Poland

Coordinates: 52°N 20°E  /  52°N 20°E  / 52; 20

– in Europe (green & dark grey) – in the European Union (green)  –  [Legend]

Poland,[b] officially the Republic of Poland,[c] is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of 312,696 km2 (120,733 sq mi). Poland has a population of over 38 million, and is the fifth-most populous member state of the European Union.[12] Warsaw is the nation's capital and largest metropolis, and other major cities include Kraków, Łódź, Wrocław, Poznań, Gdańsk, and Szczecin.

Poland's territory extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudeten and Carpathian Mountains in the south. The country is bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast,[d] Belarus and Ukraine to the east, Slovakia and the Czech Republic to the south, and Germany to the west. Poland also shares maritime boundaries with Denmark and Sweden.

The history of human activity on Polish soil spans thousands of years. Throughout the late antiquity period it became extensively diverse, with various cultures and tribes settling on the vast Central European Plain. However, it was the Polans who dominated the region and gave Poland its name. The establishment of Polish statehood can be traced to 966, when the pagan ruler of a realm coextensive with the territory of present-day Poland embraced Christianity and converted to Catholicism.[13] The Kingdom of Poland was founded in 1025 and in 1569 cemented its longstanding political association with Lithuania by signing the Union of Lublin. The latter led to the forming of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, one of the largest and most populous nations of 16th and 17th-century Europe, with a uniquely liberal political system that adopted Europe's first modern constitution, the Constitution of 3 May 1791.[14][15][16]

With the end of the prosperous Polish Golden Age, the country was partitioned by neighbouring states at the end of the 18th century. It regained its independence in 1918 with the Treaty of Versailles and restored its position as a key player in European politics. In September 1939, the German-Soviet invasion of Poland marked the beginning of World War II, which resulted in the Holocaust and millions of Polish casualties.[17][18] As a member of the Eastern Bloc, the Polish People's Republic proclaimed forthwith was a chief signatory of the Warsaw Pact amidst global Cold War tensions. In the wake of the 1989 events, notably through the emergence and contributions of the Solidarity movement, the communist government was dissolved and Poland re-established itself as a democratic republic.

Poland is a developed market,[19] and a middle power; it has the sixth largest economy in the European Union by nominal GDP and the fifth largest by GDP (PPP). It provides very high standards of living, safety and economic freedom, as well as free university education and a universal health care system. The country has 17 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, 15 of which are cultural.[20] Poland is a member state of the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, NATO, and the European Union (including the Schengen Area).

The native Polish name for Poland is Polska.[21] The term is derived from the Polans, a West Slavic tribe who inhabited the Warta River basin of present-day Greater Poland region (6th–8th century CE).[22] The tribe's name stems from the Proto-Slavic noun pole meaning field, which in-itself originates from the Proto-Indo-European word *pleh₂- indicating flatland.[23] The etymology alludes to the topography of the region and the flat landscape of Greater Poland.[24][25] The English name Poland was formed in the 1560s from the German Pole(n) and the suffix land, denoting a people or nation.[26][27] Prior to its adoption, the Latin form Polonia was widely used throughout medieval Europe.[28]

The country's alternative archaic name is Lechia and its root syllable remains in official use in several languages, notably Hungarian, Lithuanian, and Persian.[29] The exonym derives from Lech, a legendary ruler of the Lechites, or from the Lendians that dwelled on the south-easternmost edge of present-day Lesser Poland region.[30][31] The origin of the tribe's name lies in the Old Polish word lęda (plain).[32] Initially, both names Lechia and Polonia were used interchangeably when referring to Poland by chroniclers during the Middle Ages.[33]

The first Stone Age archaic humans and Homo erectus species settled what was to become Poland approximately 500,000 years ago, though the ensuing hostile climate prevented early humans from founding more permanent encampments.[34] The arrival of Homo sapiens and anatomically modern humans coincided with the climatic discontinuity at the end of the Last Glacial Period (10,000 BC), when Poland became habitable.[35] Neolithic excavations indicated broad-ranging development in that era; the earliest evidence of European cheesemaking (5500 BC) was discovered in Polish Kuyavia,[36] and the Bronocice pot is incised with the earliest known depiction of what may be a wheeled vehicle (3400 BC).[37]

The period spanning the Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age (1300 BC–500 BC) was marked by an increase in population density, establishment of palisaded hamlets (gords) and the expansion of Lusatian culture, which held strong ties to Nordic and Hallstatt material culture.[38][39] A significant archaeological find from the protohistory of Poland is a fortified settlement at Biskupin, attributed to the Lusatian culture of the Late Bronze Age (mid-8th century BC).[40]

Throughout antiquity (400 BC–500 AD), many distinct ancient ethnic groups populated the territory of present-day Poland, notably Celtic, Scythian, Germanic, Sarmatian, Slavic and Baltic tribes.[41] Furthermore, archaeological findings confirmed the presence of Roman Legions sent to protect the amber trade.[42] The Polish tribes emerged following the second wave of the Migration Period around the 6th century AD.[28] They were Slavic in origin, but also encompassed assimilated peoples who previously inhabited the area.[43][44] Beginning in the early 10th century, the Polans would come to dominate other Lechitic tribes in the region, initially forming a tribal federation and later a centralised monarchial state.[45]

Poland began to form into a recognisable unitary and territorial entity around the middle of the 10th century under the Piast dynasty.[46] In 966 AD, Duke Mieszko I accepted Christianity as the rightful religion under the auspices of the Latin Church with the Baptism of Poland.[47] An incipit titled Dagome iudex first defined Poland's geographical boundaries with capital at Gniezno and affirmed that its monarchy was under the protection of the Apostolic See.[48] The country's early origins were described by Gallus Anonymus in Gesta principum Polonorum, the oldest Polish chronicle.[49] An important national event of the period was the martyrdom of Saint Adalbert, who was killed by pagans in 997 and whose remains were reputedly bought back for their weight in gold by Mieszko's successor, Bolesław I the Brave.[48]

In 1000, Bolesław laid the foundation for what was to become an independent kingdom by obtaining the right of investiture from Otto III, Holy Roman Emperor, who assented to the creation of bishoprics.[48] The first Polish dioceses were subsequently established in Kraków, Kołobrzeg, and Wrocław.[50] At the Congress of Gniezno, Otto bestowed upon Bolesław royal regalia and a replica of the Holy Lance, used for his coronation as the first King of Poland in circa 1025.[51] Bolesław also expanded the realm considerably by seizing parts of German Lusatia, Czech Moravia, Upper Hungary and southwestern regions of the Kievan Rus'.[52]

