Religion: Roman Catholic 95% (about 75% practicing),
Russian Orthodox, Protestant, and other 5%
Language: Polish
Literacy: 98% (male 99%, female 98%) age 15 and over can
read and write (1978)
Labor force: 17,104,000; industry and construction 36.1%;
agriculture 27.3%; trade, transport, and communications 14.8%; government
and other 21.8% (1989)
Independence: 11 November 1918, independent republic proclaimed
Constitution: the Communist-imposed Constitution of 22 July 1952
will probably be replaced by a democratic Constitution in 1992
Legal system: mixture of Continental (Napoleonic) civil law and
Communist legal theory; no judicial review of legislative acts; has not
accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
National holiday: Constitution Day, 3 May (1794)
Executive branch: president, prime minister, Council of Ministers
(cabinet)
Legislative branch: bicameral National Assembly (Zgromadzenie
Narodowe) consists of an upper house or Senate (Senat) and a lower house
or Diet (Sejm)
Judicial branch: Supreme Court
Leaders:
Chief of State--President Lech WALESA (since 22 December
1990);
Head of Government--Prime Minister Jan Krzysztof BIELECKI (since
4 January 1991)
Political parties and leaders:
center-right agrarian parties--Polish Peasant Party (PSL), Roman
BARTOSZCZE, chairman;
Polish Peasant Party-Solidarity, Gabriel JANOWSKI, chairman;
other center-right parties--Center Alliance, Jaroslaw KACZYNSKI,
chairman;
Christian National Union, Wieslaw CHRZANOWSKI, chairman;
Christian Democratic Labor Party, Wladyslaw SILA-NOWICKI, chairman;
Democratic Party, Jerzy JOZWIAK, chairman;
center-left parties--Polish Socialist Party, Jan Jozef LIPSKI,
chairman;
Democratic Union, Tadeusz MAZOWIECKI, chairman;
ROAD, Wladyslaw FRASYNIUK and Zbigniew BUJAK, chairmen;
left-wing parties--Polish Socialist Party-Democratic Revolution,
Piotr IKONOWICZ;
other--Social Democracy of the Republic of Poland (formerly the
Communist party or Polish United Workers' Party/PZPR), Aleksander
KWASNIEWSKI, chairman;
Union of the Social Democracy of the Republic of Poland (breakaway
faction of the PZPR), Tadeusz FISZBACH, chairman
Suffrage: universal at age 18
Elections:
President--first round held 25 November 1990, second round
held 9 December 1990 (next to be held November 1995);
results--second round Lech WALESA 74.7%, Stanislaw TYMINSKI 25.3%;
Senate--last held 4 and 18 June 1989 (next to be held late
1991);
results--percent of vote by party NA;
seats--(100 total) Solidarity 99, independent 1;
Diet--last held 4 and 18 June 1989 (next to be held late 1991);
results--percent of vote by party NA;
seats--(460 total) Communists 173, Solidarity 161, Polish Peasant
Party 76, Democratic Party 27, Christian National Union 23; note--rules
governing the election limited Solidarity's share of the vote to 35%
of the seats; future elections, which will probably be held before
late 1991, are to be freely contested
Communists: 70,000 members in the Communist successor parties
(1990)
Other political or pressure groups: powerful Roman Catholic Church;
Confederation for an Independent Poland (KPN), a nationalist group;
Solidarity (trade union); All Poland Trade Union Alliance (OPZZ),
populist program; Clubs of Catholic Intellectuals (KIKs); Freedom and
Peace (WiP), a pacifist group; Independent Student Union (NZS)
Member of: BIS, CCC, CERN (observer, but scheduled to become
a member l July 1991), CSCE, ECE, FAO, GATT, IAEA, IBEC, IBRD, ICAO,
ICFTU, IDA, IIB, ILO, IMF, IMO, INMARSAT, IOC, ISO, ITU, LORCS, PCA, UN,
UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNDOF, UNIDO, UNIIMOG, UPU, WCL, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO,
WTO
Diplomatic representation: Ambassador Kazimierz DZIEWANOWSKI;
Chancery at 2640 16th Street NW, Washington DC 20009;
telephone (202) 234-3800 through 3802; there are Polish Consulates
General in Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York;
US--Ambassador Thomas W. SIMONS, Jr.; Embassy at Aleje
Ujazdowskie 29/31, Warsaw (mailing address is American Embassy Warsaw,
c/o American Consulate General (WAW) or APO New York 09213-5010);
telephone 48 (22) 283041 through 283049; there is a US Consulate
General in Krakow and a Consulate in Poznan
Flag: two equal horizontal bands of white (top) and red--a crowned
eagle is to be added; similar to the flags of Indonesia and Monaco which
are red (top) and white
ECONOMY
