"O country mine! You are like good health:
How much one should prize you, he only can tell
Who has lost you."
Quotation from Pan Tadeusz by Adam Mickiewicz, one of the greatest Polish Romantic poets of the 19th century

Area: total: 312,685 sq km (slightly smaller than New Mexico). Historically, an area of conflict because of flat terrain and the lack of natural barriers on the North European Plain
Land boundaries: total: 3,056 km
Coastline: 491 km
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: 40.25%, permanent crops: 1%, other: 58.75% (2005), Irrigated land: 1,000 sq km (2003)
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 EU code, but at substantial cost to business and the government
Population: 38,518,241 (July 2007 est.)
Age structure: 0-14 years: 15.5% (male 3,070,388/female 2,906,121), 15-64 years: 71.1% (male 13,639,012/female 13,761,154), 65 years and over: 13.3% (male 1,964,429/female 3,177,137) (2007 est.). Median age: total: 37.3 years, male: 35.4 years, female: 39.3 years (2007 est.)
Population growth rate: -0.046% (2007 est.)
Birth rate: 9.94 births/1,000 population (2007 est.)
Death rate: 9.94 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.) Infant mortality rate: total: 7.07 deaths/1,000 live births
Net migration rate: -0.46 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.)
Sex ratio: 0.941 male(s)/female (2007 est.)
Life expectancy at birth: total population: 75.19 years, male: 71.18 years, female: 79.44 years (2007 est.)
Total fertility rate: 1.26 children born/woman (2007 est.)
HIV/AIDS: 0.1% or 14,000 (2003 est.)
HIV/AIDS deaths: 100 (2001 est.)
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: 99.8%, male: 99.8%, female: 99.7% (2003 est.)
Government type: republic
Capital: Warsaw
Time difference: UTC+1 (6 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time), daylight saving time: +1hr, begins last Sunday in March; ends last Sunday in October
Independence: 11 November 1918 (republic proclaimed)
Constitution: adopted by the National Assembly 2 April 1997; passed by national referendum 25 May 1997; effective 17 October 1997
Legal system: based on a 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; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction with reservations
Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal
Economy overview: Poland has steadfastly pursued a policy of economic liberalization since 1990 and today stands out as a success story among transition economies. In 2006, GDP grew 5.3%, based on rising private consumption, a 16.7% jump in investment, and burgeoning exports. Poland today has a thriving private sector which created more than 300,000 new jobs during 2006 alone. GDP per capita roughly equals that of the three Baltic states. Consumer price inflation - at 1.3% in 2006 - remains among the lowest in the EU. Since 2004, EU membership and access to EU structural funds has provided a major boost to the economy. Inflows of direct foreign investment exceeded $10 billion in 2006 alone - and more than $100 billion since 1990 - with major investments being announced by foreign firms in computer, consumer electronics, and automobile component production. In early 2006, Poland reached agreement with its EU partners that will permit it to benefit from EU funds totaling nearly $80 billion during 2007-13. Since 2002, even though the zloty appreciated 30%, Poland's exports more than doubled. Despite Poland's successes, more remains to be done. Unemployment, which stood at 15% in December 2006, is still the highest in the EU. An inefficient commercial court system, a rigid labor code, bureaucratic red tape, and persistent corruption keep the private sector from performing to its potential. Agriculture is handicapped by inefficient small farms and inadequate investment. Restructuring and privatization of the remaining state-owned industries, especially "sensitive sectors" such as coal, oil refining, railroads, and energy transmission and generation, have stalled due to concerns about loss of control over critical national assets and lay-offs. Reforms in health care, education, the pension system, and state administration have failed so far to reduce the government budget deficit, which was roughly 2.7 percent of GDP in 2006. Further progress in public finance depends mainly on reducing losses in Polish state enterprises, restraining entitlements, and overhauling the tax code. The previous Socialist-led government introduced a package of social and administrative spending cuts to reduce public spending by about $17 billion through 2007, but full implementation of the plan was trumped by election-year politics in 2005. The right-wing Law and Justice party won parliamentary elections in September 2005, and Lech KACZYNSKI won the presidential election in October, running on a state-interventionist fiscal and monetary platform. The new government has proceeded cautiously on economic matters, however, retaining, for example, the corporate income tax cuts initiated by the previous administration and indicating its intention to reduce the top personal income tax rate.
GDP (purchasing power parity): $554.5 billion (2006 est.)
