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 Poland (Polish: Polska),
officially the Republic of Poland (Polish: Rzeczpospolita Polska), is a
country in Central Europe on the boundary between Eastern and Western
Europe. Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and
Slovakia to the south; Ukraine and Belarus to the east; and the Baltic
Sea, Lithuania and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north.
Warsaw is the capital of Poland.The climate
is mostly temperate throughout the country. It becomes gradually warmer
and continental as one moves south and east. Summers are generally warm,
with average temperatures between 20 °C and 27 °C. Winters are cold, with
average temperatures around 3 °C in the northwest and –8 °C in the
northeast. Rain falls throughout the year, although, especially in the
east; winter is drier than summer.
Poland has around 38 million inhabitants. Its
population has decreased because of an increase in emigration and a
sharp drop in the birth rate. Since Poland's accession to the European
Union, a significant number of Polish immigrants have moved to work in
Western European countries such as the United Kingdom, Germany and
Ireland.
Poland began to form into a recognizable country
around the middle of the 10th century. The Union of Lublin which
gave birth to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Poland was
divided during the 18th century before being briefly recreated by
Napoleon from 1807 to 1815. Shortly after the surrender of
Germany in 1918, Poland regained its independence. The Soviet
Union created a new Communist government in Poland following the
Second World War. The independent trade union "Solidarity"
gradually increased in strength and by 1989 had triumphed in
elections. Lech Wałęsa, a Solidarity candidate, eventually won the
presidency in 1990.
Poland is now a social democracy, with a
President as a Head of State, whose current constitution dates from
1997. The government structure centres on the Council of Ministers,
led by a prime minister. The president appoints the cabinet according
to the proposals of the prime minister, typically from lower house
(the Sejm). The president is elected by popular vote every five years.
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