Poland

• 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 European Union code, but at substantial cost to business and the government

0-14 years:

17.1% (male 3,388,247; female 3,216,085)

15-64 years:

70% (male 13,454,820; female 13,591,814)

65 years and over:

12.9% (male 1,896,940; female 3,078,443) (2004 est.)

at birth:

1.06 male(s)/female

under 15 years:

1.05 male(s)/female

15-64 years:

0.99 male(s)/female

65 years and over:

0.62 male(s)/female

total population:

0.94 male(s)/female (2004 est.)

noun:

Pole(s)

adjective:

Polish

conventional long form:

Republic of Poland

conventional short form:

Poland

local long form:

Rzeczpospolita Polska

local short form:

Polska

• 16 provinces (wojewodztwa, singular - wojewodztwo);
• Dolnoslaskie, Kujawsko-Pomorskie, Lodzkie, Lubelskie, Lubuskie, Malopolskie, Mazowieckie, Opolskie, Podkarpackie, Podlaskie, Pomorskie, Slaskie, Swietokrzyskie, Warminsko-Mazurskie, Wielkopolskie, Zachodniopomorskie

• adopted by the National Assembly 2 April 1997;
• passed by national referendum 25 May 1997;
• effective 17 October 1997

• 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

chief of state:

President Aleksander KWASNIEWSKI (since 23 December 1995)

head of government:

Prime Minister Marek BELKA (since 24 June 2004); Deputy Prime Minister Jerzy HAUSNER (since 11 June 2003)

cabinet:

• Council of Ministers responsible to the prime minister and the Sejm;
• the prime minister proposes, the president appoints, and the Sejm approves the Council of Ministers

elections:

• president elected by popular vote for a five-year term;
• election last held 8 October 2000 (next to be held NA October 2005);
• prime minister and deputy prime ministers appointed by the president and confirmed by the Sejm

election results:

• Aleksander KWASNIEWSKI reelected president;
• percent of popular vote - Aleksander KWASNIEWSKI 53.9%, Andrzej OLECHOWSKI 17.3%, Marian KRZAKLEWSKI 15.6%, Lech WALESA 1%

• bicameral legislature consisting of an upper house, the Senate or Senat (100 seats; members are elected by a majority vote on a provincial basis to serve four-year terms), and a lower house, the Sejm (460 seats; members are elected under a complex system of proportional representation to serve four-year terms);
• the designation of National Assembly or Zgromadzenie Narodowe is only used on those rare occasions when the two houses meet jointly

elections:

Sejm elections last held 23 September 2001 (next to be held by September 2005); Senate - last held 23 September 2001 (next to be held by September 2005)

election results:

• Sejm - percent of vote by party - SLD-UP 41%, PO 12.7%, Samoobrona 10.2%, PiS 9.5%, PSL 9%, LPR 7.9%, AWSP 5.6% UW 3.1%, other 1%;
• seats by party (as of 10 December 2004) - SLD 154, PO 56, PiS 44, PSL 40, SDPL 33, SO 30, LPR 25, UP 15, PLD 11, SKL 6, RKN 5, Dom Ojczysty 4, PP 3, ROP 3, German minorities 2, independents 26;
• Senate - percent of vote by party - NA%;
• seats by party (as of 10 December 2004)- SLD-UP 74, Block Senate 2001 10, PSL and unaffiliated 5, UW 4, SO 2, LPR 2, independents 2, PiS 1

note: two seats are assigned to ethnic minority parties in the Sejm only

• Supreme Court (judges are appointed by the president on the recommendation of the National Council of the Judiciary for an indefinite period);
• Constitutional Tribunal (judges are chosen by the Sejm for nine-year terms)

• Catholic-National Movement or RKN [Antoni MACIEREWICZ];
• Citizens Platform or PO [Donald TUSK];
• Coalition Electoral Action Solidarity of the Right or AWSP;
• Conservative Peasants Party or SKL-RNP [Artur BALAZS];
• Democratic Left Alliance or SLD [Krzysztof JANIK];
• Freedom Union or UW [Wladyslaw FRASYNIUK];
• German Minority of Lower Silesia or MNSO [Henryk KROLL];
• Law and Justice or PiS [Jaroslaw KACZYNSKI];
• League of Polish Families or LPR [Marek KOTLINOWSKI];
• Movement for the Reconstruction of Poland or ROP [Jan OLSZEWSKI];
• Peasant-Democratic Party or PLD [Roman JAGIELINSKI];
• Polish Accord or PP [Jan LOPUSZANSKI];
• Polish Peasant Bloc or PBL [Wojciech MOJZESOWICZ];
• Polish Peasant Party or PSL [Janusz WOJCIECHOWSKI];
• Polish Raison d'Etat or PRS [Piotr MUSIAL];
• Samoobrona or SO [Andrzej LEPPER];
• Social Democratic Party of Poland or SDPL [Marek BOROWSKI];
• Social Movement or RS [Krzysztof PIESIEWICZ];
• Union of Labor or UP [Izabela JARUAGA-NOWACKA]

• All Poland Trade Union Alliance or OPZZ (trade union) [Maciej MANICKI];
• Roman Catholic Church [Cardinal Jozef GLEMP];
• Solidarity Trade Union [Janusz SNIADEK]

chief of mission:

Ambassador Przemyslaw GRUDZINSKI

chancery:

2640 16th Street NW, Washington, DC 20009

telephone:

[1] (202) 234-3800 through 3802

FAX:

[1] (202) 328-6270

consulate(s) general:

Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York

chief of mission:

Ambassador Victor ASHE

embassy:

Aleje Ujazdowskie 29/31 00-540 Warsaw

mailing address:

American Embassy Warsaw, US Department of State, 5010 Warsaw Place, Washington, DC 20521-5010 (pouch)

telephone:

[48] (22) 504-2000

FAX:

[48] (22) 504-2688

consulate(s) general:

Krakow

lowest 10%:

3.2%

highest 10%:

24.7% (1998)

general assessment:

• underdeveloped and outmoded system in the process of being overhauled;
• partial privatization of the state-owned telephone monopoly is underway;
• the long waiting list for main line telephone service has resulted in a boom in mobile cellular telephone use

domestic:

• cable, open-wire, and microwave radio relay;
• 3 cellular networks;
• local exchanges 56.6% digital

international:

country code - 48; satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat, NA Eutelsat, 2 Inmarsat (Atlantic and Indian Ocean regions), and 1 Intersputnik (Atlantic Ocean region)

total:

23,852 km

broad gauge:

629 km 1.524-m gauge

standard gauge:

23,223 km 1.435-m gauge (11,962 km electrified) (2003)

total:

364,656 km

paved:

249,060 km (including 358 km of expressways)

unpaved:

115,596 km (2000)

total:

14 ships (1,000 GRT or over) 154,710 GRT/228,132 DWT

by type:

bulk 7, cargo 3, chemical tanker 3, roll on/roll off 1

registered in other countries:

100 (2004 est.)

• 17 years of age for compulsory military service after January 1st of the year of 18th birthday;
• 17 years of age for voluntary military service;
• in 2005 Poland plans to shorten the length of conscript service obligation from 12 to 9 months;
• 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 non-commissioned officers (April 2004)