A Central European country, Poland, lays at the coasts of the Baltic Sea, between 49°00' and 54°50' Northern latitude and between 14°07' and 24°08' Eastern longitude.

The North - South stretch of the country reaches the distance of 649 km, and the East - West stretch is 689 km long. The area of the country amounts to 312 685 square km, while the inland sea surface area amounts to 8.7 thousand square km. The two bays (the Szczecin Bay and the Wisla Bay) amount together to 1.2 thousand square km.

In the ranking of size, Poland is the 63rd country in the World, and 9th in Europe. The country borders are 3582 km long comprising the following border categories: maritime border: 528 km, land borders, respectively, with: the Russian Federation - 210 km, with the Lithuanian Republic - 103 km, with the Belarus Republic - 416 km, with the Ukraine - 529 km, with the Slovak Republic - 539, with the Czech Republic - 790 km and with Germany - 467 km.

Warsaw is the Polish capital city, (its surface is 494 km²) - with 1,618.5 thousand inhabitants.

Official language in the country is Polish.

Monetry unit: 1 złoty (PLN) = 100 groszy.

With the number of inhabitants reaching about 38 654 000 people, Poland becomes 26th most numerous country in the world, making it 0.7 per cent of the entire population of Earth. That situates the country in the population ranking in 8th place in Europe (with about 5.4 per cent of the European population). Population density - 124 persons per square kilometre. Birth rate for 1000 inhabitants - 2,5; average life expectancy - men - 68.8 years; women - 77.5 years. (data from the official Shorter Statistical Yearbook 2000).

Ethnic composition: Polish – 98.7%, Ukrainian 0.6% other 0.7%.

Religion: Roman Catholic- 95%, Russian Orthodox 1.5%, Protestant (mostly Evangelical) 1%.

Poland occupies the eastern part of the Central European Lowland (Niż Środkowoeuropejski), and the country has the lowland character. Average altitude of the terrain above sea level is 173 m, and the lowlands (altitude up to 300 m above sea level) constitute about 91.3% of the overall area, while the highlands (between 300 and 500 m above sea level) are about 5.6%. The mountain area (above 500 m) make only 3.1% of the territory. The highest mountain peak – the Rysy (2499 m above sea level) is located in the Tatra Mountains, and the lowest point in the country has been found in Żuławy Wiślane Lowland, near the village of Raczki Elbląskie (1.8 m above sea level).

Although the lowlands dominate the country, the Polish landscapes are variegated, and are characterised by zone-like arrangement of geographic regions and rich structuring of the surface.

The seacoast line is regular. The coast itself is most often flat, accumulative (sand-bars, coastal lakes, sand-drifts, sandy beaches), and only small part is formed by higher cliffs.

The lake strip area is characterised by the young glacial landscape, and is covered with post-glacial deposits from the era of the last glaciation.

The main Polish river, the Vistula (Wisła), becomes a natural division of the country land into two parts: one is the Pomorskie Lake District (with the highest point - Wieżyca, 329 m above sea level) and Mazurian Lake District (Dylewska Góra, 312 m above sea level). More lakes can be found in the lake district east of the Wisła; it is called the Country of Great Mazurian Lakes (Kraina Wielkich Jezior Mazurskich). The wide strip of Central Polish Lowlands (Niziny Środkowopolskie) are of the of glacial and periglacial character, and other most distinctive geographic areas are called, respectively, South Great Poland Lowland (Nizina Południowowielkopolska), Silesian Lowland (Nizina Śląska) and Mazovian Lowland (Nizina Mazowiecka).

In the south, the country is restricted by a long strip of old mountains and highs which is strongly diversified and variegated in terms of geology and surface form, and the long mountain strip is divided into: Sudety (taking some 3% of the area of the country) with its peak in the Karkonosze Ridge (Śnieżka, 1602 m above seal level), the Sudety Foothills (Podgórze Sudeckie), an undulating plains all at the height of 200-300 m above sea level with protruding hardlands (Ślęża, 718 m above sea level), the Silesian Highlands (Wyżyna Śląska) (with the famous St. Anna’s Hill - Góra Świętej Anny - 400 m above sea level), the Kraków – Częstochowa Highlands (Wyżyna Krakowsko-Częstochowską) (with the Castle Hill - Góra Zamkowa n. Ogrodzieniec, 504 m above seal level), the Nida Syncline (Niecka Nidziańską) (190-300 m above sea level), the St. Cross Hills (Góry Świętokrzyskie) with its highest ridge – the Bold Mountains (Łysogóy) (the Łysica peak, 612 m above sea level).