The transition from paganism in Poland was not instantaneous and resulted in the pagan reaction of the 1030s.[53] In 1031, Mieszko II Lambert lost the title of king and fled amidst the violence.[54] The unrest led to the transfer of the capital to Kraków in 1038 by Casimir I the Restorer.[55] In 1076, Bolesław II re-instituted the office of king, but was banished in 1079 for murdering his opponent, Bishop Stanislaus.[56] In 1138, the country fragmented into five principalities when Bolesław III Wrymouth divided his lands among his sons.[30] These comprised Lesser Poland, Greater Poland, Silesia, Masovia and Sandomierz, with intermittent hold over Pomerania.[57] In 1226, Konrad I of Masovia invited the Teutonic Knights to aid in combating the Baltic Prussian pagans; a decision that led to centuries of warfare with the Knights.[58]

In the mid-13th century, Henry I the Bearded and Henry II the Pious aimed to unite the fragmented dukedoms, but a brief Mongol invasion and the death of Henry II in battle hindered the unification.[59][60] In 1264, the Statute of Kalisz introduced unprecedented autonomy for the Polish Jews.[61] New settlements with town privileges granted under Magdeburg Law also favoured German migration into the country.[62] In 1320, Władysław I the Short became the first king of a reunified Poland since Przemysł II in 1296,[63] and the first to be crowned at Wawel Cathedral with the Jagged Sword (Szczerbiec).[64]

Beginning in 1333, the reign of Casimir III the Great was marked by developments in castle infrastructure, army, judiciary and diplomacy.[65][66] Under his authority, Poland transformed into a major European power; he instituted Polish rule over Ruthenia in 1340 and imposed quarantine that prevented the spread of Black Death.[67][68] In 1364, Casimir inaugurated the University of Kraków, one of the oldest institutions of higher learning in Europe.[69] Upon his death in 1370, the Piast dynasty came to an end.[70] He was succeeded by his closest male relative, Louis of Anjou, who ruled Poland, Hungary and Croatia in a personal union.[71] Louis' younger daughter Hedwig (Jadwiga) became Poland's first female monarch in 1384.[71]

In 1385, Jadwiga was expected to marry William Habsburg of Austria, but the noble lords were apprehensive about the match believing that it would not secure national interests against the Luxembourgs, who controlled Bohemia and Brandenburg.[72] She eventually wedded the Lithuanian Grand Duke Jogaila (Władysław II Jagiełło), thus forming the Jagiellonian dynasty (1386–1572) and the Polish–Lithuanian union that spanned the late Middle Ages and early Modern Era. The partnership brought the vast multi-ethnic Lithuanian territories into Poland's sphere of influence and proved beneficial for the Poles and Lithuanians, who coexisted in one of the largest European political entities of the time.[73]

In the Baltic Sea region, the struggle of Poland and Lithuania with the Teutonic Knights continued and culminated at the Battle of Grunwald in 1410, where a combined Polish-Lithuanian army inflicted a decisive victory against them.[74] In 1466, after the Thirteen Years' War, King Casimir IV Jagiellon gave royal consent to the Peace of Thorn, which created the future Duchy of Prussia under Polish suzerainty.[30] The Jagiellonian dynasty at one point also established dynastic control over the kingdoms of Bohemia (1471 onwards) and Hungary.[75][76] In the south, Poland confronted the Ottoman Empire and the Crimean Tatars, and in the east helped Lithuania fight Russia.[30]

Poland was developing as a feudal state, with a predominantly agricultural economy and an increasingly powerful landed nobility. In 1493, John I Albert sanctioned the creation of a bicameral parliament composed of a lower house, the Sejm, and an upper house, the Senate.[77] The Nihil novi act adopted by the Polish General Sejm in 1505, transferred most of the legislative power from the monarch to the parliament, an event which marked the beginning of the period known as "Golden Liberty", when the state was ruled by the "free and equal" Polish nobility.[78]

The Protestant Reformation movements made deep inroads into Polish Christianity, which resulted in the establishment of policies promoting religious tolerance, unique in Europe at that time.[79] This tolerance allowed the country to avoid most of the religious turmoil that spread over Europe during the 16th century.[79] In Poland, Nontrinitarian Christianity became the doctrine of the so-called Polish Brethren, who separated from their Calvinist denomination and became the co-founders of global Unitarianism.[80]

The European Renaissance evoked under kings Sigismund I the Old and Sigismund II Augustus a sense of urgency in the need to promote a cultural awakening.[30] During this period Polish culture and the nation's economy flourished.[30] The Italian-born Bona Sforza, daughter of the Duke of Milan and queen consort to Sigismund the Old, made considerable contributions to architecture, cuisine, language and local customs.[30] In 1543, Nicolaus Copernicus, an astronomer from Toruń, became the first proponent of a predictive mathematical model confirming the heliocentric theory, which became the accepted basic model for the practice of modern astronomy.[30]

The Union of Lublin of 1569 established the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, a unified federal state with an elective monarchy, but largely governed by the nobility.[81] The latter coincided with a period of prosperity; the Polish-dominated union thereafter becoming a leading power and a major cultural entity, exercising political control over parts of Central, Eastern, Southeastern and Northern Europe. The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth occupied approximately 1 million km2 (390,000 sq mi) after the Truce of Deulino,[82] and was the largest state in Europe during the period.[83]

In 1573, Henry de Valois of France was proclaimed King of Poland in the first election.[84] Following his short reign, his successor, Stephen Báthory, led a successful campaign in the Livonian War against Russia, granting Poland more territories across the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in Livonia.[85] In 1592, Sigismund III of Poland succeeded his father, John Vasa, in Sweden.[86] Under his authority, the Commonwealth and Sweden temporarily united in what was known as the Polish-Swedish union. In 1599, he was deposed in Sweden, which ended the union.[87] Sigismund's long reign in Poland was described as the Silver Age due to his investments and patronage over artists, scholars and architects.[88]

Taking advantage of a civil war in neighbouring Russia, Sigismund invaded the country in 1609.[30] In 1610, the Polish army and winged hussar units headed by Hetman Stanisław Żółkiewski seized Moscow after defeating the Russians at the Battle of Klushino.[30] The Poles were eventually driven out of ruined Moscow after two years by a local uprising.[89] Sigismund also countered the Ottoman Empire in the southeast; at Khotyn in 1621 the Commonwealth forces under Jan Karol Chodkiewicz achieved a decisive victory against the Turks,[90] which ushered the downfall of Sultan Osman II.[91] Sigismund's liberal son, Ladislaus IV Vasa, effectively defended Poland's territorial possessions, but his death ended the centuries-long era of relative stability.[92]

