Introduction

Background: Poland is an ancient nation that was conceived near the middle of the 10th century. Its golden age occurred in the 16th century. During the following century, the strengthening of the gentry and internal disorders weakened the nation. In a series of agreements between 1772 and 1795, Russia, Prussia, and Austria partitioned Poland amongst 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, but its government was comparatively tolerant and progressive. Labor turmoil in 1980 led to the formation of the independent trade union "Solidarity" that over time became a political force and by 1990 had swept parliamentary elections and the presidency. A "shock therapy" program during the early 1990s enabled the country to transform its economy into one of the most robust in Central Europe, but Poland currently suffers low GDP growth and high unemployment. Solidarity suffered a major defeat in the 2001 parliamentary elections when it failed to elect a single deputy to the lower house of Parliament, and the new leaders of the Solidarity Trade Union subsequently pledged to reduce the Trade Union's political role. Poland joined NATO in 1999 and the European Union in 2004.

Geography

Location: Central Europe, east of Germany

Geographic coordinates: 52 00 N, 20 00 E

Map references: Europe

Area: total: 312,685 sq km; land: 304,465 sq km; water: 8,220 sq km

Area - comparative: slightly smaller than New Mexico

Land boundaries: total: 2,788 km; border countries: Belarus 407 km, Czech Republic 658 km, Germany 456 km, Lithuania 91 km, Russia (Kaliningrad Oblast) 206 km, Slovakia 444 km, Ukraine 526 km

Coastline: 491 km

Maritime claims: territorial sea: 12 nm; exclusive economic zone: defined by international treaties

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

Elevation extremes: lowest point: near Raczki Elblaskie -2 m; highest point: Rysy 2,499 m

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

Land use: arable land: 45.91%; permanent crops: 1.12%; other: 52.97% (2001)

Irrigated land: 1,000 sq km (1998 est.)

Natural hazards: flooding

Environment - current issues: situation has improved since 1989 due to decline in heavy industry and increased environmental concern by post-Communist governments; air pollution nonetheless remains serious because of sulfur dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants, and the resulting acid rain has caused forest damage; water pollution from industrial and municipal sources is also a problem, as is disposal of hazardous wastes; pollution levels should continue to decrease as industrial establishments bring their facilities up to European Union code, but at substantial cost to business and the government

Environment - international agreements: party to: Air Pollution, Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Seals, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Kyoto Protocol, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands

signed, but not ratified: Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air Pollution-Sulfur 94

Geography - note: historically, an area of conflict because of flat terrain and the lack of natural barriers on the North European Plain

People

Population: 38,635,144 (July 2005 est.)

Age structure: 0-14 years: 16.7% (male 3,319,176/female 3,150,859); 15-64 years: 70.3% (male 13,506,153/female 13,638,265); 65 years and over: 13% (male 1,912,431/female 3,108,260) (2005 est.)

Median age: total: 36.43 years; male: 34.52 years; female: 38.49 years (2005 est.)

Population growth rate: 0.03% (2005 est.)

Birth rate: 10.78 births/1,000 population (2005 est.)

Death rate: 10.01 deaths/1,000 population (2005 est.)

Net migration rate: -0.49 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2005 est.)

Sex ratio: at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female; under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female ; 15-64 years: 0.99 male(s)/female; 65 years and over: 0.62 male(s)/female; total population: 0.94 male(s)/female (2005 est.)

Infant mortality rate: total: 8.51 deaths/1,000 live births; male: 9.59 deaths/1,000 live births

female: 7.37 deaths/1,000 live births (2005 est.)

Life expectancy at birth: total population: 74.41 years; male: 70.3 years; female: 78.76 years (2005 est.)

Total fertility rate: 1.39 children born/woman (2005 est.)

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: 0.1% ; note - no country specific models provided (2001 est.)

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: 14,000 (2003 est.)

HIV/AIDS - deaths: 100 (2001 est.)