Overview: The economy, except for the agricultural sector, had
followed the Soviet model of state ownership and control of
productive assets. About 75% of agricultural production had come from the
private sector and the rest from state farms. The economy has presented a
picture of moderate but slowing growth against a background of underlying
weaknesses in technology and worker motivation. GNP dropped by 2.0% in
1989 and by a further 8.9% in 1990. The inflation rate, after falling
sharply from the 1982 peak of 100% to 22% in 1986, rose to a galloping
rate of 640% in 1989 and dropped back to 250% in 1990. Shortages of
consumer goods and some food items worsened in 1988-89. Agricultural
products and coal are among the biggest hard currency earners, but
manufactures are increasing in importance. Poland, with its hard currency
debt of $48.5 billion, is severely limited in its ability to import
much-needed hard currency goods. The sweeping political changes of 1989
disrupted normal economic channels and exacerbated shortages. In January
1990, the new Solidarity-led government adopted a cold turkey program for
transforming Poland to a market economy. The government moved to
eliminate subsidies, free prices, make the zloty convertible, and,
in general, halt the hyperinflation. These financial measures were
accompanied by plans to privatize the economy in stages. While inflation
fell to an annual rate of 77.5% by November of 1990, the rise in
unemployment and the drop in living standards have led to growing popular
discontent and to a change of government in January 1991. The new
government is continuing the previous government's economic
program, while trying to speed privatization and to better cushion the
populace from the dislocations associated with reform. Substantial
outside aid will be needed if Poland is to make a successful transition
in the 1990s.
GNP: $158.5 billion, per capita $4,200; real growth rate - 8.9%
(1990 est.)
Electricity: 31,530,000 kW capacity; 136,300 million kWh produced,
3,610 kWh per capita (1990)
Industries: machine building, iron and steel, extractive
industries, chemicals, shipbuilding, food processing, glass, beverages,
textiles
Agriculture: accounts for 15% of GNP 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
Economic aid: donor--bilateral aid to non-Communist less developed
countries, $2.2 billion (1954-89)
COMMUNICATIONS
Railroads: 27,041 km total; 24,287 km 1.435-meter standard gauge,
397 km 1.520-meter broad gauge, 2,357 km narrow gauge; 8,987 km double
track; 11,016 km electrified; government owned (1989)
Highways: 299,887 km total; 130,000 km improved hard surface
(concrete, asphalt, stone block); 24,000 km unimproved hard surface
(crushed stone, gravel); 100,000 km earth; 45,887 km other urban roads
(1985)
Inland waterways: 3,997 km navigable rivers and canals (1989)
Pipelines: 4,500 km for natural gas; 1,986 km for crude oil;
360 km for refined products (1987)
Ports: Gdansk, Gdynia, Szczecin, Swinoujscie; principal
inland ports are Gliwice on Kanal Gliwice, Wroclaw on the Oder, and
Warsaw on the Vistula
Merchant marine: 235 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 2,957,600
GRT/4,163,820 DWT; includes 5 short-sea passenger, 92 cargo, 3
refrigerated cargo, 12 roll-on/roll-off cargo, 9 container, 3 petroleum,
oils, and lubricants (POL) tanker, 4 chemical tanker, 107 bulk; Poland
owns 1 ship (1,000 GRT or over) of 6,333 DWT operating under Liberian
registry
Civil air: 48 major transport aircraft
Airports: 160 total, 160 usable; 85 with permanent-surface runways;
1 with runway over 3,659 m; 35 with runways 2,440-3,659 m; 65 with
runways 1,220-2,439 m
Telecommunications: phone density is 10.5 phones per 100 residents
(October 1990); 3.1 million subscribers; exchanges are 86% automatic
(February 1990); stations--29 AM, 29 FM, 37 (5 Soviet relays) TV;
9.6 million TVs
DEFENSE FORCES
Branches: External Front Ground Forces, Navy, Air and Air Defense
Forces, Internal Defense Forces (WOW), Territorial Defense Forces (JOT),
Border Guards (WOP), Paramilitary Forces, Civil Defense (OC)
Manpower availability: males 15-49, 9,571,708; 7,543,565 fit for
military service; 302,000 reach military age (19) annually
Defense expenditures: 22.3 trillion zlotych, NA% of GDP (1991);
note--conversion of defense expenditures into US dollars using the
official administratively set exchange rate would produce misleading
results
