvia (NATO); 200 Lebanon (UNIFIL); 230 Romania (NATO) (2023)",
"note":"<strong>note 1: </strong>Poland has obligated 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; units affiliated with the multinational brigade remain within the structures of the armed forces of their respective countries until the brigade is activated for participation in an international operation<br><br><strong>note 2: </strong>in response to Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, some NATO countries, including Poland, have committed additional troops and equipment to the battlegroups deployed in NATO territory in the Baltic States and eastern Europe"
"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><br>since 2017, Poland has hosted a US-led multi-national NATO ground force battlegroup as part of the Alliance’s Enhanced Forward Presence initiative; since 2014, Poland has also hosted NATO fighter detachments at Malbork Air Base under NATO's enhanced air policing arrangements<br><br>Poland hosts a NATO-led divisional headquarters (Multinational Division Northeast; operational in 2018), which coordinates training and preparation activities of its respective subordinate battlegroups in Poland and Lithuania; Poland also hosts a corps-level headquarters (Multinational Corps Northeast) (2023)"
"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><em>Poland-Belarus-Ukraine</em>: 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>"
