1993 Edition

Area

total area: 312,680 km2 land area: 304,510 km2 comparative area: slightly smaller than New Mexico

Climate

temperate with cold, cloudy, moderately severe winters with frequent precipitation; mild summers with frequent showers and thundershowers

Coastline

491 km

Environment

plain crossed by a few north flowing, meandering streams; severe air and water pollution in south

International disputes

none

Irrigated land

1,000 km2 (1989 est.)

Land boundaries

total 3,114 km, Belarus 605 km, Czech Republic 658 km, Germany 456 km, Lithuania 91 km, Russia (Kaliningrad Oblast) 432 km, Slovakia 444 km, Ukraine 428 km

Land use

arable land: 46% permanent crops: 1% meadows and pastures: 13% forest and woodland: 28% other: 12%

Location

Central Europe, between Germany and Belarus

Map references

Asia, Ethnic Groups in Eastern Europe, Europe, Standard Time Zones of the World

Maritime claims

exclusive economic zone: 200 nm territorial sea: 12 nm

Natural resources

coal, sulfur, copper, natural gas, silver, lead, salt

Note

historically, an area of conflict because of flat terrain and the lack of natural barriers on the North European Plain

Terrain

mostly flat plain; mountains along southern border

Birth rate

13.59 births/1,000 population (1993 est.)

Death rate

9.59 deaths/1,000 population (1993 est.)

Ethnic divisions

Polish 97.6%, German 1.3%, Ukrainian 0.6%, Belarusian 0.5% (1990 est.)

Infant mortality rate

13.8 deaths/1,000 live births (1993 est.)

Labor force

15.609 million by occupation: industry and construction 34.4%, agriculture 27.3%, trade, transport, and communications 16.1%, government and other 22.2% (1991)

Languages

Polish

Life expectancy at birth

total population: 72.2 years male: 68.14 years female: 76.51 years (1993 est.)

Literacy

age 15 and over can read and write (1978) total population: 98% male: 99% female: 98%

Nationality

noun: Pole(s) adjective: Polish

Net migration rate

-0.52 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1993 est.)

Population

38,519,486 (July 1993 est.)

Population growth rate

0.35% (1993 est.)

Religions

Roman Catholic 95% (about 75% practicing), Eastern Orthodox, Protestant, and other 5%

Total fertility rate

1.97 children born/woman (1993 est.)

Administrative divisions

49 provinces (wojewodztwa, singular - wojewodztwo); Biala Podlaska, Bialystok, Bielsko Biala, Bydgoszcz, Chelm, Ciechanow, Czestochowa, Elblag, Gdansk, Gorzow, Jelenia Gora, Kalisz, Katowice, Kielce, Konin, Koszalin, Krakow, Krosno, Legnica, Leszno, Lodz, Lomza, Lublin, Nowy Sacz, Olsztyn, Opole, Ostroleka, Pila, Piotrkow, Plock, Poznan, Przemysl, Radom, Rzeszow, Siedlce, Sieradz, Skierniewice, Slupsk, Suwalki, Szczecin, Tarnobrzeg, Tarnow, Torun, Walbrzych, Warszawa, Wloclawek, Wroclaw, Zamosc, Zielona Gora

Ambassador Thomas W. SIMONS, Jr. embassy

Aleje Ujazdowskie 29/31, Warsaw mailing address: American Embassy Warsaw, Box 5010, Unit 25402, or APO AE 09213-5010 telephone: [48] (2) 628-3041

Capital

Warsaw

Chief of State

President Lech WALESA (since 22 December 1990)

Communist origin or linked

Social Democracy (SDRP, party of Poland), Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz; Polish Peasants' Party (PSL), Waldemar PAWLAK

PSL 8, SLD 4

SLD 60, PSL 48

Constitution

interim "small constitution" came into effect in December 1992 replacing the Communist-imposed Constitution of 22 July 1952; new democratic Constitution being drafted

Digraph

PL

Diplomatic representation in US

chief of mission: Ambassador Kazimierz DZIEWANOWSKI chancery: 2640 16th Street NW, Washington DC 20009 telephone: (202) 234-3800 through 3802

Elections

president: first round held 25 November 1990, second round held 9 December 1990 (next to be held NA November 1995); results - second round Lech WALESA 74.7%, Stanislaw TYMINSKI 25.3%

Executive branch

president, prime minister, Council of Ministers (cabinet)

FAX

(202) 328-6271 consulates general: Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York

[48] (2) 628-8298 consulates general: Krakow, Poznan

Flag

two equal horizontal bands of white (top) and red; similar to the flags of Indonesia and Monaco which are red (top) and white

Head of Government

Prime Minister Hanna SUCHOCKA (since 10 July 1992)