From the middle of the 17th century, the vast Commonwealth suffered from internal disorder and gradually declined.[93] Polish and Catholic hegemony over Ukraine resulted in the 1648 Khmelnytsky Uprising, which engulfed the eastern parts of the country and led to the creation of a hostile Ukrainian state.[94] This was followed by the Swedish Deluge during the Second Northern War, which decimated the country's population and infrastructure.[95] Finding itself subjected to almost constant warfare, the Commonwealth became further weakened when Prussia declared independence in 1657.[95] Under John III Sobieski the Commonwealth's military prowess was re-established, and in 1683 Polish forces halted the advance of the Ottoman Army into Europe at the Battle of Vienna.[96]

In 1697, Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony, was chosen king by uncertain and fraudulent means. His demise ultimately sparked the War of the Polish Succession between Stanisław Leszczyński and Augustus III. Under the Wettin dynasty, control over lesser nobles was exercised by venal magnates, and the rise of neighbouring countries in the aftermath of the Great Northern War diminished the country's international status.[97] The personal union of Poland and Saxony, however, gave rise to the first reform movement and laid the foundations for the Polish Enlightenment.[98]

The royal election of 1764 resulted in the elevation of Stanislaus II Augustus Poniatowski to the monarchy.[99] His candidacy was extensively funded by his sponsor and former lover, Empress Catherine II of Russia.[100] The new king maneuvered between his desire to implement necessary modernising reforms, and the necessity to remain at peace with surrounding states.[101] His ideals led to the formation of the 1768 Bar Confederation, a rebellion directed against the Poniatowski and all external influence, which ineptly aimed to preserve Poland's sovereignty and privileges held by the nobility.[102] The failed attempts at government restructuring as well as the domestic turmoil provoked its neighbours to intervene.[103]

In 1772, the First Partition of the Commonwealth by Prussia, Russia and Austria took place; an act which the Partition Sejm, under considerable duress, eventually ratified as a fait accompli.[104] Disregarding the territorial losses, in 1773 a plan of critical reforms was established, in which the Commission of National Education, the first government education authority in Europe, was inaugurated.[105] Corporal punishment of schoolchildren was officially prohibited in 1783. Poniatowski was the head figure of the Enlightenment, encouraged the development of industries, and embraced republican neoclassicism.[106] For his contributions to the arts and sciences he was awarded a Fellowship of the Royal Society.[107]

In 1791, Great Sejm parliament adopted the 3 May Constitution, the first set of supreme national laws, and introduced a constitutional monarchy.[108] The Targowica Confederation, an organisation of nobles and deputies opposing the act, appealed to Catherine and caused the 1792 Polish–Russian War.[109] Fearing the reemergence of Polish hegemony, Russia and Prussia arranged and in 1793 executed, the Second Partition, which left the country deprived of territory and incapable of independent existence. On 24 October 1795, following the failed Kościuszko Uprising, the Commonwealth was partitioned for the third time and ceased to exist as a territorial entity.[110][111] Stanislaus Augustus, the last King of Poland, abdicated the throne on 25 November 1795.[112]

Poles rebelled several times against the partitioners, particularly near the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century. An unsuccessful attempt at defending Poland's sovereignty took place in 1794 during the Kościuszko Uprising, where a popular and distinguished general Tadeusz Kościuszko, who had several years earlier served under Washington in the American Revolutionary War, led Polish insurrectionists. Despite the victory at the Battle of Racławice, his ultimate defeat ended Poland's independent existence for 123 years.[113]

In 1807, Napoleon I of France temporarily recreated a Polish state as the satellite Duchy of Warsaw, after a successful 1806 uprising against Prussian rule. By the Treaty of Tilsit, the duchy was ruled by his ally, Frederick Augustus I of Saxony. The Polish troops and generals aided Napoleon throughout the Napoleonic Wars, particularly those under Józef Poniatowski, who became the only foreign Marshal of the French Empire shortly before his death at the Battle of Leipzig.[115] In the aftermath of Napoleon's exile, Poland was again split between the victorious powers at the Congress of Vienna in 1815.[116] The eastern part was ruled by the Russian tsar as Congress Poland, which temporarily held a liberal constitution. The Prussian-controlled territory of western Poland came under increased Germanization. Thus, in the 19th century, only Habsburg-ruled Austrian Poland and the Free City of Kraków in the south, allowed free Polish culture to flourish.

In 1830, the November Uprising began in Warsaw when young non-commissioned officers at the Officer Cadet School rebelled.[117] Although the numerically smaller Polish forces successfully defeated several Russian armies, they were left unsupported by France and the newborn United States. With Prussia and Austria deliberately prohibiting the import of military supplies through their territories, the Poles accepted that the uprising was doomed to failure. After the defeat, the semi-independent Congress Poland lost its constitution, army and legislative assembly, and its autonomy was abolished.[118]

During the European Spring of Nations, Poles took up arms in the Greater Poland Uprising of 1848 to resist the Prussians. Initially, the uprising manifested itself in the form of civil disobedience but eventually turned into an armed struggle when the Prussian military was sent in to pacify the region. Subsequently, the uprising was suppressed and the semi-autonomous Grand Duchy of Posen, created from the Prussian partition of Poland, was incorporated into Prussia, and in 1871 into the German Empire.[119]

In 1863, a new Polish uprising against Russia began. The January Uprising started as a spontaneous protest by young Poles against conscription into the Imperial Russian Army. However, the insurrectionists, despite being joined by high-ranking Polish–Lithuanian officers and numerous politicians, were still severely outnumbered and lacking in foreign support. They were forced to resort to guerrilla warfare tactics and failed to win any major military victories. Consequently, the Poles resorted to fostering economic and cultural self-improvement. Congress Poland was rapidly industrialized towards the end of the 19th century, and successively transformed into the Russian Empire's wealthiest and most developed subject.[120][121]

In the aftermath of World War I, the Allies agreed on the reconstitution of Poland, confirmed through the Treaty of Versailles of June 1919.[122] A total of 2 million Polish troops fought with the armies of the three occupying powers, and over 450,000 died.[123] Following the armistice with Germany in November 1918, Poland regained its independence as the Second Polish Republic.[124] It reaffirmed its sovereignty after a series of military conflicts, most notably the Polish–Soviet War, when Poland inflicted a crushing defeat on the Red Army at the Battle of Warsaw.[125] During this period, Poland successfully managed to fuse the territories of the three former partitioning empires into a cohesive nation-state.

