Historical demographics of Poland
Encyclopedia
Historical demography of Poland shows that in the past, Poland
's demography
was much more diverse than at present. For many centuries, until the end of Second World War, the Polish population was composed of many significant ethnic minorities.
and reliable data collection from census
es should be seen as giving only a rough order of magnitude
, not any precise number.
Changes of Poland's population through centuries.
Sources: GUS, The World Factbook
.
Around 1370 Poland had 2 millions of inhabitants with a population density of 8.6 per square kilometre. Poland was less affected by the Black Death
than western Europe
.
Although the population of the Kingdom of Poland in late Middle Ages consisted mostly of Poles
, influx of other cultures was significant: particularly notable were Jewish and German
settlers, who often formed significant minorities or even majorities in urban centers. Sporadically migrants from other places like Scotland
, Netherlands
settled in Poland as well. At that time other notable minorities included various incompletely assimilated people from other Slavic tribes (some of whom would eventually merge totally into the Polish people, while others merged into neighboring nations).
Around 1490, combined population of Poland and Lithuania, in a personal union
(the Polish–Lithuanian union) since the Union of Krewo
a century before, is estimated at about 8 million. An estimate for 1493 gives the combined population of Poland and Lithuania at 7.5 million, breaking them down by ethnicity at 3.25 million Poles, 3.75 million Ruthenians and 0.5 million Lithuanians. The Ruthenians composed most of the Grand Duchy population; this is the reason why the late GDL
is often called a Slavic country, alongside Poland
, Russia
etc. In time, the adjective "Lithuanian" came to denote a Slav of the Grand Duchy. Eventually the Lithuanian speakers came to be known as Samogitia
ns (see also Samogitian nobility
), after the province in which they were the dominant majority. Another estimate for the combined population at the beginning of the 16th century gives 7.5 million, roughly split evenly, due to much larger territory of the Grand Duchy (with about 10-15 people per square km in Poland and 3-5 people per square km in the Grand Duchy, and even less in the south-east Cossack borderlands).
By 1500, about 15% of Poland's population lived in urban centers (settlements with over 500 people).
(Danzig) (70,000), Kraków
(28,000), Warsaw
(20,000-30,000), Poznań
(20,000), Lwów (Lviv) (20,000), Elbląg
(Elbing) (15,000), Toruń
(Thorn) (12,000), Sandomierz
(4,000-5,000), Kazimierz Dolny
(4,000-5,000) and Gniezno
(4,000-5,000).
The population of the Commonwealth of both nations was never overwhelmingly either Roman Catholic or Polish. This resulted from Poland's possession of Ukraine
and federation with Lithuania; in both these countries ethnic Poles were a distinct minority. The Commonwealth comprised primarily three nations: Poles
, Lithuanians
and Ukrainians
(the latter usually referred to as Ruthenians
). Shortly after the Union of Lublin
(1569), at the turn of the century, the Commonwealth population was around 7 million, with a rough breakdown of 4.5m Poles, 0.75m Lithuanians, 0.7m Jews and 2m Ruthenians. In 1618, after the Truce of Deulino
the Commonwealth population increased together with its territory, reaching 12 millions that could be roughly divided into: Poles - 4.5m, Ukrainians - 3.5m, Belarusians - 1.5m, Lithuanians - 0.75m, Prussians - 0.75m, Jews - 0.5m, Livionians - 0.5m; at that time nobility formed 10% and burghers
, 15%. Population losses of 1648-1667 are estimated at 4m. Coupled with further population and territorial losses, in 1717 Commonwealth population had fallen to 9m, roughly 4.5m Poles, 1.5m Ukrainians, 1.2m Belarusians, 0.8m Lithuanians, 0.5m Jews, 0.5m others The urban population was hit hard, falling to below 10%.
To be Polish, in the non-Polish lands of the Commonwealth, was then much less an index of ethnicity than of religion and rank
; it was a designation largely reserved for the landed noble class (szlachta), which included Poles but also many members of non-Polish origin who converted to Catholicism
in increasing numbers with each following generation. For the non-Polish noble
such conversion meant a final step of Polonization
that followed the adoption of the Polish language
and culture. Poland, as the culturally most advanced part of the Commonwealth, with the royal court, the capital, the largest cities, the second-oldest university in Central Europe (after Prague
), and the more liberal and democratic social institutions has proven an irresistible magnet for the non-Polish nobility in the Commonwealth.
As a result, in the eastern territories a Polish (or Polonized) aristocracy dominated a peasantry whose great majority was neither Polish nor Roman Catholic. Moreover, the decades of peace brought huge colonization efforts to Ukraine
, heightening the tensions among nobles
, Jews, Cossack
s (traditionally Orthodox), Polish and Ruthenian peasants. The latter, deprived of their native protectors among the Ruthenian nobility, turned for protection to cossack
s that facilitated violence that in the end broke the Commonwealth. The tensions were aggravated by conflicts between Eastern Orthodoxy and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
following the Union of Brest
, overall discrimination of Orthodox religions by dominant Catholicism, and several Cossack
uprisings. In the west and north, many cities had sizable German minorities, often belonging to Reformed churches
. The Commonwealth had also one of the largest Jewish diaspora
s in the world.
Until the Reformation
, the szlachta were mostly Catholic
or Eastern Orthodox. However, many families quickly adopted the Reformed religion. After the Counter-Reformation
, when the Roman Catholic Church
regained power in Poland, the szlachta became almost exclusively Roman Catholic, despite the fact that Roman Catholicism was not a majority religion (the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches counted approximately 40% of the population each, while the remaining 20% were Jews and members of various Protestant churches). It should be noted that the Counter-Reformation
in Poland, influenced by the Commonwealth tradition of religious tolerance, was based mostly on Jesuit propaganda
, and was very peaceful when compared to excesses such as the Thirty Years' War
elsewhere in Europe
.
In the late 18th century, first statistical estimates of Commonwealth population appeared. Aleksander Busching estimated the number of Commonwealth population for 8,5 millions; Józef Wybicki
in 1777 for 5,391,364; Stanisław Staszic in 1785 for 6 millions; and Fryderyk Moszyński in 1789 for 7,354,620. Modern estimates tend to be higher; by 1770, on the eve of the partitions
, Commonwealth had a population of about 11m-14m, about 10% of that - Jewish. The nobility comprised about 10%, the burghers, about 7-8%.
in 1772, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth lost about 211 000 km² (30% of its territory, amounting at that time to about 733 000 km²), with a population of over four to five million people (about a third of its population of 14 million before the partitions). After the Second Partition
, Commonwealth lost about 308 000 km², being reduced to 223 000 km². It has lost about 2 million people; only about 3.4 million people remained in Poland, an estimated 1/3 of the pre-First Partition
(1772), estimated as over 10 million. After the Third Partition
, overall, Austria had gained about 18 percent of the former Commonwealth territory (130,000 km²) and about 32 percent of the population (3.85 million people). Prussia had gained about 20 percent of the former Commonwealth territory 149 000 km²) and about 23 percent of the population (2.6 million people). Russia had gained about 62 percent of the former Commonwealth territory (462,000 km²) and about 45 percent of the population (3.5 million people).
An estimate for 1815 gives 11 million Poles, out of which 5m were under Russian control (4 million in Congress Poland
and 1 million in the territories incorporated into the Russian Empire), 3.5m in the Prussian partition territories and 3m in the Austrian partition territories.