Nationality: noun: Pole(s); adjective: Polish

Ethnic groups: Polish 96.7%, German 0.4%, Belarusian 0.1%, Ukrainian 0.1%, other and

unspecified 2.7% (2002 census)

Religions: Roman Catholic 89.8% (about 75% practicing), Eastern Orthodox 1.3%, Protestant 0.3%, other 0.3%, unspecified 8.3% (2002)

Languages: Polish 97.8%, other and unspecified 2.2% (2002 census)

Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write; total population: 99.8%; male: 99.8%;  female: 99.7% (2003 est.)

Government

Country name: conventional long form: Republic of Poland; conventional short form: Poland; local long form: Rzeczpospolita Polska; local short form: Polska

Government type: republic

Capital: Warsaw

Administrative divisions: 16 provinces (wojewodztwa, singular - wojewodztwo); Dolnoslaskie, Kujawsko-Pomorskie, Lodzkie, Lubelskie, Lubuskie, Malopolskie, Mazowieckie, Opolskie, Podkarpackie, Podlaskie, Pomorskie, Slaskie, Swietokrzyskie, Warminsko-Mazurskie, Wielkopolskie, Zachodniopomorskie

Independence: 11 November 1918 (independent republic proclaimed)

National holiday: Constitution Day, 3 May (1791)

Constitution: adopted by the National Assembly 2 April 1997; passed by national referendum 25 May 1997; effective 17 October 1997

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, but rulings of the Constitutional Tribunal are final; court decisions can be appealed to the European Court of Justice in Strasbourg

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

Executive branch: chief of state: President Aleksander KWASNIEWSKI (since 23 December 1995);

head of government: Prime Minister Marek BELKA (since 24 June 2004); Deputy Prime Minister Izabela JARUGA-NOWACKA (since 24 June 2004)

cabinet: Council of Ministers responsible to the prime minister and the Sejm; the prime minister proposes, the president appoints, and the Sejm approves the Council of Ministers

elections: president elected by popular vote for a five-year term; election last held 8 October 2000 (next to be held October 2005); prime minister and deputy prime ministers appointed by the president and confirmed by the Sejm

election results: Aleksander KWASNIEWSKI reelected president; percent of popular vote - Aleksander KWASNIEWSKI 53.9%, Andrzej OLECHOWSKI 17.3%, Marian KRZAKLEWSKI 15.6%, Lech WALESA 1%

Legislative branch: bicameral legislature consisting of an upper house, the Senate or Senat (100 seats; members are elected by a majority vote on a provincial basis to serve four-year terms), and a lower house, the Sejm (460 seats; members are elected under a complex system of proportional representation to serve four-year terms); the designation of National Assembly or Zgromadzenie Narodowe is only used on those rare occasions when the two houses meet jointly

elections: Senate - last held 23 September 2001 (next to be held by September 2005); Sejm elections last held 23 September 2001 (next to be held by September 2005)

election results: Senate - percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party (as of 1 March 2005) - SLD-UP 59, Block Senate 2001 8, SDPL 9, UW 5, LPR 5, PSL 4, SO 3, PO 3, PiS 2, independents 2; Sejm - percent of vote by party - SLD-UP 41%, PO 12.7%, SO 10.2%, PiS 9.5%, PSL 9%, LPR 7.9%, AWSP 5.6% UW 3.1%, other 1%; seats by party (as of 1 March 2005) - SLD 150, PO 56, PiS 46, PSL 40, SDPL 32, SO 30, LPR 25, UP 13, PLD 11, KL 5, RKN 5, Dom Ojczysty 5, PP 3, ROP 3, German minorities 2, independents 34

note: two seats are assigned to ethnic minority parties in the Sejm only

Judicial branch: Supreme Court (judges are appointed by the president on the recommendation of the National Council of the Judiciary for an indefinite period); Constitutional Tribunal (judges are chosen by the Sejm for nine-year terms)