GDP (official exchange rate): $337 billion (2006 est.)
GDP - real growth rate: 6.1% (2006 est.)
GDP - per capita (PPP): $14,400 (2006 est.)
GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 4.5%, industry: 31.7%, services: 63.8% (2006 est.)
Labor force: 16.94 million (2006 est.)
Unemployment rate: 14.9% (2006 est.)
Population below poverty line: 17% (2003 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 1% (2006 est.)
Budget: revenues: $63.7 billion, expenditures: $71.78 billion (2006 est.)
Public debt: 45.5% of GDP (2006 est.)
Agriculture - products: potatoes, fruits, vegetables, wheat; poultry, eggs, pork, dairy
Industries: machine building, iron and steel, coal mining, chemicals, shipbuilding, food processing, glass, beverages, textiles
Industrial production growth rate: 10.2% (2006 est.)
Current account balance: $-7.926 billion (2006 est.)
Exports: $117.3 billion f.o.b. (2006 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 27.2%, Italy 6.6%, France 6.2%, UK 5.7%, Czech Republic 5.6%, Russia 4.3% (2006)
Imports: $122.2 billion f.o.b. (2006 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%, Russia 9.6%, Italy 6.4%, Netherlands 5.7%, France 5.4% (2006)
Economic aid - recipient: $1.524 billion in available EU structural adjustment and cohesion funds (2004)
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: $48.48 billion (2006 est.)
Debt - external: $121.5 billion (2006 est.)
Currency Exchange rates: zlotych (PLN) per US dollar ($) - 3.1032 (2006)
Telephone system: general assessment: modernization of the telecommunications network has accelerated with market based competition finalized in 2003; fixed-line service, dominated by the former state-owned company, is dwarfed by the growth in wireless telephony. Domestic: wireless service, available since 1993 (GSM service available since 1996) and provided by three nation-wide networks, has grown rapidly in response to the weak fixed-line coverage; third generation UMTS service available in urban areas; cellular coverage is generally good with more gaps in the east; fixed-line service is growing slowly and still lags in rural areas. International: country code - 48; international direct dialing with automated exchanges; satellite earth station - 1 with access to Intelsat, Eutelsat, Inmarsat, and Intersputnik
Internet country code: .pl
Internet hosts: 5.681 million (2007)
Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 19 (2000)
Internet users: 11 million (2006)
Transportation
Airports: 123 (2007). Airports - with paved runways: 83. Airports - with unpaved runways: 40
Heliports: 7 (2007)
Railways: total: 23,072 km, broad gauge: 629 km 1.524-m gauge, standard gauge: 22,443 km 1.435-m gauge (20,555 km operational; 11,910 km electrified) (2006)
Roadways: total: 423,997 km, paved: 295,356 km (includes 484 km of expressways), unpaved: 128,641 km (2004)
Waterways: 3,997 km (navigable rivers and canals) (2006). Merchant marine: total: 11 ships (1000 GRT or over) 55,701 GRT/45,082 DWT, by type: cargo 6, chemical tanker 2, passenger/cargo 1, roll on/roll off 1, vehicle carrier 1
Military branches: Armed Forces of the Polish Republic (Sily Zbrojne Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej, SZRP): Land Forces (includes Navy (Marynarka Wojenna, MW)), Polish Air Force (Sily Powietrzne Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej, SPRP) (2006)
Military service age and obligation: 17 years of age for male compulsory military service after January 1st of the year of 18th birthday; 17 years of age for voluntary military service; conscript service obligation shortened from 12 to 9 months in 2005; by 2008, plans call for at least 60% of military personnel to be volunteers; only soldiers who have completed their conscript service are allowed to volunteer for professional service; as of April 2004, women are only allowed to serve as officers and noncommissioned officers (2006)
Manpower available for military service: males age 17-49: 9,681,703, females age 17-49: 9,480,641 (2005 est.)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP: 1.71% (2005 est.)
Disputes - international: as a member state that forms part of the EU's external border, Poland must implement the strict Schengen border rules to restrict illegal immigration and trade along its eastern borders with Belarus and Ukraine
Illicit drugs: despite diligent counternarcotics measures and international information sharing on cross-border crimes, a major illicit producer of synthetic drugs for the international market; minor transshipment point for Southwest Asian heroin and Latin American cocaine to Western Europe.

Information source: CIA: The World Fact Book. For more detailed and up-to-date information visit https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/pl.html