Congress Poland
had a population of about 4.25 million around 1830.
In the Russian partition, the Pale of Settlement
resulted in resettlement of many Russian Jews to the western fringes of Russian Empire
, which now included part of Poland
. This further increased the sizable community of Polish Jews.
By 1914, about 31 million people inhabited the territories that would become the Second Polish Republic
, the First World War saw the population of those territories drop to 26 million.
Before World War II the Polish lands were noted for the richness and variety of their ethnic communities. Following the Polish-Soviet War, a large part of its population belonged to national minorities. The census of that year allocates 30.8% of the population in the minority. In 1931 the population of Poland was 31 916 000, including 15 428 000 males and 16 488 000 females. By January 1939 the population of Poland increased to 35,100,000. This total included 240,000 in Zaolzie
which was under Polish control from October 1938 until August 1939. The population density was 90 persons per square km. In 1921, 24% of the population lived in towns and cities, by 1931 the ratio grew to 27%. Altogether, in 1921, there were 611 towns and cities in the country, by 1931 there were 636 municipalities. The six biggest cities of Poland (as for January 1, 1939) were Warsaw
, Łódź, Lwów, Poznań
, Kraków
and Vilnius
(Wilno).
In 1931, Poland had the second largest Jewish population in the world, and one-fifth of all Jews resided within Poland's borders (approx. 3,136,000, roughly 10% of the entire Polish population).
Norman Davies
gives the results of Polish census of 1931
"according to linguistic criteria" as follows
The results of Polish census of 1931
according to language and religion are as follows.
Breakout of Total 1931 Polish Population by Language and Religion
Figures may not add due to rounding
Source:U.S. Bureau of the Census The Population of Poland Ed. W. Parker Mauldin, Washington- 1954
Breakout of Total 1931 Polish Population by Language and Religion
Figures as % of Total Population
Figures may not add due to rounding
Source:U.S. Bureau of the Census The Population of Poland Ed. W. Parker Mauldin, Washington- 1954
In the southeast, Ukrainian settlements were present in the regions east of Chełm and in the Carpathians
east of Nowy Sącz
. The three main native higlander populations were Łemkowie, Bojkowie and Huculi. In all the towns and cities there were large concentrations of Yiddish-speaking Jews. The Polish ethnographic area stretched eastward: in eastern Lithuania
, Belarus
, and western Ukraine
, all of which had a mixed population, Poles predominated not only in the cities but also in numerous rural districts. There were significant Polish minorities in Daugavpils
(in Latvia
), Minsk
(in Belarus), Bucovina (in Romania
), and Kiev
(in Ukraine) (see Polish minority in the Soviet Union
, Polish Autonomous District
).
In the beginning of the war (September, 1939) the territory of Poland was divided between the Nazi Germany
and the USSR. By the late-1941 the Soviets were overrun by Nazi Germany
over entire territory of the former Second Polish Republic
but the 1944-1945 the Red Army
's offensive drove the Nazi forces out.
After both occupiers divided the territory of Poland between themselves, they conducted a series of actions aimed at suppression of Polish culture
and repression of much of the Polish people. In August 2009 the Polish Institute of National Remembrance
(IPN) researchers estimated Poland's dead (including Polish Jews) at between 5.47 and 5.67 million (due to German actions) and 150,000 (due to Soviet), or around 5.62 and 5.82 million total. About 90% of Polish Jews were murdered by the Nazis during the Holocaust; many others emigrated in the succeeding years.
Poland's Population Balance-(1939–1950)
>
Description
Total
Poles
Jews
Germans
Others(Ukrainians
/Belarusians
)
1- Population 1939(by Language Spoken)
35,000,000
24,300,000
3,200,000
800,000
6,700,000
2- Natural Increase
1939-1945
1,300,000
1,000,000
300,000
3-Transfer of German Population
(760,000)
(760,000)
4 A.- Deaths Due to German Occupation
(5,670,000)
(2,770,000)
(2,800,000)
(100,000)
4 B.- Deaths Due to Soviet Occupation
(150,000)
(150,000)
5- Population Remaining in the USSR
(7,800,000)
(1,000,000)
(100,000)
0
(6,700,000)
6- Emigration to the West
(480,000)
(280,000)
(200,000)
7- Population gain Recovered Territories
1,260,000
1,130,000
0
130,000
0
8- Re-Immigration 1946-50
200,000
200,000
0
0
0
9- Natural Increase
1946-1950
2,100,000
2,100,000
0
0
0
10- Population 1950
25,000,000
24,530,000
100,000
170,000
200,000
1- Population 1939 -Polish sources allocate the population by the primary language
spoken, not by religion. Most Jews spoke Yiddish, however included with the Poles are about 200,000 Polish speaking Jews who are classified with the Polish group. Included with the Poles are 1,300,000 Eastern Orthodox & Greek Catholic adherents who are sometimes classified with the Ukrainian and Belarusian groups.
2- Natural Increase Oct. 1939-Dec. 1945 -After the war Polish demographers calculated the estimated natural population growth that occurred during the war.
3-Transfer of German Population Most of the ethnic German population fled during the war. In 1950 only about 40,000 of the pre-war ethnic German group remained in Poland in 1950, most of whom emigrated later in the 1950s.
4- War Dead In August 2009 the Polish Institute of National Remembrance
(IPN) put the figure of Poland's dead at between 5,620,000 and 5,820,000. The IPN's figures include 3 million Polish Jews who died in the Holocaust(200,000 included with Polish speakers); as well as 150,000 victims of Soviet repression. The figures also inculude Poles
killed in 1943-44 during the massacres of Poles in Volhynia
Deaths Due to German Occupation
Poles-The Institute of National Remembrance
(IPN) figure for deaths of Poles due the German occupation is 2,770,000. This figure includes "Direct War Losses" -543,000; "Murdered in Camps and in Pacification" -506,000; "Deaths in prisons and Camps" 1,146,000; "Deaths outside of prisons and Camps" 473,000; "Murdered in Eastern Regions" 100,000; "Deaths in other countries" 2,000. These figures include about 200,000 Polish speaking Jews who are considered Poles in Polish sources.
Jews-Polish resarchers have determined that the Nazis murdered 1,860,000 Polish Jews in the extermination camps in Poland, plus another 1.0 million Polish Jewish deaths in prisons and ghettos. In addition 970,000 Jews from other nations were murdered in the Nazi extermination camps in Poland.
Included in the Polish figures of war dead are 2.0 million Polish citizens in the Polish areas annexed by the Soviet Union
Contemporary Russian sources also include these losses with Soviet war deaths.
Deaths Due to Soviet Occupation
The Polish Institute of National Remembrance
(IPN) researchers estimated 150,000 Polish citizens were killed due to Soviet repression. Since the collapse of the USSR, Polish scholars have been able to do research in the Soviet archives on Polish losses during the Soviet occupation. Andrzej Paczkowski
puts the number of Polish deaths at 90–100,000 of the 1.0 million persons deported and 30,000 executed by the Soviets.
5-Population Remaining in the USSR
The number of Poles and Jews who remained in the USSR after the war was estimated at about 1.4 million by Polish scholar and historian Krystyna Kersten. Included with the Poles remaining in the USSR are about 700,000 Eastern Orthodox & Greek Catholic adherents who are sometimes classified with the Ukrainian and Belarusian groups.
6- Emigration to the West Poles and Jews who remained in non communist countries after the war.
