(This chapter presents a number of selected data. The main source is GUS (Polish Statistics Department))
Poland
(official name: Rzeczpospolita Polska) borders against the following countries: Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania and Russia. In addition, Poland has a long northern border with the Baltic Sea.
Geography and climate:
Area: 312,685 km2. – Coastline length: 788 km.
Length of state border: 3504 km
Average height above sea level: 173 m.
Highest point: Rysy (2499 m)
Highest settlement: Gubałówka (part of the city of Zakopane) (1125 m)
Longest river: Wisła (1047 km)
Longest channel: Wieprz-Krzna (140 km)
Largest lake: ardniardwy (113.8 km2)
Deepest lake: Hańcza (108.5 meters)
Largest water reservoir / artificial lake (max. Volume): Solina (472 hm3)
Largest water reservoir / artificial lake (max. Area): Włocławek (70.4 km2) Forests and vegetation:
Total area of forests: 9,209,000 ha (2003)
Forest coverage (forests as a percentage of the entire land area): 29.5%
Agricultural land: 19,226,000 ha (2003)
Uncultivated land: 494,000 ha (2003)
Highest and lowest air temperature in 1981-1997:
Maximum: + 38 0 Celcius
Minimum: – 35.4 oCelcius
Administrative division:
(New division with effect from 1.1.1999)
Counties: 16
Powiat’is (Districts): 314 (2002)
City poviats’is (Large cities, each constituting an independent powiat): 66 (2002)
Municipalities: 2478 (2002)
Population: (2002)
38230000
Of these women: 19,714,000
Population density:
122 pr. km2
Birth rate: 9.3 (per 1000 innings);
Death rate: 9.4 (per 1000 innings);
Net growth in milliliters: – 0.1
Religion:
The largest denominations (2001):
Number of believers:
Catholics:
Roman Catholic Church: 34,498,271
The Greek Catholic Church: 123,000
orthodox:
Polish Orthodox Church: 509,500
Protestants:
Evangelical-Augsburg Church: 86,880
Others:
Jehovah's Witnesses: 123,034
cities:
The 18 largest cities (2001)
(Cities with over 200,000 homes):
Warsaw: 1,609,800 inb.
Łódź: 786,500
Kraków: 740,700
Wrocław: 634,000
Poznań: 572,000
Gdańsk: 455,500
Szczecin: 415,600
Bydgoszcz: 383,200
Lublin: 354,000
Katowice: 338,000
Białystok: 286,400
Czestochowa: 255,549 (2000)
Gdynia: 253,508 (2003)
Sosnowiec: 240,000
Radom: 228,516 (2003)
Kielce: 210,300
Torun: 205,400
Gliwice: 204.820 (2002)
Labor market: (2002):
Workforce: 14,698,100
Unemployed men and women:
Men: 48.8%
Women: 51.2%
Unemployment rate: 20.6% (2004)
Salaries:
Average monthly salary in the fourth quarter of 2003: 2,276.84 zl
Economy:
Gross domestic product:
750.786 mill. złoty (2001)
Housing:
Completed housing construction in 2002:
Number of dwellings: 47,482
Educational matters:
Number of schools: (2002-03)
Elementary Education: 15593
Lower Secondary Education: 6609
Higher secondary education (after-school level) (including vocational schools): 3652
Higher Secondary Education (including general colleges): 7518
Post-secondary education: 2857
Higher education: 377
Adult Education: 3431
Number of pupils / students: (2002-03)
Elementary school: 2,983,000
General colleges: 258,300
Higher education: 1,800,500
Adult education: 369,500
Healthcare: (2002)
Number of institutions:
General hospitals: 739
Psychiatric hospitals: 50
Sanatoriums, health centers and other institutions: 410
Ambulatory: 3895
Berths:
General hospitals: 188,038
Tourism: (2002)
Total number of beds in hotels, etc.: 602,300
Of which: (number of beds in thousands)
Hotels: 109.8
Motels: 4.8
Guest houses: 13.9
Hostel: 24.4
Campsites: 26.0
Holiday centers: 209.8
Culture:
Number of books and brochures printed in 2002: 19,250 titles
Books and brochures printed in 2002: 72.9 million copies
Number of public libraries: 8,800
Smaller Loan Locations: 2,000
Book stock in the public libraries: 134.6 million volumes
Agriculture: (2002)
Value of total agricultural production: 55019 million zloty
Value of total agricultural production per 1 ha of agricultural land: 3256 zloty
Animal Population:
Cattle: 5533 thousand, Pigs: 18629 thousand, Sheep: 345 thousand
*Fishing: *
Catch of fish in thousand tonnes in 2002:
Sea fishing: 204.4
Freshwater fishing: 42.6
History:
A few years:
966 – King Mieszko You assume the Christian faith
1364 – King Kazimierz Wielki founded the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, the capital of the then Poland
1386 – Wladyslaw Jagiello, a Lithuanian prince, gets married to the Polish Queen Jadwiga, which founded the Polish-Lithuanian Confederation.