The inter-war period heralded a new era of Polish politics. Whilst Polish political activists had faced heavy censorship in the decades up until the First World War, the country now found itself trying to establish a new political tradition. For this reason, many exiled Polish activists, such as Ignacy Paderewski (who would later become prime minister) returned home to help; a significant number of them then went on to take key positions in the newly formed political and governmental structures. Tragedy struck in 1922 when Gabriel Narutowicz, inaugural holder of the presidency, was assassinated at the Zachęta Gallery in Warsaw by a painter and right-wing nationalist Eligiusz Niewiadomski.[126]

In 1926, the May Coup, led by the hero of the Polish independence campaign Marshal Józef Piłsudski, turned rule of the Second Polish Republic over to the nonpartisan Sanacja (Healing) movement to prevent radical political organizations on both the left and the right from destabilizing the country.[127] By the late 1930s, due to increased threats posed by political extremism inside the country, the Polish government became increasingly heavy-handed, banning a number of radical organizations, including communist and ultra-nationalist political parties, which threatened the stability of the country.[128]

World War II began with the Nazi German invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939, followed by the Soviet invasion of Poland on 17 September. On 28 September 1939, Warsaw fell. As agreed in the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, Poland was split into two zones, one occupied by Nazi Germany, the other by the Soviet Union. In 1939–1941, the Soviets deported hundreds of thousands of Poles. The Soviet NKVD executed thousands of Polish prisoners of war (inter alia Katyn massacre) ahead of the Operation Barbarossa.[129] German planners had in November 1939 called for "the complete destruction of all Poles" and their fate as outlined in the genocidal Generalplan Ost.[130]

Poland made the fourth-largest troop contribution in Europe[e] and its troops served both the Polish Government in Exile in the west and Soviet leadership in the east. Polish troops played an important role in the Normandy, Italian and North African Campaigns and are particularly remembered for the Battle of Monte Cassino.[134][135] Polish intelligence operatives proved extremely valuable to the Allies, providing much of the intelligence from Europe and beyond,[136] and Polish code breakers were responsible for cracking the Enigma cipher.[f] In the east, the Soviet-backed Polish 1st Army distinguished itself in the battles for Warsaw and Berlin.[138]

The wartime resistance movement, and the Armia Krajowa (Home Army), fought against German occupation. It was one of the three largest resistance movements of the entire war,[g] and encompassed a range of clandestine activities, which functioned as an underground state complete with degree-awarding universities and a court system.[145] The resistance was loyal to the exiled government and generally resented the idea of a communist Poland; for this reason, in the summer of 1944 it initiated Operation Tempest, of which the Warsaw Uprising that begun on 1 August 1944 is the best-known operation.[138][146]

Nazi German forces under orders from Adolf Hitler set up six German extermination camps in occupied Poland, including Treblinka, Majdanek and Auschwitz. The Germans transported millions of Jews from across occupied Europe to be murdered in those camps.[147][148] Altogether, 3 million Polish Jews[149][150] – approximately 90% of Poland's pre-war Jewry – and between 1.8 and 2.8 million ethnic Poles[151][152][153] were killed during the German occupation of Poland, including between 50,000 and 100,000 members of the Polish intelligentsia – academics, doctors, lawyers, nobility and priesthood. During the Warsaw Uprising alone, over 150,000 Polish civilians were killed, most were murdered by the Germans during the Wola and Ochota massacres.[154][155] Around 150,000 Polish civilians were killed by Soviets between 1939 and 1941 during the Soviet Union's occupation of eastern Poland (Kresy), and another estimated 100,000 Poles were murdered by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) between 1943 and 1944 in what became known as the Wołyń Massacres.[156][157] Of all the countries in the war, Poland lost the highest percentage of its citizens: around 6 million perished – more than one-sixth of Poland's pre-war population – half of them Polish Jews.[18][158][159] About 90% of deaths were non-military in nature.[160]

In 1945, Poland's borders were shifted westwards. Over two million Polish inhabitants of Kresy were expelled along the Curzon Line by Stalin.[161] The western border became the Oder-Neisse line. As a result, Poland's territory was reduced by 20%, or 77,500 square kilometres (29,900 sq mi). The shift forced the migration of millions of other people, most of whom were Poles, Germans, Ukrainians, and Jews.[162][163][164]

At the insistence of Joseph Stalin, the Yalta Conference sanctioned the formation of a new provisional pro-Communist coalition government in Moscow, which ignored the Polish government-in-exile based in London. This action angered many Poles who considered it a betrayal by the Allies. In 1944, Stalin had made guarantees to Churchill and Roosevelt that he would maintain Poland's sovereignty and allow democratic elections to take place. However, upon achieving victory in 1945, the elections organized by the occupying Soviet authorities were falsified and were used to provide a veneer of legitimacy for Soviet hegemony over Polish affairs. The Soviet Union instituted a new communist government in Poland, analogous to much of the rest of the Eastern Bloc. As elsewhere in Communist Europe, the Soviet influence over Poland was met with armed resistance from the outset which continued into the 1950s.[165]

Despite widespread objections, the new Polish government accepted the Soviet annexation of the pre-war eastern regions of Poland[166] (in particular the cities of Wilno and Lwów) and agreed to the permanent garrisoning of Red Army units on Poland's territory. Military alignment within the Warsaw Pact throughout the Cold War came about as a direct result of this change in Poland's political culture. In the European scene, it came to characterize the full-fledged integration of Poland into the brotherhood of communist nations.[167]

The new communist government took control with the adoption of the Small Constitution on 19 February 1947. The Polish People's Republic (Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa) was officially proclaimed in 1952. In 1956, after the death of Bolesław Bierut, the régime of Władysław Gomułka became temporarily more liberal, freeing many people from prison and expanding some personal freedoms. Collectivization in the Polish People's Republic failed. A similar situation repeated itself in the 1970s under Edward Gierek, but most of the time persecution of anti-communist opposition groups persisted. Despite this, Poland was at the time considered to be one of the least oppressive states of the Eastern Bloc.[168]

Labour turmoil in 1980 led to the formation of the independent trade union "Solidarity" ("Solidarność"), which over time became a political force. Despite persecution and imposition of martial law in 1981, it eroded the dominance of the Polish United Workers' Party and by 1989 had triumphed in Poland's first partially free and democratic parliamentary elections since the end of the Second World War. Lech Wałęsa, a Solidarity candidate, eventually won the presidency in 1990. The Solidarity movement heralded the collapse of communist regimes and parties across Europe.[169]

A shock therapy program, initiated by Leszek Balcerowicz in the early 1990s, enabled the country to transform its socialist-style planned economy into a market economy.[170] As with other post-communist countries, Poland suffered temporary declines in social, economic, and living standards,[171] but it became the first post-communist country to reach its pre-1989 GDP levels as early as 1995, largely due to its booming economy.[172] Poland became a member of the Visegrád Group in 1991,[173] and joined NATO in 1999.[174] Poles then voted to join the European Union in a referendum in June 2003,[175] with Poland becoming a full member on 1 May 2004, following the consequent enlargement of the organization.[176]