7- Population gain Recovered Territories
Germans remaining in Poland after the war in the Recovered Territories
. This group included 1,130,000 bi-lingual Polish-German persons who declared their allegiance to Poland. Also remaining in 1950 were 94,000 German nationals, 36,000 Germans from pre-war Danzig and 1,500 ethnic Germans of other nations. Most of this group emigrated to Germany after 1956, the ethnic German population remaining in the 1990s was about 300,000.
8- Reimmigration 1946-50 Poles resident in western Europe before the war, primarily in Germany and France, who returned to Poland after the war.
9- Natural Increase 1946-1950 This is the official Polish government data for births and natural deaths
from Jan 1946 until the census of Dec 1950.
10- Population December 1950 Per Census The total population per the December 1950 census was 25 million. A breakdown by ethnic group was not given. However, we can estimate the Jewish population based on the postwar census taken by the Jewish community.Data for the Germans and others who remained in Poland after the war can be estimated using the 1946 Polish census
, a third of Poland's population was composed of ethnic minorities. After the war, however, Poland's minorities were mostly gone, due to the 1945 revision of borders, and the Holocaust. Under the National Repatriation Office (Państwowy Urząd Repatriacyjny), millions of Poles were forced to leave their homes in the eastern Kresy
region and settle in the western former German territories
. At the same time approximately 5 million remaining Germans (about 8 million had already fled or had been expelled and about 1 million had been killed in 1944-46) were similarly expelled
from those territories into the Allied occupation zones. Ukrainian
and Belarus
ian minorities found themselves now mostly within the borders of the Soviet Union; those who opposed this new policy (like the Ukrainian Insurgent Army in the Bieszczady Mountains
region) were suppressed by the end of 1947 in the Operation Vistula.
The population of Jews in Poland, which formed the largest Jewish community in pre-war Europe at about 3.3 million people, was all but destroyed by 1945. Approximately 3 million Jews died of starvation in ghetto
s and labor camp
s, were slaughtered at the German Nazi extermination camps or by the Einsatzgruppen
death squads. Between 40,000 and 100,000 Polish Jews survived the Holocaust in Poland, and another 50,000 to 170,000 were repatriated from the Soviet Union, and 20,000 to 40,000 from Germany and other countries. At its postwar peak, there were 180,000 to 240,000 Jews in Poland, settled mostly in Warsaw, Łódź, Kraków
and Wrocław.
According to the national census, which took place on February 14, 1946, population of Poland was 23 930 000, out of which 32% lived in cities and towns, and 68% lived in the countryside. The 1950 census (December 3, 1950) showed the population rise to 25 008 000, and the 1960 census (December 6, 1960) placed the population of Poland at 29 776 000. In 1950, Warsaw was the biggest city of the country, with population of 804 000. Second was Lodz (pop. 620 000), third Krakow (pop. 344 000), fourth Poznan (pop. 321 000), and fifth Wroclaw (pop. 309 000).
Females were in the majority in the country. In 1931, there were 105.6 women for 100 men. In 1946, the difference grew to 118.5/100, but in subsequent years, number of males grew, and in 1960, the ratio was 106.7/100.
Most Germans were expelled from Poland
and the annexed east German territories at the end of the war, while many Ukrainians
, Rusyns and Belarusians
lived in territories incorporated into the USSR
. Small Ukrainian, Belarusian, Slovak
, and Lithuanian
minorities reside along the borders, and a German minority is concentrated near the southwestern city of Opole
and in Masuria. Groups of Ukrainians and Polish Ruthenians also live in western Poland, where they were forcefully resettled by communists.
As a result of the migrations and the Soviet Unions radically altered borders under the rule of Joseph Stalin
, the population of Poland became one of the most ethnically homogeneous in the world. Virtually all people in Poland claim Polish nationality, with Polish
as their native tongue. Ukrainians resp. Rusyns, the largest minority group, are scattered in various northern districts. Lesser numbers of Belarusians and Lithuanians live in areas adjoining Belarus and Lithuania. The Jewish community, almost entirely Polonized, has been greatly reduced. In Silesia
a significant segment of the population, of mixed Polish and German ancestry, tends to declare itself as Polish or German according to political circumstances.
Minorities of Germans remain in Pomerania, Silesia, East Prussia, and Lubus.
Small populations of Polish Tatars
still exist. Some Polish towns, mainly in northeastern Poland have mosque
s. Tatars arrived as mercenary
soldiers beginning in the late 14th century. The Tatar population reached approximately 100,000 in 1630 but is less than 500 in 2000. See also Islam in Poland
.
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
's demography
Demography
Demography is the statistical study of human population. It can be a very general science that can be applied to any kind of dynamic human population, that is, one that changes over time or space...
was much more diverse than at present. For many centuries, until the end of Second World War, the Polish population was composed of many significant ethnic minorities.
General statistics
Demographics estimates for period before statisticsStatistics
Statistics is the study of the collection, organization, analysis, and interpretation of data. It deals with all aspects of this, including the planning of data collection in terms of the design of surveys and experiments....
and reliable data collection from census
Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
es should be seen as giving only a rough order of magnitude
Order of magnitude
An order of magnitude is the class of scale or magnitude of any amount, where each class contains values of a fixed ratio to the class preceding it. In its most common usage, the amount being scaled is 10 and the scale is the exponent being applied to this amount...
, not any precise number.
Changes of Poland's population through centuries.
| Date | Population | Population density km² |
State |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 38,130,302 | Poland Poland Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north... |
|
| 2006 | 38 125 000 | 122,0 | Poland |
| 2000 | 38 253 955 | 122,0 | Poland |
| 1995 | 38 610 000 | Poland | |
| 1990 | 38 183 000 | Poland | |
| 7 XII 1988 | 37 879 000 | 121,1 | People's Republic of Poland People's Republic of Poland The People's Republic of Poland was the official name of Poland from 1952 to 1990. Although the Soviet Union took control of the country immediately after the liberation from Nazi Germany in 1944, the name of the state was not changed until eight years later... |
| 7 XII 1978 | 35 061 000 | 112,2 | People's Republic of Poland |
| 8 XII 1970 | 32 642 000 | 104,4 | People's Republic of Poland |
| 6 XII 1960 | 29 776 000 | 95,3 | People's Republic of Poland |
| 3 XII 1950 | 25 008 000 | 80,0 | People's Republic of Poland |
| 14 II 1946 | 23 930 000 | 76,6 | People's Republic of Poland |
| 31 XII 1938 | 34 849 000 | 89,7 | Second Polish Republic Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, Second Commonwealth of Poland or interwar Poland refers to Poland between the two world wars; a period in Polish history in which Poland was restored as an independent state. Officially known as the Republic of Poland or the Commonwealth of Poland , the Polish state was... |
| 9 XII 1931 | 32 107 000 | 82,6 | Second Polish Republic |
| 30 IX 1921 | 27 177 000 | 69,9 | Second Polish Republic |
| 1911 | 22 110 000 | Partitioned Poland | |
| 1846 | 11 107 000 | Partitioned Poland | |
| c. 1772 | 14 000 000 | 19 | Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth |
| c. 1650 | 11 000 000 | Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth | |
| c. 1500 | 7 500 000 | 15 in Poland 5 in Grand Duchy |
Polish–Lithuanian union |
| 1370 | 2 500 000 | 9,3 | Kingdom of Poland |
| 1320 | 1 750 000 | 8 | Kingdom of Poland |
| c. 1000 | 1 000 000 | 4 | Kingdom of Poland |
Sources: GUS, The World Factbook
Urban demographics statistics
Changes in the population of major Polish cities through centuries.- Note that this table contains information on some cities that are not within the borders of modern Poland, and others that have not been within those borders for many centuries. See Territorial changes of PolandTerritorial changes of PolandPoland is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
for more details on that issue.
