Poland

total:

11.73 cu km/yr (13%/79%/8%)

per capita:

304 cu m/yr (2002)

• 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

at birth:

1.06 male(s)/female

under 15 years:

1.06 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 (2009 est.)

degree of risk:

intermediate

food or waterborne diseases:

bacterial diarrhea

vectorborne disease:

tickborne encephalitis

note: highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza has been identified in this country; it poses a negligible risk with extremely rare cases possible among US citizens who have close contact with birds (2009)

noun:

Pole(s)

adjective:

Polish

conventional long form:

Republic of Poland

conventional short form:

Poland

local long form:

Rzeczpospolita Polska

local short form:

Polska

name:

Warsaw

geographic coordinates:

52 15 N, 21 00 E

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

• 16 provinces (wojewodztwa, singular - wojewodztwo);
• Dolnoslaskie (Lower Silesia), Kujawsko-Pomorskie (Kuyavia-Pomerania), Lodzkie, Lubelskie (Lublin), Lubuskie (Lubusz), Malopolskie (Lesser Poland), Mazowieckie (Masovia), Opolskie, Podkarpackie (Subcarpathia), Podlaskie, Pomorskie (Pomerania), Slaskie (Silesia), Swietokrzyskie, Warminsko-Mazurskie (Warmia-Masuria), Wielkopolskie (Greater Poland), Zachodniopomorskie (West Pomerania)

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

• 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

chief of state:

President Lech KACZYNSKI (since 23 December 2005)

head of government:

Prime Minister Donald TUSK (since 16 November 2007); Deputy Prime Minister Waldemar PAWLAK (since 16 November 2007)

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 (eligible for a second term);
• election last held 9 and 23 October 2005 (next to be held in the fall 2010);
• prime minister and deputy prime ministers appointed by the president and confirmed by the Sejm

election results:

Lech KACZYNSKI elected president; percent of popular vote - Lech KACZYNSKI 54%, Donald Tusk 46%

• bicameral legislature consists 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:

Senate - last held 21 October 2007 (next to be held by October 2011); Sejm elections last held 21 October 2007 (next to be held by October 2011)

election results:

• Senate - percent of vote by party - NA;
• seats by party - PO 60, PiS 39, independents 1;
• Sejm - percent of vote by party - PO 41.5%, PiS 32.1%, LiD 13.2%, PSL 8.9%, other 4.3%;
• seats by party - PO 209, PiS 166, LiD 53, PSL 31, German minorities 1;
• note - seats by parliamentary grouping as of February 2009 - PO 208, PiS 156, Left 42, PSL 31, SDPL-New Left 5, Polska XXI 6, Democratic Caucus 3, German minorities 1, nonaffiliated 8

note: one seat is 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)

• Civic Platform or PO [chairman Donald TUSK; parliamentary caucus leader Grzegorz SCHETYNA];
• Democratic Caucus of the Democratic Party (SD) or DKP SD [parliamentary caucus leader Bogdan LIS];
• Democratic Left Alliance or SLD [chairman Grzegorz NAPIERALSKI];
• Democratic Party or PD [chairwoman Brygida KUZNIAK];
• Democratic Party or SD [chairman Pawel PISKORSKI];
• German Minority of Lower Silesia or MNSO [representative Henryk KROLL];
• Law and Justice or PiS [chairman Jaroslaw KACZYNSKI; parliamentary caucus leader Przemyslaw GOSIEWSKI];
• League of Polish Families or LPR [acting chairman Arnold MASIN];
• Left (Democratic Left Alliance and independents) [parliamentary caucus leader Grzegorz NAPIERALSKI];
• Polish People's Party or PSL [chairman Waldemar PAWLAK; parliamentary caucus leader Stanislaw ZELICHOWSKI];
• Polska XXI (political grouping of former PiS members; not officially registered) [chairman Jaroslaw SELLIN; parliamentary caucus leader Kazimierz Michal UJAZDOWSKI];
• Samoobrona or SO [chairman Andrzej LEPPER];
• Social Democratic Party of Poland or SDPL [chairman Wojciech FILEMONOWICZ];
• Social Democratic Party of Poland-New Left (SDPL-New Left) [parliamentary caucus leader Marek BOROWSKI];
• Union of Labor or UP [chairman Waldemar WITKOWSKI]

• All Poland Trade Union Alliance or OPZZ (trade union) [Jan GUZ];
• Roman Catholic Church [Cardinal Stanislaw DZIWISZ, Archbishop Jozef MICHALIK];
• Solidarity Trade Union [Janusz SNIADEK]

chief of mission:

Ambassador Robert KUPIECKI

chancery:

2640 16th Street NW, Washington, DC 20009

telephone:

[1] (202) 234-3800 through 3802

FAX:

[1] (202) 328-6271

consulate(s) general:

Chicago, Los Angeles, 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, Washington, DC 20521-5010 (pouch)

telephone:

[48] (22) 504-2000

FAX:

[48] (22) 504-2688

consulate(s) general:

Krakow

agriculture:

17.4%

industry:

29.2%

services:

53.4% (2005)

lowest 10%:

3%

highest 10%:

27.2% (2005)

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:

• mobile-cellular service available since 1993 and provided by three nation-wide networks with a fourth provider beginning operations in late 2006;
• cellular coverage is generally good with some 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 (2007)

total:

22,314 km

country comparison to the world: 12

broad gauge:

633 km 1.524-m gauge

standard gauge:

21,681 km 1.435-m gauge (11,769 km electrified) (2007)

total:

423,997 km

country comparison to the world: 15

paved:

295,356 km (includes 662 km of expressways)

unpaved:

128,641 km (2006)

• 18-28 years of age for male voluntary or compulsory military service;
• service obligation shortened from 12 to 9 months in 2005;
• conscription is to end in 2012;
• 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;
• reserve obligation to age 50 (2009)

males age 16-49:

9,741,508

females age 16-49:

9,514,843 (2008 est.)

males age 16-49:

7,898,892

females age 16-49:

7,888,035 (2009 est.)

male:

246,667

female:

235,698 (2009 est.)

• 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