Poland joined the Schengen Area in 2007, as a result of which, the country's borders with other member states of the European Union have been dismantled, allowing for full freedom of movement within most of the European Union.[177] On 10 April 2010, the President of Poland Lech Kaczyński, along with 89 other high-ranking Polish officials died in a plane crash near Smolensk, Russia.[178]

In 2011, the ruling Civic Platform won parliamentary elections.[179] In 2014, the Prime Minister of Poland, Donald Tusk, was chosen to be President of the European Council, and resigned as prime minister.[180] The 2015 and 2019 elections were won by the conservative Law and Justice Party (PiS) led by Jarosław Kaczyński,[181][182] resulting in increased Euroscepticism and increased friction with the European Union.[183][184] In December 2017, Mateusz Morawiecki was sworn in as the new Prime Minister, succeeding Beata Szydlo, in office since 2015. President Andrzej Duda, supported by Law and Justice party, was narrowly re-elected in the 2020 presidential election.[185] Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 led to around two million Ukrainian refugees arriving in Poland.[186]

Poland covers an area of approximately 312,696 km2 (120,733 sq mi), of which 98.52% is dry land and 1.48% is water.[187] Extending across several geographical regions, the country is the 9th-largest by area in Europe and 69th largest in the world. Topographically, Poland is diverse and has access to the sea, the mountains and open terrain.[188] Although most of the central parts of the country are flat, there is an abundance of lakes, rivers, hills, swamps, beaches, islands and forests elsewhere.[188]

In the north-west is the Baltic seacoast spanning from the Bay of Pomerania to the Gulf of Gdańsk. The coast is marked by several spits, coastal lakes (former bays that have been cut off from the sea), and dunes.[189] The largely straight coastline is indented by the Szczecin Lagoon, the Bay of Puck, and the Vistula Lagoon.

The central and northern parts of the country lie within the North European Plain. Rising above these lowlands is a geographical region comprising four hilly districts of moraines and moraine-dammed lakes formed during and after the Pleistocene ice age, notably the Pomeranian Lake District, the Greater Polish Lake District, the Kashubian Lake District, and the Masurian Lake District.[190] The Masurian Lake District is the largest of the four and covers much of north-eastern Poland. The lake districts form a series of moraine belts along the southern shore of the Baltic Sea.[190]

South of the Northern European Plain are the regions of Lusatia, Silesia and Masovia, which are marked by broad ice-age river valleys.[191] The extreme south of Poland is mountainous; it runs from the Sudetes in the west to the Carpathian Mountains in the east. The highest part of the Carpathian massif is the Tatra Mountain range, along Poland's southern border.[192]

The geological structure of Poland has been shaped by the continental collision of Europe and Africa over the past 60 million years and, more recently, by the Quaternary glaciations of northern Europe.[193] Both processes shaped the Sudetes and the Carpathian Mountains. The moraine landscape of northern Poland contains soils made up mostly of sand or loam, while the ice age river valleys of the south often contain loess. The Polish Jura, the Pieniny, and the Western Tatras consist of limestone, whereas the High Tatras, the Beskids, and the Karkonosze mountain ranges are made up mainly of granite and basalts. The Polish Jura Chain has some of the oldest rock formations on the continent of Europe.[194]

Poland has over 70 mountains over 2,000 metres (6,600 feet) in elevation, all situated in the Tatras.[195] Poland's highest point is the north-western summit of Mount Rysy at 2,501 metres (8,205 ft) in elevation.[196] At its foot lie the mountain lakes of Czarny Staw (Black Lake) and Morskie Oko (Eye of the Sea), both naturally-made tarns.[197] Other notable uplands include the Pieniny and Holy Cross Mountains, the Table Mountains noted for their unusual rock formations, the Bieszczady in the far southeast of the country in which the highest peak is Tarnica at 1,346 metres (4,416 ft),[198] and the Gorce Mountains whose highest point is Turbacz at 1,310 metres (4,298 ft).[199] The highest point of the Sudeten massif is Mount Śnieżka (1,603.3 metres (5,260 ft)), shared with the Czech Republic.[200] The lowest point in Poland – at 1.8 metres (5.9 ft) below sea level – is at Raczki Elbląskie, near Elbląg in the Vistula Delta.[201]

In the Zagłębie Dąbrowskie (the Coal Fields of Dąbrowa) region in the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland is an area of sparsely vegetated sand known as the Błędów Desert. It covers an area of 32 square kilometres (12 sq mi).[202] It is not a natural desert and was formed by human activity from the Middle Ages onwards.[203]

The Baltic Sea activity in Słowiński National Park created sand dunes which in the course of time separated the bay from the sea creating two lakes. As waves and wind carry sand inland the dunes slowly move, at a rate of 3 to 10 metres (9.8 to 32.8 ft) per year. Some dunes reach the height of up to 30 metres (98 ft). The highest peak of the park is Rowokol at 115 metres or 377 feet above sea level.[204]

The longest rivers are the Vistula (Polish: Wisła), 1,047 kilometres (651 mi) long; the Oder (Polish: Odra) which forms part of Poland's western border, 854 kilometres (531 mi) long; its tributary, the Warta, 808 kilometres (502 mi) long; and the Bug, a tributary of the Vistula, 772 kilometres (480 mi) long. The Vistula and the Oder flow into the Baltic Sea, as do numerous smaller rivers in Pomerania.[205] Poland's lengthy waterways have been used since early times for navigation; the Vikings ventured up the Polish rivers in their longships.[206] In the Middle Ages and in early modern times, the shipment of tangible goods down the Vistula toward Gdańsk and onward to other parts of Europe took on great importance.[207]

With almost ten thousand closed bodies of water covering more than 1 hectare (2.47 acres) each, Poland has one of the highest numbers of lakes in the world. In Europe, only Finland has a greater density of lakes.[208] The largest lakes, covering more than 100 square kilometres (39 sq mi), are Lake Śniardwy and Lake Mamry in Masuria as well as Lake Łebsko and Lake Drawsko in Pomerania. The lake with the greatest depth—of more than 100 metres (328 ft)—is Lake Hańcza in the Wigry Lake District, east of Masuria in Podlaskie Voivodeship.

The Polish Baltic coast is approximately 770 kilometres (478 mi) long and extends from Świnoujście on the islands of Usedom and Wolin in the west to Krynica Morska on the Vistula Spit in the east.[209] For the most part, Poland has a smooth coastline, which has been shaped by the continual movement of sand by currents and winds. This continual erosion and deposition has formed cliffs, dunes, and spits, many of which have migrated landwards to close off former lagoons, such as Łebsko Lake in the Słowiński National Park.