| Year/City | Warsaw Warsaw Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most... | Kraków Kraków Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life... | Poznań Poznan Poznań is a city on the Warta river in west-central Poland, with a population of 556,022 in June 2009. It is among the oldest cities in Poland, and was one of the most important centres in the early Polish state, whose first rulers were buried at Poznań's cathedral. It is sometimes claimed to be... | Wrocław (Breslau) | Gdańsk (Danzig) Gdansk Gdańsk is a Polish city on the Baltic coast, at the centre of the country's fourth-largest metropolitan area.The city lies on the southern edge of Gdańsk Bay , in a conurbation with the city of Gdynia, spa town of Sopot, and suburban communities, which together form a metropolitan area called the... | Toruń (Thorn) Torun Toruń is an ancient city in northern Poland, on the Vistula River. Its population is more than 205,934 as of June 2009. Toruń is one of the oldest cities in Poland. The medieval old town of Toruń is the birthplace of the astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus.... | Szczecin (Stettin) Szczecin Szczecin , is the capital city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in Poland. It is the country's seventh-largest city and the largest seaport in Poland on the Baltic Sea. As of June 2009 the population was 406,427.... | Wilno (Vilnius) Vilnius Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city, with a population of 560,190 as of 2010. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of Vilnius County... | Troki (Trakai) Trakai Trakai is a historic city and lake resort in Lithuania. It lies 28 km west of Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. Because of its proximity to Vilnius, Trakai is a popular tourist destination. Trakai is the administrative centre of Trakai district municipality. The town covers 11.52 km2 of... | Lwów (Lviv) Lviv Lviv is a city in western Ukraine. The city is regarded as one of the main cultural centres of today's Ukraine and historically has also been a major Polish and Jewish cultural center, as Poles and Jews were the two main ethnicities of the city until the outbreak of World War II and the following... | Kijów (Kiev) Kiev Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press.... |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1150 | 7000 | ||||||||||
| 1200 | 30000 | ||||||||||
| 1242 | 12000 | ||||||||||
| 1300 | 14000 | 14000 | 6000 | 20000 | |||||||
| 1325 | 15000 | ||||||||||
| 1329 | 16000 | ||||||||||
| 1348 | 22000 | 10000 | |||||||||
| 1367 | 7700 | ||||||||||
| 1378 | 8500 | 12000 | |||||||||
| 1387 | 13000 | 30000 | |||||||||
| 1400 | 18000 | 21000 | 10000 | 20000 | 50000 | ||||||
| 1430 | 20000 | 10000 | |||||||||
| 1470 | 21000 | ||||||||||
| 1500 | 6500 | 18000-22000 | 6500-20000 | 21000 | 30000 | 8000-10000 | 25000 | 8000 | |||
| 1525 | 22000 | ||||||||||
| 1549 | 22000 | ||||||||||
| 1550 | 9000 | 35000 | 30000 | ||||||||
| 1564 | 10000 | ||||||||||
| 1579 | 34200 | ||||||||||
| 1595 | 20000 | ||||||||||
| 1600 | 25000-35000 | 26000-28000 | 20000-25000 | 33000 | 49000-70000 | 12000-15000 | 12000 | 40000 | 10000-20000 | ||
| 1609 | 37000 | ||||||||||
| 1622 | 70000 | 18000 | 10500 | ||||||||
| 1624 | 48000 | ||||||||||
| 1650 | 45000 | ||||||||||
| 1653 | 21000 | ||||||||||
| 1655 | 14000 | ||||||||||
| 1669 | 14500 | 12000 | |||||||||
| 1700 | 21000 | 30000 | 40000 | 50000 | 40000 | 20000 | |||||
| 1709 | 12000 | 11000 | |||||||||
| 1711 | 41000 | ||||||||||
| 1727 | 41000 | 11000 | |||||||||
| 1742 | 41000 | 20000 | |||||||||
| 1747 | 50000 | ||||||||||
| 1750 | 28000 | 51000 | 48000 | 13000 | 21000 | 25000 | 22000 | ||||
| 1756 | 55000 | ||||||||||
| 1760 | 30000 | ||||||||||
| 1766 | 29000 | ||||||||||
| 1772 | 15000 | 21000 | 30000 | ||||||||
| 1775 | 10000 | 39000 | |||||||||
| 1792 | 120000 | 15000 | |||||||||
| 1796 | 16000 | 6200 | 19000 | ||||||||
| 1797 | 12000 | ||||||||||
| 1798 | 24500 | ||||||||||
| 1800 | 75000 | 25000 | 19000 | 65000 | 41000 | 18500 | 6900 | 25500 | 42000 | 19000 | |
| 1802 | 27000 | ||||||||||
| 1803 | 16000-18000 | 7000 | 44500 | ||||||||
| 1811 | 23000 | ||||||||||
| 1824 | 22000 | 8500 | |||||||||
| 1829 | 140000 | ||||||||||
| 1831 | 31000 | 8600 | |||||||||
| 1845 | 11000 | 50000 | |||||||||
| 1848 | 42000 | ||||||||||
| 1849 | 48000 | 111000 | 64000 | 10500 | 47000 | 45000 | 75000 | ||||
| 1850 | 163000 | 42000 | 43000 | 115000 | 64000 | 48000 | 56000 | 71000 | |||
| 1851 | 164000 | 121000 | 80000 | ||||||||
| 1852 | 44000 | 67000 | 52000 | 56000 | |||||||
| 1860 | 158000 | 50000 | 43000-51000 | 60000 | 68000 | ||||||
| 1870 | 66000 | 54400 | |||||||||
| 1890 | 383000 | 69900 | 65000 | 27000 | 90000 | 110000 | |||||
| 1895 | 73200 | ||||||||||
| 1900 | 593800 | 85000 | 110000 | 139000 | 150000 | ||||||
| 1905 | 136800 | ||||||||||
| 1910 | 781000 | 143000 | 156700 | 46200 | 181000 | 196000 | |||||
| 1917 | 156400 | ||||||||||
| 1921 | 936700 | 184000 | 169400 | 37400 | 129000 | 219000 | |||||
| 1931 | 1179500 | 219000 | 246700 | 195000 | 312000 | ||||||
| 1939 | 1289000 | 259000 | 275000 | 80000 | 209000 | 318000 | |||||
| 1946 | 268000 | 68000 | |||||||||
| 1950 | 32700 | 80600 | |||||||||
| 1960 | 408100 | 104900 | |||||||||
| 1970 | 471900 | 129900 | |||||||||
| 1975 | 516000 | 149200 | |||||||||
| 1980 | 552900 | 174400 | |||||||||
| 1990 | 590000 | 202200 | |||||||||
| 1995 | 578900 | 204700 | |||||||||
| 2000 | 571600 | 204300 | |||||||||
| 2004 | 1692854 | 757430 | 570778 | 636268 | 459072 | 208278 | 411900 |
Prehistorical (pre-966)
Polish people were formed from the slow mergers and assimilations of various tribes living on what became Poland's territories in the early Middle AgesPrehistory of Poland (until 966)
The prehistory and protohistory of Poland is the period from the first appearance of Homo species on the territory of modern-day Poland, to the establishment of the Polish state in the 10th century AD—a span of roughly 800,000 years....
