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Poland is a country in eastern Europe.

Poland borders the Baltic Sea in the north.

The land is mostly flat with mountains along the southern border.

The geographical coordinates for the centre of Poland, also known as lines of latitude and longitude, are:-
Latitude - 52 00N - N
Longitude - 20 00E

The capital of Poland is Warsaw.

Poland is a parliamentary republic with a president as head of state and a prime minister as head of the government.

In elections everyone over the age of 18 can vote.

The currency in Poland is the zloty. Poland is a member of the European Union, having joined in 2004.

Polish is the official language.

Check the weather in Warsaw now.

This is the time in Warsaw now

The Polish flag is 2 equal horizontal stripes of white and red. The colours are the same as the Polish emblem which is a white eagle on a red background.

Hear the National Anthem



These are the anthem words

The words ×

These are the words to the Polish National Anthem called Dabrowski's Mazurka. It was adopted in 1927. This is a translation of the words.

If anthem fails to play click here

Poland has not yet perished. As long as we live, 
What foreign violence has seized, With sabres in hand we will retrieve. 

CHORUS
March! March, Dabrowski! 
From Italy to Poland! 
Under your command 
Unite us as a people. 

Cross the Vistula and Warta We shall be Poles; 
Bonaparte has shown us The way to victory. 

Chorus 

Like Czarniecki to Poznan, After the war with the Swede,
To save our country, We shall return by sea. 

Chorus

 A father, in tears, says to his Basia: 
“Just listen, it seems that our people are beating the drums.”

Chorus

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The Land
The People
Life and Death
Health, Energy and the Environment
Education and Work
Travel, Communication and the Media

The total land area of Poland is 304,255 sq kms which is the 7th largest in Europe.

Poland has lakes, rivers and canals which total 8,430 sq kms.

Poland has boundaries with 7 countries

• Czech Republic 796 kms
• Slovakia 541 kms
• Ukraine 535 kms
• Germany 467 kms
• Belarus 418 kms
• Russia 210 kms
• Lithuania 104 kms

Poland has a coastline of 440 kms which is the 19th longest in Europe.

The highest point in Poland is Rysy at 2,499 metres.

The pie chart below shows how the land is split between agricultural land (crops and pastures), forests and other, which can be towns, villages, desert or frozen waste called tundra.

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The total population of Poland is 38.52 million people, making it the 7th largest country in Europe by population.

Of this number 19.87 million are females and 18.65 million are males.

A person from Poland is called a Pole.

To be a citizen of Poland, both parents must be a citizen of Poland. It is not sufficient to be born in Poland. You have to live in Poland for 5 years before you can begin to apply for citizenship.

The largest five cities in Poland, by population are:-

• Warsaw 1,702,139 people
• Lodz 768,755
• Krakow 755,050
• Wroclaw 634,892
• Poznan 570,352

For each country we will give you a diagram showing the population density. This is the average number of people for each square kilometre. Each little Owlbut is 1 person and the big yellow rectangle is 1 sq km. After a while you can compare countries and see which ones are the most crowded. Remember it is only an average as more people live closer together in towns and cities than in villages out in the country.



60.5% of the people live in cities or towns.

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The birth rate in Poland is 9.6 births per 1,000 of population

The death rate in Poland is 10.3 deaths per 1,000 people.

Check this against the birth rate. If the death rate is higher than the birth rate then the population will decrease unless immigrants arrive in the country.

There are 4.0 deaths of girls under 1 year per 1,000 of births and 4.8 deaths of boys.

The median age for females is 42.0 and for males is 38.6. The median age is that age which divides the population exactly in half so there are the same number of people above the median age as below it.

The average age of a woman when she has her first child is 26.9.

The elderly dependency ratio is 22.5. This is the number of elderly people (ages 65+) per 100 people of working age (ages 15-64).

The potential support ratio is 4.5. This is the number of working-age people (ages 15-64) per one elderly person (ages 65+). As a population ages, the potential support ratio tends to fall, meaning there are fewer potential workers to support the elderly.

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Poland spends 6.4% of its total income on health care.

There are 2.22 doctors per 1,000 people.

There are 6.5 hospital beds per 1,000 people.

23.1% of the population are estimated as obese.

99.3% of the urban population and 96.9% of the rural population have drinking water that is either piped into their home or they have access to a public tap, a protected borehole, well, spring or protected rainwater collection facility.

97.5% of the urban population and 96.7% of the rural population have access to a flushing toilet that is connected to a sewer, a pit latrine (that is a permanent hole in the ground that is looked after) or a composting toilet.

Poland releases 322.0 million metric tons of carbon dioxide by burning fossil fuels in the process of producing and consuming energy. This puts it as the 5th highest in Europe.

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Poland spends 4.9% of its total income on education.

Children usually start school at age 7 in Poland. Primary education is for eight years until age 15 and secondary education must continue till 18. This may be followed by further education at a university or college.

Generally the school year consists of 3 terms and starts in the first week of September and finishes at the end of June. There is usually a 1 week break at Christmas and 2 week break in February. The Easter holiday is usually just a long weekend.

99.7% of females and 99.9% of males are able to read and write by the age of 15.

17.7% of all people aged between 16 and 24 are not in work. Among females 18.0% are unemployed while with males 17.4% can't find work.

The total number of people available for work in Poland is 17.78 million.

They work in the following sectors.

• Agriculture includes farming, fishing and forestry work
• Industry includes mining, manufacturing, construction and energy workers
• Services is everything else

9.6% of the workforce are unemployed.

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There are 87 paved airports in Poland, which is the 8th highest number in Europe.


There are 19,837 kilometres of railways in Poland, which is the 5th longest in Europe.


There are 280,719 kilometres of roads in Poland, which means Poland is in 6th place for the most kilometres of roads in Europe.

There are 5 major national newspapers in Poland.

There are 56.84 million mobile phone users.

11% of the people have a fixed landline.



26.22 million people have access to the internet at home via any device (computer or mobile).

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