The largest spits are Hel Peninsula and the Vistula Spit. The coast line is varied also by Szczecin and Vistula Lagoons and several lakes, including Jamno. The largest Polish Baltic island is Wolin, located within Wolin National Park. The largest sea harbours are Szczecin, Świnoujście, Gdańsk, Gdynia, Police and Kołobrzeg and the main coastal resorts – Świnoujście, Międzydzdroje, Kołobrzeg, Łeba, Sopot, Władysławowo and the Hel Peninsula.

In the valley of Pilica river in Tomaszów Mazowiecki there is a unique natural karst spring of water containing calcium salts, that is an object of protection at Blue Springs Nature Reserve in the Sulejów Landscape Park. The red waves are absorbed by water, hence only blue and green are reflected from the bottom of the spring, giving the water atypical colour.[210]

Forests cover about 29.6% of Poland's land area based on international standards.[211] Its overall percentage is still increasing. Forests of Poland are managed by the national program of reforestation (KPZL), aiming at an increase of forest-cover to 33% in 2050. The largest forest complex in Poland is Lower Silesian Wilderness.[211]

More than 1% of Poland's territory, 3,145 square kilometres (1,214 sq mi), is protected within 23 Polish national parks.[212] Three more national parks are projected for Masuria, the Polish Jura, and the eastern Beskids. In addition, wetlands along lakes and rivers in central Poland are legally protected, as are coastal areas in the north. There are 123 areas designated as landscape parks, along with numerous nature reserves and other protected areas under the Natura 2000 network.[213] In 2017, approximately 16,400,000 hectares (164,000 km2) of land was occupied by farms and farmsteads, over half of Poland's total area.[214]

Phytogeographically, Poland belongs to the Central European province of the Circumboreal Region within the Boreal Kingdom. According to the World Wide Fund for Nature, the territory of Poland belongs to three Palearctic Ecoregions of the continental forest spanning Central and Northern European temperate broadleaf and mixed forest ecoregions, as well as the Carpathian montane conifer forest. The most common deciduous trees found across the country are oak, maple, and beech; the most common conifers are pine, spruce, and fir.[215] An estimated 68.7% of all forests are coniferous.[216]

Poland has historically been home to rare species of animals, as well as the two largest European mammals: the wisent (żubr) and aurochs (tur). The last aurochs of Europe became extinct in 1627 in the Polish Jaktorów Forest, while the wisent survived until the 20th century only at Białowieża. It has been since reintroduced to other countries.[217] Other wild species include the brown bear in Białowieża, in the Tatras, and in the Beskids; the gray wolf and the Eurasian lynx in various forests; the moose in northern Poland; and the beaver in Masuria, Pomerania, and Podlaskie.[218]

Game animals such as red deer, roe deer, and wild boar are found in most woodlands. Eastern Poland abounds in ancient woods, like the Białowieża Forest, that have not been disturbed by human or industrial activity. There are also large forested areas in the mountains, Greater Poland, Pomerania, Lubusz Land, and Lower Silesia. The Lubusz Voivodeship is currently the most arboraceous province in the country; 52% of its territory is occupied by forests.[220]

Poland is also a significant breeding ground for a variety of European migratory birds.[221] One quarter of the global population of white storks (40,000 breeding pairs) live in Poland,[222] particularly in the lake districts and the wetlands along the Biebrza, the Narew, and the Warta, which are part of nature reserves or national parks.

The climate is mostly temperate throughout the country. The climate is oceanic in the north-west and becomes gradually warmer and continental towards the south-east. Summers are generally warm, with average temperatures between 18 and 30 °C (64.4 and 86.0 °F) depending on the region. Winters are rather cold, with average temperatures around 3 °C (37.4 °F) in the northwest and −6 °C (21 °F) in the northeast. Precipitation falls throughout the year, although, especially in the east, winter is drier than summer.[223]

The warmest region in Poland is Lower Silesia (Lower Silesian Voivodeship) in the southwest of the country, where temperatures in the summer average between 24 and 32 °C (75 and 90 °F) but can go as high as 34 to 39 °C (93.2 to 102.2 °F) on some days in the warmest months of July and August. The warmest cities in Poland are Tarnów in Lesser Poland, and Wrocław in Lower Silesia. The average temperatures in Wrocław are 20 °C (68 °F) in the summer and 0 °C (32.0 °F) in the winter, but Tarnów has the longest summer in all of Poland, which lasts for 115 days, from mid-May to mid-September. The coldest region of Poland is in the northeast, around the area of Suwałki within the Podlaskie Voivodeship, where the climate is affected by cold fronts coming from Scandinavia and Siberia. The average temperature in the winter in Podlaskie ranges from −6 to −4 °C (21 to 25 °F). The biggest impact of the oceanic climate is observed in Świnoujście and Baltic Sea seashore area from Police to Słupsk.[224]

Poland is a unitary parliamentary republic and a representative democracy, with a president as the head of state.[225] The executive power is exercised further by the Council of Ministers and the prime minister who acts as the head of government.[225] The council's individual members are selected by the prime minister, appointed by the president and approved by parliament.[225] The head of state is elected by popular vote for a five-year term.[226] The current president is Andrzej Duda and the prime minister is Mateusz Morawiecki.[227]

Poland's legislative assembly is a bicameral parliament consisting of a 460-member lower house (Sejm) and a 100-member upper house (Senate).[228] The Sejm is elected under proportional representation according to the d'Hondt method for vote-seat conversion.[229] The Senate is elected under the first-past-the-post electoral system, with one senator being returned from each of the one hundred constituencies.[230] The Senate has the right to amend or reject a statute passed by the Sejm, but the Sejm may override the Senate's decision with a majority vote.[231]

With the exception of ethnic minority parties, only candidates of political parties receiving at least 5% of the total national vote can enter the Sejm.[230] Both the lower and upper houses of parliament in Poland are elected for a four-year term and each member of the Polish parliament is guaranteed parliamentary immunity.[232] Under current legislation, a person must be 21 years of age or over to assume the position of deputy, 30 or over to become senator and 35 to run in a presidential election.[232]

Members of the Sejm and Senate jointly form the National Assembly of the Republic of Poland.[233] The National Assembly, headed by the Sejm Marshal, is formed on three occasions – when a new president takes the oath of office; when an indictment against the president is brought to the State Tribunal; and in case a president's permanent incapacity to exercise his duties due to the state of his health is declared.[233]