Economy

Economy - overview: Poland has steadfastly pursued a policy of economic liberalization throughout the 1990s and today stands out as a success story among transition economies. Even so, much remains to be done, especially in bringing down unemployment. The privatization of small and medium-sized state-owned companies and a liberal law on establishing new firms has encouraged the development of the private business sector, but legal and bureaucratic obstacles alongside persistent corruption are hampering its further development. Poland's agricultural sector remains handicapped by surplus labor, inefficient small farms, and lack of investment. Restructuring and privatization of "sensitive sectors" (e.g., coal, steel, railroads, and energy), while recently initiated, have stalled. Reforms in health care, education, the pension system, and state administration have resulted in larger-than-expected fiscal pressures. Further progress in public finance depends mainly on reducing losses in Polish state enterprises, restraining entitlements, and overhauling the tax code to incorporate the growing gray economy and farmers, most of whom pay no tax. The government has introduced a package of social and administrative spending cuts to reduce public spending by about $17 billion through 2007. Additional reductions are under discussion in the legislature but could be trumped by election-year politics in 2005. Poland joined the EU in May 2004, and surging exports to the EU contributed to Poland's strong growth in 2004, though its competitiveness could be threatened by the zloty's appreciation. GDP per capita roughly equals that of the three Baltic states. Poland stands to benefit from nearly $13.5 billion in EU funds, available through 2006. Farmers have already begun to reap the rewards of membership via higher food prices and EU agricultural subsidies.

GDP: purchasing power parity - $463 billion (2004 est.)

GDP - real growth rate: 5.6% (2004 est.)

GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $12,000 (2004 est.)

GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 2.9%; industry: 31.3%; services: 65.9% (2004 est.)

Labor force: 17.02 million (2004 est.)

Labor force - by occupation: agriculture 16.1%, industry 29%, services 54.9% (2002)

Unemployment rate: 19.5% (2004 est.)

Population below poverty line: 18.4% (2000 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: 3.2%; highest 10%:

24.7% (1998)

Distribution of family income - Gini index: 31.6 (1998)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 3.4% (2004 est.)

Investment (gross fixed): 18.4% of GDP (2004 est.)

Budget: revenues: $44.52 billion; expenditures: $54.93 billion, including capital expenditures of NA (2004 est.)

Public debt: 49.9% of GDP (2004 est.)

Agriculture - products: potatoes, fruits, vegetables, wheat; poultry, eggs, pork

Industries: machine building, iron and steel, coal mining, chemicals, shipbuilding, food processing, glass, beverages, textiles

Industrial production growth rate: 10% (2004 est.)

Electricity - production: 133.8 billion kWh (2002)

Electricity - consumption: 117.4 billion kWh (2002)

Electricity - exports: 11.5 billion kWh (2002)

Electricity - imports: 4.5 billion kWh (2002)

Oil - production: 17,180 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - consumption: 424,100 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - exports: 53,000 bbl/day (2001)

Oil - imports: 413,700 bbl/day (2001)

Oil - proved reserves: 116.4 million bbl (1 January 2002)

Natural gas - production: 5.471 billion cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - consumption: 13.85 billion cu m (2001 est.)
 

Natural gas - exports: 41 million cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - imports: 8.782 billion cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - proved reserves: 154.4 billion cu m (1 January 2002)

Current account balance: $-3.831 billion (2004 est.)

Exports: $75.98 billion f.o.b. (2004 est.)

Exports - commodities: machinery and transport equipment 37.8%, intermediate manufactured goods 23.7%, miscellaneous manufactured goods 17.1%, food and live animals 7.6% (2003)

Exports - partners: Germany 29.8%, Italy 6.3%, France 5.4%, UK 4.7%, Czech Republic 4.4% (2004)

Imports: $81.61 billion f.o.b. (2004 est.)

Imports - commodities: machinery and transport equipment 38%, intermediate manufactured

goods 21%, chemicals 14.8%, minerals, fuels, lubricants, and related materials 9.1% (2003)

Imports - partners: Germany 29.8%, Italy 8%, France 7%, Russia 6.9%, Netherlands 5.3%, Belgium 4.2% (2004)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: $41.88 billion (2004 est.)

Debt - external: $99.15 billion (2004 est.)

Economic aid - recipient: $17 billion in available EU structural adjustment and cohesion funds (2004-06)

Currency (code): zloty (PLN)

Exchange rates: zlotych per US dollar - 3.6576 (2004), 3.8891 (2003), 4.08 (2002), 4.0939 (2001), 4.3461 (2000)

note: zlotych is the plural form of zloty

Fiscal year: calendar year