About 6% of the country area is covered with the younger mountains – the Carpathians (Karpaty) which include some ridges like the Silesian Beskid (Beskid Śląski), the Small Beskid (Beskid Mały), the Maków Beskid (Beskid Makowski), the Island Beskid (Beskid Wyspowy), the Żywiec Beskid (Beskid Żywiecki), the Sącz Beskid (Beskid Sądecki), the Gorce, the Pieniny, the Tatras, the Low Beskid (Beskid Niski) and the Bieszczady.

There are two main rivers in Poland: the Wisła and the Odra. Of all 9300 lakes in the country, the deepest ones bear Polish names: Hańcza, Drawsko, Wielki Staw Polski, Czarny Staw near the Rysy mountain, and last but not least, the Wigry.

Geographic location of Poland situates the country in the so-called Central European province of hardwood and mixed wood forests. Approximately 2200 native species inhabit the wild and ecologically interesting environment, a knowledgeable expert can also find about 300 species of vascular plants which were ‘imported’ from other geographic zones, and more than 600 species of mosses; there are about 250 species belonging to the liverworths class, 1200 species of lichens and approximately 4000 species of polyfructificatous fungi in Poland.

Compared with other European countries, Poland is one of those countries which are rich in mineral deposits. The ‘energetic’ raw materials found in Poland include deposits of black coal, lignite, crude oil, and natural gas. Among the other metallic minerals are copper, zinc, lead and silver ores, and there are rich deposits of mined chemicals - sulphur and salt; other mineral deposits include lime, marl, dolomites, chalk, gypsum, anhydrites, kaolin, ceramic clays, granite, syenite, basalt, porphyry and diabase.

The Polish Constitution passed on 2 April 1997 r. (in force since 17 October 1997) provides that the supreme organs and institutions of the Polish state are:

• legislature: the Sejm and the Senat of the Republic of Poland (the lower and Upper Houses),
• government: The President and the Council of Ministers,
• judiciary: independent courts.

State system in Poland

Poland is a multi-party republic, with a two-chamber parliament (the Sejm comprising 460 MPs, the Senat of 100 senators) which are elected in direct popular elections for the term of 4 years.

The Lower House, or the Sejm is elected in the course of popular, equal, direct, proportional election, in the process of secret ballot. The Senat is elected in the course of the popular, direct election, in secret ballot also. The Sejm consists of 460 deputies. The Senat comprises 100 senators. When the joint proceedings of the Sejm and the Senat are called, they make the National Assembly (Zgromadzenie Narodowe) under the chair of the Speaker of the Lower House. Further, the Sejm is a superior institution to the supreme organ of the state control, the Supreme Chamber of Control (Najwyższa Izba Kontroli).

The State’s internal and external policy is conducted and realised by the government – the Council of Ministers directed in its work by the Chairman of the Council of Minister – the Prime Minister. The prime minister and the ministers are nominated by – and following the formal motion of –the President of the Republic. Within 14 days from the formal nomination, the Council of Ministers is required to submit the government’s programme to the Sejm, and to seek the positive result of the vote of confidence. Should the government fail to obtain the vote of confidence, the Sejm elects another Prime Minister and a government proposed by the new prime minister, which then is nominated by the President. Should this procedure also fail to produce a new council of ministers, further procedural steps are regulated by other articles of the Polish Constitution.

In the Provinces, the Provincial Governor (the Wojewoda) represents the government in the Province. On 1 January 1999, the Law dated 24 July 1998, introduced a major system of structure of the Polish State. The basic elements of that structure are the following units of the three-stage territorial composition: a commune (gmina), Counties (powiaty) and Provinces (województwa). After 1 January 1999 the country is divided into 16 main provinces:

Poland is a member of a number of important international organizations:

• United Nations Organization (UN)
• The Council of the Baltic States (CBS)
• Central European Free Trade Association (CEFTA)
• International Monetary Fund (IMF/MFW)
• United Nations Education Science and Culture Organization (UNESCO)
• United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF)
• The World Health Organization (WHO)
• The World Trade Organization (WTO)
• Central European Initiative (Inicjatywa Środkowo-Europejska) (ISE)
• Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)
• The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)