.
Kingdom of Poland (966–1569)
Around the year 1000, the population of Polish lands is estimated at about 1,000,000 to 1,250,000.Around 1370 Poland had 2 millions of inhabitants with a population density of 8.6 per square kilometre. Poland was less affected by the Black Death
Black Death
The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. Of several competing theories, the dominant explanation for the Black Death is the plague theory, which attributes the outbreak to the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Thought to have...
than western Europe
Western Europe
Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
.
Although the population of the Kingdom of Poland in late Middle Ages consisted mostly of Poles
Poles
thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...
, influx of other cultures was significant: particularly notable were Jewish and German
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
settlers, who often formed significant minorities or even majorities in urban centers. Sporadically migrants from other places like Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
settled in Poland as well. At that time other notable minorities included various incompletely assimilated people from other Slavic tribes (some of whom would eventually merge totally into the Polish people, while others merged into neighboring nations).
Around 1490, combined population of Poland and Lithuania, in a personal union
Personal union
A personal union is the combination by which two or more different states have the same monarch while their boundaries, their laws and their interests remain distinct. It should not be confused with a federation which is internationally considered a single state...
(the Polish–Lithuanian union) since the Union of Krewo
Union of Krewo
In a strict sense, the Union of Krewo or Act of Krėva was a set of prenuptial promises made in the Kreva Castle on 14 August 1385 by Jogaila, Grand Duke of Lithuania, in exchange for marriage to the underage reigning Queen Jadwiga of Poland...
a century before, is estimated at about 8 million. An estimate for 1493 gives the combined population of Poland and Lithuania at 7.5 million, breaking them down by ethnicity at 3.25 million Poles, 3.75 million Ruthenians and 0.5 million Lithuanians. The Ruthenians composed most of the Grand Duchy population; this is the reason why the late GDL
Grand Duchy of Lithuania
The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state from the 12th /13th century until 1569 and then as a constituent part of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth until 1791 when Constitution of May 3, 1791 abolished it in favor of unitary state. It was founded by the Lithuanians, one of the polytheistic...
is often called a Slavic country, alongside Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
etc. In time, the adjective "Lithuanian" came to denote a Slav of the Grand Duchy. Eventually the Lithuanian speakers came to be known as Samogitia
Samogitia
Samogitia is one of the five ethnographic regions of Lithuania. It is located in northwestern Lithuania. Its largest city is Šiauliai/Šiaulē. The region has a long and distinct cultural history, reflected in the existence of the Samogitian dialect...
ns (see also Samogitian nobility
Samogitian nobility
The term Samogitian nobility refers to the noble class living in the region of Samogitia, in Lithuania and an integral part of Lithuanian nobility...
), after the province in which they were the dominant majority. Another estimate for the combined population at the beginning of the 16th century gives 7.5 million, roughly split evenly, due to much larger territory of the Grand Duchy (with about 10-15 people per square km in Poland and 3-5 people per square km in the Grand Duchy, and even less in the south-east Cossack borderlands).
By 1500, about 15% of Poland's population lived in urban centers (settlements with over 500 people).
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (1569–1795)
By 1600, about 25% of Poland's population lived in urban centers (settlements with over 500 people). Major towns in Poland included: GdańskGdansk
Gdańsk is a Polish city on the Baltic coast, at the centre of the country's fourth-largest metropolitan area.The city lies on the southern edge of Gdańsk Bay , in a conurbation with the city of Gdynia, spa town of Sopot, and suburban communities, which together form a metropolitan area called the...
(Danzig) (70,000), Kraków
Kraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
(28,000), Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
(20,000-30,000), Poznań
Poznan
Poznań is a city on the Warta river in west-central Poland, with a population of 556,022 in June 2009. It is among the oldest cities in Poland, and was one of the most important centres in the early Polish state, whose first rulers were buried at Poznań's cathedral. It is sometimes claimed to be...
(20,000), Lwów (Lviv) (20,000), Elbląg
Elblag
Elbląg is a city in northern Poland with 127,892 inhabitants . It is the capital of Elbląg County and has been assigned to the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship since 1999. Before then it was the capital of Elbląg Voivodeship and a county seat in Gdańsk Voivodeship...
(Elbing) (15,000), Toruń
Torun
Toruń is an ancient city in northern Poland, on the Vistula River. Its population is more than 205,934 as of June 2009. Toruń is one of the oldest cities in Poland. The medieval old town of Toruń is the birthplace of the astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus....
(Thorn) (12,000), Sandomierz
Sandomierz
Sandomierz is a city in south-eastern Poland with 25,714 inhabitants . Situated in the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship , previously in Tarnobrzeg Voivodeship . It is the capital of Sandomierz County . Sandomierz is known for its Old Town, a major tourist attraction...
(4,000-5,000), Kazimierz Dolny
Kazimierz Dolny
Kazimierz Dolny is a small town in Central Poland, on the right bank of the Vistula river in Puławy County, Lublin Province.It is a considerable tourist attraction as one of the most beautifully situated little towns in Poland. It enjoyed its greatest prosperity in the 16th and the first half of...
(4,000-5,000) and Gniezno
Gniezno
Gniezno is a city in central-western Poland, some 50 km east of Poznań, inhabited by about 70,000 people. One of the Piasts' chief cities, it was mentioned by 10th century A.D. sources as the capital of Piast Poland however the first capital of Piast realm was most likely Giecz built around...
(4,000-5,000).
The population of the Commonwealth of both nations was never overwhelmingly either Roman Catholic or Polish. This resulted from Poland's possession of Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
and federation with Lithuania; in both these countries ethnic Poles were a distinct minority. The Commonwealth comprised primarily three nations: Poles
Poles
thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...
, Lithuanians
Lithuanians
Lithuanians are the Baltic ethnic group native to Lithuania, where they number around 2,765,600 people. Another million or more make up the Lithuanian diaspora, largely found in countries such as the United States, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Russia, United Kingdom and Ireland. Their native language...
and Ukrainians
Ukrainians
Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...
(the latter usually referred to as Ruthenians
Ruthenians
The name Ruthenian |Rus']]) is a culturally loaded term and has different meanings according to the context in which it is used. Initially, it was the ethnonym used for the East Slavic peoples who lived in Rus'. Later it was used predominantly for Ukrainians...
). Shortly after the Union of Lublin
Union of Lublin
The Union of Lublin replaced the personal union of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania with a real union and an elective monarchy, since Sigismund II Augustus, the last of the Jagiellons, remained childless after three marriages. In addition, the autonomy of Royal Prussia was...
(1569), at the turn of the century, the Commonwealth population was around 7 million, with a rough breakdown of 4.5m Poles, 0.75m Lithuanians, 0.7m Jews and 2m Ruthenians. In 1618, after the Truce of Deulino
Truce of Deulino
Truce of Deulino was signed on 11 December 1618 and took effect on 4 January 1619. It concluded the Polish–Muscovite War between the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Tsardom of Russia....
the Commonwealth population increased together with its territory, reaching 12 millions that could be roughly divided into: Poles - 4.5m, Ukrainians - 3.5m, Belarusians - 1.5m, Lithuanians - 0.75m, Prussians - 0.75m, Jews - 0.5m, Livionians - 0.5m; at that time nobility formed 10% and burghers
Bourgeoisie
In sociology and political science, bourgeoisie describes a range of groups across history. In the Western world, between the late 18th century and the present day, the bourgeoisie is a social class "characterized by their ownership of capital and their related culture." A member of the...