1410: The German Order (the Crusaders) is defeated in the Battle of Grunwald.
1569: Poland and Lithuania become one state (Polish-Lithuanian Union)
1655-56: Poland is invaded by Swedish troops.
1791 – The Polish parliament, Sejmen, adopts the Polish state constitution
1795 – Stanislaw August Poniatowski, Poland's last king, resigns after the third division of Poland
1795 – 1918: Poland does not exist on maps of Europe (was shared between Prussia, Austria-Hungary and Russia).
1918 – Poland regains its status as an independent country.
1939 – 1945: World War II. Poland occupied by Germany and the Soviet Union with catastrophic devastation and loss of life.
1947 – 1989: Communist rule in Poland
1980 – political strikes in Poland
1989 – political system change, the first democratically elected government after the war takes over in Poland
1999 – Poland joins NATO
2004 – Poland becomes a member of the European Union.
Politics:
The Polish National Assembly is divided into two chambers: a lower house of legislative power, Sejm, corresponding to the Parliament, and an upper house: the Senate.
The executive rests with the President of the State as well as the Council of Ministers, headed by the Prime Minister.
The president is elected by direct election and for a term of 5 years.
Parties in Sejm after the 2001 elections:
(Status 14.4.2004)
Klub ParlamentarnySojuszu Lewicy Demokratycznej (SLD) (157 members)
Club Parliamentary Platform Obywatelskiej (PO) (55 members)
Club ParlamentarnyPrawo in Sprawiedliwosc (PIS) (43 members)
Club Parliamentary Polskiego Stronnictwa Ludowego (PSL) (37 members)
Club Parlamentarny Socjaldemokracji Polskiej (SDPL) (34 members) Club ParlamentarnySamoobrona Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej (Samoobrona) (31 members)
Club ParliamentLigi Polskich Rodzin (LPR) (26 members)
Federacyjny Klub Parlamentarny (FKP) (15 members)
Club Parliamentary Unii Pracy (UP) (15 members)
Koło Parliamentary Stronnictwa Konserwatywno-Ludowego (SKL) (8 members)
Koło Parliamentary Polski Blok Ludowy (PBL) (6 members) Koło Poselskie Ruchu Katolicko-Narodowego (RKN) (5 members)
Koło Poselskie Porozumienia Polskiego (PP) (3 members)
Koło Poselskie Ruchu Odbudowy Polski (ROP) (3 members)
Outside the parties (22 members) ->
The President of Poland between 1995 and 2005 was Aleksander Kwaśniewski. At the 2005 presidential election, Lech Kaczyński was elected as Aleksander Kwaśniewski’s successor. From December 23, 2005, Lech Kaczyński is the President of Poland.
Prime Minister is – from November 10, 2007 – Donald Tusk.
List of prime ministers in Poland after 1989:
Internationally known people coming from Poland:
Fryderyk Chopin, composer, pianist (1810-1849)
Joseph Conrad (Teodor Józef Konrad Korzeniowski), author (1857-1924)
Copernicus (Mikołaj Kopernik), astronomer (1473-1543)
John Paul II (Karol Wojtyła), pope (1920-2005)
Ryszard Kapuściński, journalist and author (1932-2007)
Tadeusz Kościuszko, general (1746-1817)
Witold Lutosławski, composer (1913-1994)
Ignacy Paderewski, pianist, composer, politician (1860-1941)
Krzysztof Penderecki, composer and conductor (b. 1933)
Roman Polański, film director (b.1933)
Kazimierz Pułaski, general (1747-1779)
Henryk Sienkiewicz, author (1846-1916)
Maria Skłodowska-Curie, physicist and chemist (1867-1934)
Karol Szymanowski, composer (1882-1937)
Lech Wałęsa, trade union leader, president (b.1943)
Rev. November 2007
Translated into English by Google Translate. Spangshus.dk accept no liability for any errors or omissions in translation.
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