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Further Reading

Poland - Introduction

Poland is one of the largest countries in Central Europe with a total territory (comprising land area, internal waters and territorial sea) of 322,575 square kilometers. Situated on the Baltic Sea, Poland has a coastline of 770 kilometers and is bordered by Germany, the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania and the Russian Federation. Poland's terrain is comprised largely of lowlands traversed by its main river, the Vistula, with lakes, rivers and marshes across the northern and central regions, and several mountain ranges, including the Tatras, in the south. Poland has more than 90,000 square kilometers of forest (approximately 30.1 percent of Poland's total land area) and 140,000 square kilometers of arable land (approximately 44.1 percent of Poland's total territory).

With a population of approximately 38.1 million, Poland is also one of the most populated countries in Central Europe. Population density is estimated at approximately 122 persons per square kilometer, with approximately 61.1 percent of the population living in urban areas. Warsaw, the capital of Poland and its largest city, has an estimated population of 1.7 million. Sixteen other urban centers each have populations in excess of 200,000.

Poland today is ethnically almost homogeneous (98% Polish), in contrast with the World War II period, when there were significant ethnic minorities -- 4.5 million Ukrainians, 3 million Jews, 1 million Belarusians, and 800,000 Germans. The majority of the Jews were murdered during the German occupation in World War II, and many others emigrated in the succeeding years. Most Germans left Poland at the end of the war, while many Ukrainians and Belarusians lived in territories incorporated into the then-U.S.S.R. Small Ukrainian, Belarusian, Slovakian, and Lithuanian minorities reside along the borders, and a German minority is concentrated near the southwest city of Opole.Germans constitute the largest minority group, numbering approximately 153,000 persons concentrated principally in Silesia. Smaller ethnic and national groups have cultural ties to neighboring states such as Belarus, Ukraine and Lithuania. It is estimated that approximately 93.0 percent of the population is Roman Catholic.