Poland is divided into 16 provinces or states known as voivodeships.[234] As of 2022, the voivodeships are subdivided into 380 counties (powiats), which are further fragmented into 2,477 municipalities (gminas).[234] Major cities normally have the status of both gmina and powiat.[234] The provinces are largely founded on the borders of historic regions, or named for individual cities.[235] Administrative authority at the voivodeship level is shared between a government-appointed governor (voivode), an elected regional assembly (sejmik) and a voivodeship marshal, an executive elected by the assembly.[235]

The Constitution of Poland is the enacted supreme law, and Polish judicature is based on the principle of civil rights, governed by the code of civil law.[237] The current democratic constitution was adopted by the National Assembly of Poland on 2 April 1997; it guarantees a multi-party state with freedoms of religion, speech and assembly, prohibits the practices of forced medical experimentation, torture or corporal punishment, and acknowledges the inviolability of the home, the right to form trade unions, and the right to strike.[238]

The judiciary in Poland is composed of the Supreme Court as the country's highest judicial organ, the Supreme Administrative Court for the judicial control of public administration, Common Courts (District, Regional, Appellate) and the Military Court.[239] The Constitutional and State Tribunals are separate judicial bodies, which rule the constitutional liability of people holding the highest offices of state and supervise the compliance of statutory law, thus protecting the Constitution.[240] Judges are nominated by the National Council of the Judiciary and are appointed for life by the president.[240] On the approval of the Senate, the Sejm appoints an ombudsman for a five-year term to guard the observance of social justice.[230]

Poland has a low homicide rate at 0.7 murders per 100,000 people, as of 2018.[241] Rape, assault and violent crime remain at a very low level.[242] However, the country imposed strict regulations on abortion, which is permitted only in cases of rape, incest or when the woman's life is in danger; congenital disorder and stillbirth are not covered by the law, forcing some women to seek abortion abroad.[243]

Historically, the most significant Polish legal act is the Constitution of 3 May 1791. Instituted to redress long-standing political defects of the federative Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and its Golden Liberty, it was the first modern constitution in Europe and influenced many later democratic movements across the globe.[244][245][246] In 1918, the Second Polish Republic became one of the first countries to introduce universal women's suffrage.[247]

Poland is a middle power and is transitioning into a regional power in Europe.[248][249] It has a has a grand total of 52 representatives in the European Parliament as of 2022.[250] Warsaw serves as the headquarters for Frontex, the European Union's agency for external border security as well as ODIHR, one of the principal institutions of the OSCE.[251][252] Apart from the European Union, Poland has been a member of NATO since 1999, the United Nations, the WTO, the OECD, the Council of Europe, the OSCE, the Council of the Baltic Sea States, the Visegrád Group, the Lublin Triangle and the Bucharest Nine.

In recent years, Poland significantly strengthened its relations with the United States, thus becoming one of its closest allies and strategic partners in Europe.[253] Historically, Poland maintained strong cultural and political ties to Hungary; this special relationship was recognised by the parliaments of both countries in 2007 with the joint declaration of 23 March as "The Day of Polish-Hungarian Friendship".[254]

The Polish Armed Forces are composed of five branches – the Land Forces, the Navy, the Air Force, the Special Forces and the Territorial Defence Force.[255] The military is subordinate to the Ministry of National Defence of the Republic of Poland.[255] However, its commander-in-chief in peacetime is the president, who nominates officers, the Minister for National Defence and the chief of staff.[255] Polish military tradition is generally commemorated by the Armed Forces Day, celebrated annually on 15 August.[256] As of 2022, the Polish Armed Forces have a combined strength of 114,050 active soldiers, with further 75,400 active in the gendarmerie and paramilitary.[257] Poland is spending 2% of its GDP on defence, equivalent to approximately US$14.5 billion in 2022.[258] According to SIPRI, the country exported €487 million worth of arms and armaments to foreign countries in 2020.[259]

Poland's national security goal is to further integrate with NATO and European defence, economic, and political institutions.[260] Compulsory military service for men, who previously had to serve for nine months, was discontinued in 2008.[261] Polish military doctrine reflects the same defensive nature as that of its NATO partners and the country actively hosts NATO's military exercises.[257] Since 1953, the country has been a large contributor to various United Nations peacekeeping missions,[262] and currently maintains military presence in the Middle East, Africa, the Baltic states and southeastern Europe.[257]

Law enforcement in Poland is performed by several agencies which are subordinate to the Ministry of Interior and Administration – the State Police (Policja), assigned to investigate crimes or transgression; the Municipal City Guard, which maintains public order; and several specialised agencies, such as the Polish Border Guard.[263] Private security firms are also common, although they possess no legal authority to arrest or detain a suspect.[263][264] Municipal guards are primarily headed by provincial, regional or city councils; individual guards are not permitted to carry firearms unless instructed by the superior commanding officer.[265] Security service personnel conduct regular patrols in both large urban areas or smaller suburban localities.[266]

The Internal Security Agency (ABW, or ISA in English) is the chief counter-intelligence instrument safeguarding Poland's internal security, along with Agencja Wywiadu (AW) which identifies threats and collects secret information abroad.[267] The Central Investigation Bureau of Police (CBŚP) and the Central Anticorruption Bureau (CBA) are responsible for countering organised crime and corruption in state and private institutions.[268][269]

Emergency services in Poland consist of the emergency medical services, search and rescue units of the Polish Armed Forces and State Fire Service. Emergency medical services in Poland are operated by local and regional governments,[270] but are a part of the centralised national agency - the National Medical Emergency Service (Państwowe Ratownictwo Medyczne).[271]

Poland's economy and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is currently the sixth largest in the European Union by nominal standards, and the fifth largest by purchasing power parity. It is also one of the fastest growing within the Union.[277] Around 61% of the employed population belongs to the tertiary service sector, 31% to industry and manufacturing, and the remaining 8% to the agricultural sector.[278] Although Poland is a member of EU's single market, the country has not adopted the Euro as legal tender and maintains its own currency – the Polish złoty (zł, PLN).