, 15%. Population losses of 1648-1667 are estimated at 4m. Coupled with further population and territorial losses, in 1717 Commonwealth population had fallen to 9m, roughly 4.5m Poles, 1.5m Ukrainians, 1.2m Belarusians, 0.8m Lithuanians, 0.5m Jews, 0.5m others The urban population was hit hard, falling to below 10%.
To be Polish, in the non-Polish lands of the Commonwealth, was then much less an index of ethnicity than of religion and rank
Hierarchy
A hierarchy is an arrangement of items in which the items are represented as being "above," "below," or "at the same level as" one another...
; it was a designation largely reserved for the landed noble class (szlachta), which included Poles but also many members of non-Polish origin who converted to Catholicism
Religious conversion
Religious conversion is the adoption of a new religion that differs from the convert's previous religion. Changing from one denomination to another within the same religion is usually described as reaffiliation rather than conversion.People convert to a different religion for various reasons,...
in increasing numbers with each following generation. For the non-Polish noble
Nobility
Nobility is a social class which possesses more acknowledged privileges or eminence than members of most other classes in a society, membership therein typically being hereditary. The privileges associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles, or may be...
such conversion meant a final step of Polonization
Polonization
Polonization was the acquisition or imposition of elements of Polish culture, in particular, Polish language, as experienced in some historic periods by non-Polish populations of territories controlled or substantially influenced by Poland...
that followed the adoption of the Polish language
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
and culture. Poland, as the culturally most advanced part of the Commonwealth, with the royal court, the capital, the largest cities, the second-oldest university in Central Europe (after Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
), and the more liberal and democratic social institutions has proven an irresistible magnet for the non-Polish nobility in the Commonwealth.
As a result, in the eastern territories a Polish (or Polonized) aristocracy dominated a peasantry whose great majority was neither Polish nor Roman Catholic. Moreover, the decades of peace brought huge colonization efforts to Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
, heightening the tensions among nobles
Nobility
Nobility is a social class which possesses more acknowledged privileges or eminence than members of most other classes in a society, membership therein typically being hereditary. The privileges associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles, or may be...
, Jews, Cossack
Cossack
Cossacks are a group of predominantly East Slavic people who originally were members of democratic, semi-military communities in what is today Ukraine and Southern Russia inhabiting sparsely populated areas and islands in the lower Dnieper and Don basins and who played an important role in the...
s (traditionally Orthodox), Polish and Ruthenian peasants. The latter, deprived of their native protectors among the Ruthenian nobility, turned for protection to cossack
Cossack
Cossacks are a group of predominantly East Slavic people who originally were members of democratic, semi-military communities in what is today Ukraine and Southern Russia inhabiting sparsely populated areas and islands in the lower Dnieper and Don basins and who played an important role in the...
s that facilitated violence that in the end broke the Commonwealth. The tensions were aggravated by conflicts between Eastern Orthodoxy and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church , Ukrainska Hreko-Katolytska Tserkva), is the largest Eastern Rite Catholic sui juris particular church in full communion with the Holy See, and is directly subject to the Pope...
following the Union of Brest
Union of Brest
Union of Brest or Union of Brześć refers to the 1595-1596 decision of the Church of Rus', the "Metropolia of Kiev-Halych and all Rus'", to break relations with the Patriarch of Constantinople and place themselves under the Pope of Rome. At the time, this church included most Ukrainians and...
, overall discrimination of Orthodox religions by dominant Catholicism, and several Cossack
Cossack
Cossacks are a group of predominantly East Slavic people who originally were members of democratic, semi-military communities in what is today Ukraine and Southern Russia inhabiting sparsely populated areas and islands in the lower Dnieper and Don basins and who played an important role in the...
uprisings. In the west and north, many cities had sizable German minorities, often belonging to Reformed churches
Reformed churches
The Reformed churches are a group of Protestant denominations characterized by Calvinist doctrines. They are descended from the Swiss Reformation inaugurated by Huldrych Zwingli but developed more coherently by Martin Bucer, Heinrich Bullinger and especially John Calvin...
. The Commonwealth had also one of the largest Jewish diaspora
Jewish diaspora
The Jewish diaspora is the English term used to describe the Galut גלות , or 'exile', of the Jews from the region of the Kingdom of Judah and Roman Iudaea and later emigration from wider Eretz Israel....
s in the world.
Until the Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
, the szlachta were mostly Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
or Eastern Orthodox. However, many families quickly adopted the Reformed religion. After the Counter-Reformation
Counter-Reformation
The Counter-Reformation was the period of Catholic revival beginning with the Council of Trent and ending at the close of the Thirty Years' War, 1648 as a response to the Protestant Reformation.The Counter-Reformation was a comprehensive effort, composed of four major elements:#Ecclesiastical or...
, when the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
regained power in Poland, the szlachta became almost exclusively Roman Catholic, despite the fact that Roman Catholicism was not a majority religion (the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches counted approximately 40% of the population each, while the remaining 20% were Jews and members of various Protestant churches). It should be noted that the Counter-Reformation
Counter-Reformation
The Counter-Reformation was the period of Catholic revival beginning with the Council of Trent and ending at the close of the Thirty Years' War, 1648 as a response to the Protestant Reformation.The Counter-Reformation was a comprehensive effort, composed of four major elements:#Ecclesiastical or...
in Poland, influenced by the Commonwealth tradition of religious tolerance, was based mostly on Jesuit propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
, and was very peaceful when compared to excesses such as the Thirty Years' War
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at various points involved most countries in Europe. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history....
elsewhere in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
.
In the late 18th century, first statistical estimates of Commonwealth population appeared. Aleksander Busching estimated the number of Commonwealth population for 8,5 millions; Józef Wybicki
Józef Wybicki
Józef Rufin Wybicki was a Polish general, poet and political figure.-Life:He was a close friend of General Jan Henryk Dąbrowski, and in 1797 he wrote Mazurek Dąbrowskiego , which in 1927 was adopted as the Polish national anthem.During the Kościuszko Uprising, he was counselor of the Military...
in 1777 for 5,391,364; Stanisław Staszic in 1785 for 6 millions; and Fryderyk Moszyński in 1789 for 7,354,620. Modern estimates tend to be higher; by 1770, on the eve of the partitions
Partitions of Poland
The Partitions of Poland or Partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth took place in the second half of the 18th century and ended the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, resulting in the elimination of sovereign Poland for 123 years...
, Commonwealth had a population of about 11m-14m, about 10% of that - Jewish. The nobility comprised about 10%, the burghers, about 7-8%.
Partitions (1795–1918)
By the First PartitionFirst Partition of Poland
The First Partition of Poland or First Partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth took place in 1772 as the first of three partitions that ended the existence of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth by 1795. Growth in the Russian Empire's power, threatening the Kingdom of Prussia and the...
in 1772, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth lost about 211 000 km² (30% of its territory, amounting at that time to about 733 000 km²), with a population of over four to five million people (about a third of its population of 14 million before the partitions). After the Second Partition
Second Partition of Poland
The 1793 Second Partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was the second of three partitions that ended the existence of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth by 1795. The second partition occurred in the aftermath of the War in Defense of the Constitution and the Targowica Confederation of 1792...
