An Overview of Poland for Travelers

Poland has a unique history in Europe, often pulledprimarily populated by its own people with Polish
between Russian and Western interests. It you arepeople making up 98 percent of the ethnicity. A
planning a trip to Poland, here is some backgroundsmattering of German, Ukrainian, Belorussian and
information your should know.The official name of theLithuanian people also live in the country.Poland is a
country is the Republic of Poland. It covers an area ofpredominantly uniform religious country. Over 90
roughly 120,000 square miles, about the same size aspercent of Poles subscribe to the Roman Catholic
the State of New Mexico in the United States. Thefaith. Followers of Eastern Orthodox, Uniate, Protestant
capital of the country is Warsaw, which is also theand Judaism can also be found.The literacy rate in
biggest city by population with nearly 1.7 millionPoland is over 98 percent, on par with rates
residents calling it home. Other cities of significancethroughout much of Europe. The official language is
include Lodz with a population of just fewer thanPolish, which is also the dominant language actually
800,000, Krakow with 760,000 residents and Gdanskused by the citizens of Poland. Life expectancy for
with 460,000 people. The terrain of Poland is primarilyPolish men is 70 years of age, while women life an
flat although mountains can be found in the regionextra nine years on average, a marked
along the southern border of the country.Citizens ofdifference.Poland is often overshadowed by Hungary
the Republic of Poland are known as Polish. The mostand Czech as a travel destination in the former bloc
recent census found there 36.8 million people living incountries of the Soviet Union. This gives you an
the country, though some are undocumented aliens.opportunity to experience it before the fast food joints
The annual growth rate for the population is stagnant,of the west start taking over the quaint
neither growing nor declining sufficiently to becountry.Richard Monk is with - a site with facts about
considered to be changing from a statistical point ofeverything. Visit us to read more about country facts
view. Unlike many European countries, Poland isand facts about Poland.