Independence

11 November 1918 (independent republic proclaimed)

Judicial branch

Supreme Court

Legal system

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; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

Legislative branch

bicameral National Assembly (Zgromadzenie Narodowe) consists of an upper house or Senate (Senat) and a lower house or Diet (Sejm)

Member of

BIS, CBSS, CCC, CE, CEI, CERN, CSCE, EBRD, ECE, FAO, GATT, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICFTU, IDA, IFC, ILO, IMF, IMO, INMARSAT, INTERPOL, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO, ITU, LORCS, MINURSO, NACC, NAM (guest), NSG, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNDOF, UNIDO, UNIFIL, UNIKOM, UNPROFOR, UNTAC, UPU, WCL, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO, ZC

Names

conventional long form: Republic of Poland conventional short form: Poland local long form: Rzeczpospolita Polska local short form: Polska

National holiday

Constitution Day, 3 May (1791)

Other political or pressure groups

powerful Roman Catholic Church; Solidarity (trade union); All Poland Trade Union Alliance (OPZZ), populist program

Political parties and leaders

post-Solidarity parties: Democratic Union (UD), Tadeusz MAZOWIECKI; Christian-National Union (ZCHN), Wieslaw CHRZANOWSKI; Centrum (PC), Jaroslaw KACZYNSKI; Liberal-Democratic Congress, Donald TUSK; Peasant Alliance (PL), Gabriel JANOWSKI; Solidarity Trade Union (NSZZ), Marian KRZAKLEWSKI; Union of Labor (UP), Ryszard BUGAJ; Christian-Democratic Party (PCHD), Pawel LACZKOWSKI; Conservative Party, Alexander HALL non-Communist, non-Solidarity: Confederation for an Independent Poland (KPN), Leszek MOCZULSKI; Polish Economic Program (PPG), Janusz REWINSKI; Christian Democrats (CHD), Andrzej OWSINSKI; German Minority (MN), Henryk KROL; Union of Real Politics (UPR), Janusz KORWIN-MIKKE; Democratic Party (SD), Antoni MACKIEWICZ; Party X, Stanislaw Tyminski

Sejm

last held 27 October 1991 (next to be held no later than NA October 1995); seats - (460 total) post-Solidarity bloc: UD 62, ZCHN 49, PC 44, Liberal-Democratic Congress 37, PL 28, NSZZ 27, SP 4, PCHD 4, RDS 1, Krackow Coalition in Solidarity with the President 1, Piast Agreement 1, Bydgoszcz Peasant List 1, Solidarity 80 1 non-Communist, non-Solidarity: KPN 46, PPPP 16, MN 7, CHD 5, Western Union 4, UPR 3, Autonomous Silesia 2, SD 1, Orthodox Election Committee 1, Committee of Women Against Hardships 1, Podhale Union 1, Wielkopolska Group 1, Wielkopolska and Lubuski Inhabitants 1, Party X 3

Senat

last held 27 October 1991 (next to be held no later than NA October 1995); seats - (100 total) post-Solidarity bloc: UD 21, NSZZ 11, ZCHN 9, PC 9, Liberal-Democratic Congress 6, PL 7, PCHD 3, other local candidates 11; non-Communist, non-Solidarity: KPN 4, CHD 1, MN 1, local candidates 5

Suffrage

18 years of age; universal

Type

democratic state

US diplomatic representation

chief of mission:

Agriculture

accounts for 15% of GDP and 27% of labor force; 75% of output from private farms, 25% from state farms; productivity remains low by European standards; leading European producer of rye, rapeseed, and potatoes; wide variety of other crops and livestock; major exporter of pork products; normally self-sufficient in food

Budget

revenues $17.5 billion; expenditures $22.0 billion, including capital expenditures of $1.5 billion (1992 est.)

Currency

1 zloty (Zl) = 100 groszy

Economic aid

donor - bilateral aid to non-Communist less developed countries, $2.2 billion (1954-89); the G-24 has pledged $8 billion in grants and credit guarantees to Poland

Electricity

31,530,000 kW capacity; 137,000 million kWh produced, 3,570 kWh per capita (1992)

Exchange rates

zlotych (Zl) per US$1 - 15,879 (January 1993), 13,626 (1992), 10,576 (1991), 9,500 (1990), 1,439.18 (1989), 430.55 (1988)

Exports

$12.8 billion (f.o.b., 1992 est.) commodities: machinery 22%, metals 16%, chemicals 12%, fuels and power 11%, food 10% (1991) partners: Germany 28.0%, former USSR 11.7%, UK 8.8%, Switzerland 5.5% (1991)