, Commonwealth lost about 308 000 km², being reduced to 223 000 km². It has lost about 2 million people; only about 3.4 million people remained in Poland, an estimated 1/3 of the pre-First Partition
First Partition of Poland
The First Partition of Poland or First Partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth took place in 1772 as the first of three partitions that ended the existence of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth by 1795. Growth in the Russian Empire's power, threatening the Kingdom of Prussia and the...
(1772), estimated as over 10 million. After the Third Partition
Third Partition of Poland
The Third Partition of Poland or Third Partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth took place in 1795 as the third and last of three partitions that ended the existence of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.-Background:...
, overall, Austria had gained about 18 percent of the former Commonwealth territory (130,000 km²) and about 32 percent of the population (3.85 million people). Prussia had gained about 20 percent of the former Commonwealth territory 149 000 km²) and about 23 percent of the population (2.6 million people). Russia had gained about 62 percent of the former Commonwealth territory (462,000 km²) and about 45 percent of the population (3.5 million people).
An estimate for 1815 gives 11 million Poles, out of which 5m were under Russian control (4 million in Congress Poland
Congress Poland
The Kingdom of Poland , informally known as Congress Poland , created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna, was a personal union of the Russian parcel of Poland with the Russian Empire...
and 1 million in the territories incorporated into the Russian Empire), 3.5m in the Prussian partition territories and 3m in the Austrian partition territories.
Congress Poland
Congress Poland
The Kingdom of Poland , informally known as Congress Poland , created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna, was a personal union of the Russian parcel of Poland with the Russian Empire...
had a population of about 4.25 million around 1830.
In the Russian partition, the Pale of Settlement
Pale of Settlement
The Pale of Settlement was the term given to a region of Imperial Russia, in which permanent residency by Jews was allowed, and beyond which Jewish permanent residency was generally prohibited...
resulted in resettlement of many Russian Jews to the western fringes of Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
, which now included part of Poland
Congress Poland
The Kingdom of Poland , informally known as Congress Poland , created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna, was a personal union of the Russian parcel of Poland with the Russian Empire...
. This further increased the sizable community of Polish Jews.
By 1914, about 31 million people inhabited the territories that would become the Second Polish Republic
Second Polish Republic
The Second Polish Republic, Second Commonwealth of Poland or interwar Poland refers to Poland between the two world wars; a period in Polish history in which Poland was restored as an independent state. Officially known as the Republic of Poland or the Commonwealth of Poland , the Polish state was...
, the First World War saw the population of those territories drop to 26 million.
Second Polish Republic (1918–1939)
Zaolzie
Zaolzie is the Polish name for an area now in the Czech Republic which was disputed between interwar Poland and Czechoslovakia. The name means "lands beyond the Olza River"; it is also called Śląsk zaolziański, meaning "trans-Olza Silesia". Equivalent terms in other languages include Zaolší in...
which was under Polish control from October 1938 until August 1939. The population density was 90 persons per square km. In 1921, 24% of the population lived in towns and cities, by 1931 the ratio grew to 27%. Altogether, in 1921, there were 611 towns and cities in the country, by 1931 there were 636 municipalities. The six biggest cities of Poland (as for January 1, 1939) were Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
, Łódź, Lwów, Poznań
Poznan
Poznań is a city on the Warta river in west-central Poland, with a population of 556,022 in June 2009. It is among the oldest cities in Poland, and was one of the most important centres in the early Polish state, whose first rulers were buried at Poznań's cathedral. It is sometimes claimed to be...
, Kraków
Kraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
and Vilnius
Vilnius
Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city, with a population of 560,190 as of 2010. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of Vilnius County...
(Wilno).
In 1931, Poland had the second largest Jewish population in the world, and one-fifth of all Jews resided within Poland's borders (approx. 3,136,000, roughly 10% of the entire Polish population).
Norman Davies
Norman Davies
Professor Ivor Norman Richard Davies FBA, FRHistS is a leading English historian of Welsh descent, noted for his publications on the history of Europe, Poland, and the United Kingdom.- Academic career :...
gives the results of Polish census of 1931
Polish census of 1931
The Polish census of 1931 or Second General Census in Poland was the second census taken in Poland, performed on December 9, 1931 by the Main Bureau of Statistics...
"according to linguistic criteria" as follows
-
- Poles, 68.9% of the population
- Ukrainians, 13.9%
- Jews, 8.7%
- Belarusians, 3.1%
- Germans, 2.3%
- Other, 3.1%
The results of Polish census of 1931
Polish census of 1931
The Polish census of 1931 or Second General Census in Poland was the second census taken in Poland, performed on December 9, 1931 by the Main Bureau of Statistics...
according to language and religion are as follows.
Breakout of Total 1931 Polish Population by Language and Religion
| Language | Total | Roman Catholics | Greek Catholics | Eastern Orthodox | Evangelical(Luthern) | Other Christian | Jewish | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Polish | 21,993,000 | 20,333,000 | 487,000 | 497,000 | 219,000 | 55,000 | 372,000 | 30,000 |
| Ukrainian/Belarusian | 6,278,000 | 107,000 | 2,845,000 | 3,239,000 | 9,000 | 73,000 | 1,000 | 4,000 |
| Lithuanian | 83,000 | 83,000 | - | - | - | - | - | |
| Czech | 38,000 | 8,000 | - | 22,000 | 6,000 | 1,000 | - | |
| German | 741,000 | 118,000 | - | 599,000 | 16,000 | 7,000 | 1,000 | |
| Yiddish | 2,732,000 | - | - | - | - | - | 2,731,000 | 1,000 |
| Other | 50,000 | 20,000 | 4,000 | 4,000 | 2,000 | 3,000 | 17,000 | |
| Total | 31,915,000 | 20,670,000 | 3,336,000 | 3,762,000 | 835,000 | 145,000 | 3,114,000 | 53,000 |
Figures may not add due to rounding
Source:U.S. Bureau of the Census The Population of Poland Ed. W. Parker Mauldin, Washington- 1954
Breakout of Total 1931 Polish Population by Language and Religion
Figures as % of Total Population
| Language | Total | Roman Catholics | Greek Catholics | Eastern Orthodox | Evangelical | Other Christian | Jewish | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Polish | 68.9% | 63.7% | 1.5% | 1.6% | 0.7% | 0.2% | 1.2% | 0.1% |
| Ukrainian/Belarusian | 19.7% | 0.3% | 8.9% | 10.1% | - | 0.2% | - | |
| Lithuanian | 0.3% | 0.3% | - | - | - | - | - | |
| Czech | 0.1% | - | - | 0.1% | - | - | - | |
| German | 2.3% | 0.4% | - | 1.9% | 0.1% | - | ||
| Yiddish | 8.6% | - | - | - | - | - | 8.6% | |
| Other | 0.2% | 0.1% | - | - | - | - | - | 0.1% |
| Total | 100% | 64.8% | 10.5% | 11.8% | 2.6% | .5% | 9.8% | .2% |
Figures may not add due to rounding
Source:U.S. Bureau of the Census The Population of Poland Ed. W. Parker Mauldin, Washington- 1954
In the southeast, Ukrainian settlements were present in the regions east of Chełm and in the Carpathians
Carpathian Mountains
The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians are a range of mountains forming an arc roughly long across Central and Eastern Europe, making them the second-longest mountain range in Europe...
east of Nowy Sącz
Nowy Sacz
Nowy Sącz is a town in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship in southern Poland. It is the district capital of Nowy Sącz County, but is not included within the powiat.-Names:...
