Poland is located in the central part of Europe. Its total area is more than 312 thousand square kilometers. Poland shares borders with seven countries. There is a land connection with each of them.
Geographical neighbors of Poles are:
- Ukraine;
- Belarus;
- Czech Republic;
- Slovakia;
- Germany;
- Lithuania;
- Russia (Kaliningrad region).
If we talk about the political structure of Poland, it is a unitary country and a parliamentary republic. The state consists of 16 voivodeships. During the existence of the state there have been 22 people at the head. The last one at the moment is Andrzej Duda, who was elected president in August 2018.
Population data
Opening a map of Europe and understanding where is Poland is easy enough, given its area and geographical location. It is much more interesting to talk about the population and look at some figures.
According to recent data, about 39 million people live in Poland. And 20 million are women and 19 million are men.
There are three main age categories.
- The first category. These are people living in Poland who are under 15 years old. They make up 15% of the total population;
- The second category. The most numerous, as it includes people 15-63 years old. Accordingly, they occupy 71%;
- The third category. These are people older than 63 years. Their share of the total population is 14%.
The ethnic component of the population
It is the ethnic component that is one of the most interesting facts about Poland.
Studies show that Poland is very mono-ethnic. That is, the vast majority of residents are Poles. According to experts and sociological surveys, about 94% of all residents are ethnic Poles.
The proportion of other nationalities in the country is minimal, and amounts to 6%. This is mainly composed of Ukrainians, Germans and Belarusians. And the Ukrainian diaspora already in 2018 numbered about 400 thousand people. And over the past few years, the numbers should increase significantly. But so far the official data has not been updated.
Another interesting fact is literacy. It is estimated that 99% of the population can read and write. Of course, this statistic takes into account people 15 years and older. And among young people (15-24 years old), the literacy rate is 100%.
Polish education is highly valued not only in Europe, but worldwide. About 35% of young citizens prefer to get higher education and work in more developed countries.
MyPoland 