Poland is the regional economic leader in Central Europe, with nearly 40 per cent of the 500 biggest companies in the region (by revenues) as well as a high globalisation rate.[279] The country's largest firms compose the WIG20 and WIG30 indexes, which is traded on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. According to reports made by the National Bank of Poland, the value of Polish foreign direct investments reached almost 300 billion PLN at the end of 2014. The Central Statistical Office estimated that in 2014 there were 1,437 Polish corporations with interests in 3,194 foreign entities.[280]

Poland has the largest banking sector in Central Europe,[281] with 32.3 branches per 100,000 adults.[282] It was the only European economy to have avoided the recession of 2008.[283] The country is the 20th largest exporter of goods and services in the world.[284] Exports of goods and services are valued at approximately 56% of GDP, as of 2020.[285] In September 2018, the unemployment rate was estimated at 5.7%, one of the lowest in the European Union.[286] In 2019, Poland passed a law that would exempt workers under the age of 26 from income tax.[287]

Poland experienced a significant increase in the number of tourists after joining the European Union in 2004.[288][289] With nearly 21 million international arrivals in 2019, tourism contributes considerably to the overall economy and makes up a relatively large proportion of the country's service market.[290][291]

Tourist attractions in Poland vary, from the mountains in the south to the sandy beaches in the north, with a trail of nearly every architectural style. The most visited city is Kraków, which was the former capital of Poland and serves as a relic of the Polish Golden Age and the Renaissance. Kraków also held royal coronations of most Polish kings and monarchs at Wawel, the nation's chief historical landmark. Among other notable sites in the country is Wrocław, one of the oldest cities in Poland which was a model for the founding of Kraków. Wrocław is famous for its dwarf statues, a large market square with two town halls, and the oldest Zoological Gardens with one of the world's largest number of animal species. The Polish capital Warsaw and its historical Old Town were entirely reconstructed after wartime destruction. Other cities attracting countless tourists include Gdańsk, Poznań, Lublin, Toruń as well as the site of the German Auschwitz concentration camp in Oświęcim. A notable highlight is the 13th-century Wieliczka Salt Mine with its labyrinthine tunnels, a subterranean lake and chapels carved by miners out of rock salt beneath the ground.[citation needed ]

Poland's main tourist offerings include outdoor activities such as skiing, sailing, mountain hiking and climbing, as well as agritourism, sightseeing historical monuments. Tourist destinations include the Baltic Sea coast in the north; the Masurian Lake District and Białowieża Forest in the east; on the south Karkonosze, the Table Mountains and the Tatra Mountains, where Rysy – the highest peak of Poland, and Eagle's Path mountain trail are located. The Pieniny and Bieszczady Mountains lie in the extreme south-east.[292] There are over 100 castles in the country, most in the Lower Silesian Voivodeship, and also on the Trail of the Eagles' Nests.[293] The largest castle in the world by land area is situated in Malbork, in north-central Poland.[294]

Transport in Poland is provided by means of rail, road, marine shipping and air travel. The country is part of EU's Schengen Area and is an important transport hub along neighbouring Germany due to its strategic position in Central Europe.[295] Some of the longest European routes, including the E40, run through Poland.

The country has a good network of highways, composed of express roads and motorways. At the start of 2020, Poland had 4,146.5 km (2,576.5 mi) of highways in use.[296] In addition, all local and regional roads are monitored by the National Road Rebuilding Programme, which aims to improve the quality of travel in the countryside and suburban localities.[297]

In 2017, the nation had 18,513 kilometres (11,503 mi) of railway track, the third longest in European Union, after Germany and France.[298][better source needed ] The Polish State Railways (PKP) is the dominant railway operator in the country. Poland has a number of international airports, the largest of which is Warsaw Chopin Airport, the primary global hub for LOT Polish Airlines.

Seaports exist all along Poland's Baltic coast, with most freight operations using Świnoujście, Police, Szczecin, Kołobrzeg, Gdynia, Gdańsk and Elbląg as their base. The Port of Gdańsk is the only port in the Baltic Sea adapted to receive oceanic vessels.

The electricity generation sector in Poland is largely fossil-fuel–based. Many power plants nationwide use Poland's position as a major European exporter of coal to their advantage by continuing to use coal as the primary raw material in the production of their energy. In 2013, Poland scored 48 out of 129 states in the Energy Sustainability Index.[299] The three largest Polish coal mining firms (Węglokoks, Kompania Węglowa and JSW) extract around 100 million tonnes of coal annually.[300]

Over the course of history, the Polish people have made considerable contributions in the fields of science, technology and mathematics.[302] Perhaps the most renowned Pole to support this theory was Nicolaus Copernicus (Mikołaj Kopernik), who triggered the Copernican Revolution by placing the Sun rather than the Earth at the center of the universe.[303] He also derived a quantity theory of money, which made him a pioneer of economics. Copernicus' achievements and discoveries are considered the basis of Polish culture and cultural identity.[304] Poland was ranked 40th in the Global Innovation Index in 2021, down from 39th in 2019.[305]

Poland's tertiary education institutions; traditional universities, as well as technical, medical, and economic institutions, employ around tens of thousands of researchers and staff members. There are hundreds of research and development institutes.[306] However, in the 19th and 20th centuries many Polish scientists worked abroad; one of the most important of these exiles was Maria Skłodowska-Curie, a physicist and chemist who lived much of her life in France. In 1925 she established Poland's Radium Institute.[301]

In the first half of the 20th century, Poland was a flourishing centre of mathematics. Outstanding Polish mathematicians formed the Lwów School of Mathematics (with Stefan Banach, Stanisław Mazur, Hugo Steinhaus, Stanisław Ulam) and Warsaw School of Mathematics (with Alfred Tarski, Kazimierz Kuratowski, Wacław Sierpiński and Antoni Zygmund). Numerous mathematicians, scientists, chemists or economists emigrated due to historic vicissitudes, among them Benoit Mandelbrot, Leonid Hurwicz, Alfred Tarski, Joseph Rotblat and Nobel Prize laureates Roald Hoffmann, Georges Charpak and Tadeusz Reichstein. In the 1930s, mathematician and cryptologist Marian Rejewski invented the Cryptographic Bomb which formed the basis of the effort that allowed the Allies to crack the Enigma code.

Poland has a population of approximately 38.2 million as of 2021, and is the ninth-most populous country in Europe, as well as the fifth-most populous member state of the European Union.[307] It has a population density of 122 inhabitants per square kilometre (328 per square mile).[308] The total fertility rate was estimated at 1.42 children born to a woman in 2019, which is among the world's lowest.[309] Furthermore, Poland's population is aging significantly, and the country has a median age of roughly 42.[310]

Around 60% of the country's population reside in urban areas or major cities and 40% in rural zones.[311] The most populous administrative province or state is the Masovian Voivodeship and the most populous city is the capital, Warsaw, at 1.8 million inhabitants with a further 2-3 million people living in its metropolitan area.[312][313][314] The metropolitan area of Katowice is the largest urban conurbation in Poland with a population between 2.7 million[315] and 5.3 million residents.[316] The least populous and the smallest province in size is the Opole Voivodeship, with under 1 million inhabitants. Population density is higher in the south of Poland and mostly concentrated between the cities of Wrocław and Kraków.[317]

In the 2011 Polish census, 37,