External debt

$48.5 billion (January 1992); note - Poland's Western government creditors promised in 1991 to forgive 30% of Warsaw's official debt - currently $33 billion - immediately and to forgive another 20% in 1994, if Poland adheres to its IMF program

Fiscal year

calendar year

Illicit drugs

illicit producers of opium for domestic consumption and amphetamines for the international market; emerging as a transshipment point for illicit drugs to Western Europe

Imports

$12.9 billion (f.o.b., 1992 est.) commodities: machinery 38%, fuels and power 20%, chemicals 13%, food 10%, light industry 6% (1991) partners: Germany 17.4%, former USSR 25.6%, Italy 5.3%, Austria 5.2% (1991)

Industrial production

growth rate 3.5% (1992)

Industries

machine building, iron and steel, extractive industries, chemicals, shipbuilding, food processing, glass, beverages, textiles

Inflation rate (consumer prices)

44% (1992)

National product

GDP - purchasing power equivalent - $167.6 billion (1992 est.)

National product per capita

$4,400 (1992 est.)

National product real growth rate

2% (1992 est.)

Overview

Poland is undergoing a difficult transition from a Soviet-style economy - with state ownership and control of productive assets - to a market economy. On January 1, 1990, the new Solidarity-led government implemented shock therapy by slashing subsidies, decontrolling prices, tightening the money supply, stabilizing the foreign exchange rate, lowering import barriers, and restraining state sector wages. As a result, consumer goods shortages and lines disappeared, and inflation fell from 640% in 1989 to 44% in 1992. Western governments, which hold two-thirds of Poland's $48 billion external debt, pledged in 1991 to forgive half of Poland's official debt by 1994. The private sector accounted for 29% of industrial production and nearly half of nonagricultural output in 1992. Production fell in state enterprises, however, and the unemployment rate climbed steadily from virtually nothing in 1989 to 13.6% in December 1992. Poland fell out of compliance with its IMF program by mid-1991, and talks with commercial creditors stalled. The increase in unemployment and the decline in living standards led to strikes in the coal, auto, copper, and railway sectors in 1992. Large state enterprises in the coal, steel, and defense sectors plan to halve employment over the next decade, and the government expects unemployment to reach 3 million (16%) in 1993. A shortfall in tax revenues caused the budget deficit to reach 6% of GDP in 1992, but industrial production began a slow, uneven upturn. In 1993, the government will struggle to win legislative approval for faster privatization and to keep the budget deficit within IMF-approved limits.

Unemployment rate

13.6% (December 1992)

Airports

total: 163 usable: 163 with permanent-surface runways: 100 with runway over 3,659 m: with runways 2,440-3,659 m: 51 with runways 1,220-2,439 m: 95

Highways

360,629 km total (excluding farm, factory and forest roads); 220 km limited access expressways, 45,257 km main highways, 128,775 km regional roads, 186,377 urban or village roads (local traffic); 220,000 km are paved (including all main and regional highways) (1988)

Inland waterways

3,997 km navigable rivers and canals (1991)

Merchant marine

209 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 2,747,631 GRT/3,992,053 DWT; includes 5 short-sea passenger, 76 cargo, 1 refrigerated cargo, 11 roll-on/roll-off cargo, 9 container, 1 oil tanker, 4 chemical tanker, 101 bulk, 1 passenger; Poland owns 1 ship of 6,333 DWT operating under Liberian registry

Pipelines

natural gas 4,600 km, crude oil 1,986 km, petroleum products 360 km (1992)

Ports

Gdansk, Gdynia, Szczecin, Swinoujscie; principal inland ports are Gliwice on Kana Gliwice, Wrocaw on the Oder, and Warsaw on the Vistula

Railroads

26,250 km total; 23,857 km 1.435-meter gauge, 397 km 1.520-meter gauge, 1,996 km narrow gauge; 8,987 km double track; 11,510 km electrified; government owned (1991)

Telecommunications

severely underdeveloped and outmoded system; cable, open wire and microwave; phone density is 10.5 phones per 100 residents (October 1990); 3.6 million telephone subscribers; exchanges are 86% automatic (1991); broadcast stations - 27 AM, 27 FM, 40 (5 Soviet repeaters) TV; 9.6 million TVs; 1 satellite earth station using INTELSAT, EUTELSAT, INMARSAT and Intersputnik

Branches

Army, Navy, Air and Air Defense Force

Defense expenditures

30.8 trillion zlotych, 1.8% of GNP (1993 est.); note - conversion of defense expenditures into US dollars using the current exchange rate could produce misleading results

Manpower availability

males age 15-49 9,914,128; fit for military service 7,774,499; reach military age (19) annually 304,956 (1993 est.)