. The three main native higlander populations were Łemkowie, Bojkowie and Huculi. In all the towns and cities there were large concentrations of Yiddish-speaking Jews. The Polish ethnographic area stretched eastward: in eastern Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
, Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
, and western Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
, all of which had a mixed population, Poles predominated not only in the cities but also in numerous rural districts. There were significant Polish minorities in Daugavpils
Daugavpils
Daugavpils is a city in southeastern Latvia, located on the banks of the Daugava River, from which the city gets its name. Daugavpils literally means "Daugava Castle". With a population of over 100,000, it is the second largest city in the country after the capital Riga, which is located some...
(in Latvia
Latvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...
), Minsk
Minsk
- Ecological situation :The ecological situation is monitored by Republican Center of Radioactive and Environmental Control .During 2003–2008 the overall weight of contaminants increased from 186,000 to 247,400 tons. The change of gas as industrial fuel to mazut for financial reasons has worsened...
(in Belarus), Bucovina (in Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
), and Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
(in Ukraine) (see Polish minority in the Soviet Union
Polish minority in the Soviet Union
The Polish minority in the Soviet Union refers to people of Polish descent who resided in the Soviet Union before its dissolution, and might remain in post-Soviet, sovereign countries as their significant minorities.-1917–1920:...
, Polish Autonomous District
Polish Autonomous District
Polish Autonomous Districts were national raions in the interbellum period possessing some form of a national autonomy in the Ukrainian and Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republics of the USSR...
).
Second World War (1939–1945)
- See supplements: Occupation of PolandOccupation of PolandOccupation of Poland may refer to:* Partitions of Poland * The German Government General of Warsaw and the Austrian Military Government of Lublin during World War I* Occupation of Poland during World War II...
, World War II crimes in Poland, Holocaust in PolandHolocaust in PolandThe Holocaust, also known as haShoah , was a genocide officially sanctioned and executed by the Third Reich during World War II. It took the lives of three million Polish Jews, destroying an entire civilization. Only a small percentage survived or managed to escape beyond the reach of the Nazis...
In the beginning of the war (September, 1939) the territory of Poland was divided between the Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
and the USSR. By the late-1941 the Soviets were overrun by Nazi Germany
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
over entire territory of the former Second Polish Republic
Second Polish Republic
The Second Polish Republic, Second Commonwealth of Poland or interwar Poland refers to Poland between the two world wars; a period in Polish history in which Poland was restored as an independent state. Officially known as the Republic of Poland or the Commonwealth of Poland , the Polish state was...
but the 1944-1945 the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
's offensive drove the Nazi forces out.
After both occupiers divided the territory of Poland between themselves, they conducted a series of actions aimed at suppression of Polish culture
Polish culture during World War II
Polish culture during World War II was suppressed by the occupying powers of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, both of whom were hostile to Poland's people and cultural heritage. Policies aimed at cultural genocide resulted in the deaths of thousands of scholars and artists, and the theft and...
and repression of much of the Polish people. In August 2009 the Polish Institute of National Remembrance
Institute of National Remembrance
Institute of National Remembrance — Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation is a Polish government-affiliated research institute with lustration prerogatives and prosecution powers founded by specific legislation. It specialises in the legal and historical sciences and...
(IPN) researchers estimated Poland's dead (including Polish Jews) at between 5.47 and 5.67 million (due to German actions) and 150,000 (due to Soviet), or around 5.62 and 5.82 million total. About 90% of Polish Jews were murdered by the Nazis during the Holocaust; many others emigrated in the succeeding years.
>
Poles
thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...
Ukrainians
Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...
/Belarusians
Belarusians
Belarusians ; are an East Slavic ethnic group who populate the majority of the Republic of Belarus. Introduced to the world as a new state in the early 1990s, the Republic of Belarus brought with it the notion of a re-emerging Belarusian ethnicity, drawn upon the lines of the Old Belarusian...
)
Rate of natural increase
In demographics, the rate of natural increase is the crude birth rate minus the crude death rate of a population. If we neglect the migration, then a positive RNI number means that the population increases and a negative number means that the population decreases.When looking at countries, it...
1939-1945
Polish minority in the Soviet Union
The Polish minority in the Soviet Union refers to people of Polish descent who resided in the Soviet Union before its dissolution, and might remain in post-Soviet, sovereign countries as their significant minorities.-1917–1920:...
Recovered Territories
Recovered or Regained Territories was an official term used by the People's Republic of Poland to describe those parts of pre-war Germany that became part of Poland after World War II...
Rate of natural increase
In demographics, the rate of natural increase is the crude birth rate minus the crude death rate of a population. If we neglect the migration, then a positive RNI number means that the population increases and a negative number means that the population decreases.When looking at countries, it...
1946-1950
1- Population 1939 -Polish sources allocate the population by the primary language
First language
A first language is the language a person has learned from birth or within the critical period, or that a person speaks the best and so is often the basis for sociolinguistic identity...
spoken, not by religion. Most Jews spoke Yiddish, however included with the Poles are about 200,000 Polish speaking Jews who are classified with the Polish group. Included with the Poles are 1,300,000 Eastern Orthodox & Greek Catholic adherents who are sometimes classified with the Ukrainian and Belarusian groups.
2- Natural Increase Oct. 1939-Dec. 1945 -After the war Polish demographers calculated the estimated natural population growth that occurred during the war.
3-Transfer of German Population Most of the ethnic German population fled during the war. In 1950 only about 40,000 of the pre-war ethnic German group remained in Poland in 1950, most of whom emigrated later in the 1950s.
4- War Dead In August 2009 the Polish Institute of National Remembrance
Institute of National Remembrance
Institute of National Remembrance — Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation is a Polish government-affiliated research institute with lustration prerogatives and prosecution powers founded by specific legislation. It specialises in the legal and historical sciences and...
(IPN) put the figure of Poland's dead at between 5,620,000 and 5,820,000. The IPN's figures include 3 million Polish Jews who died in the Holocaust(200,000 included with Polish speakers); as well as 150,000 victims of Soviet repression. The figures also inculude Poles
Poles
thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...
killed in 1943-44 during the massacres of Poles in Volhynia
Massacres of Poles in Volhynia
The Massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia were part of an ethnic cleansing operation carried out by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army West in the Nazi occupied regions of the Eastern Galicia , and UPA North in Volhynia , beginning in March 1943 and lasting until the end of...
Deaths Due to German Occupation
Poles-The Institute of National Remembrance
Institute of National Remembrance
Institute of National Remembrance — Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation is a Polish government-affiliated research institute with lustration prerogatives and prosecution powers founded by specific legislation. It specialises in the legal and historical sciences and...
(IPN) figure for deaths of Poles due the German occupation is 2,770,000. This figure includes "Direct War Losses" -543,000; "Murdered in Camps and in Pacification" -506,000; "Deaths in prisons and Camps" 1,146,000; "Deaths outside of prisons and Camps" 473,000; "Murdered in Eastern Regions" 100,000; "Deaths in other countries" 2,000. These figures include about 200,000 Polish speaking Jews who are considered Poles in Polish sources.
Jews-Polish resarchers have determined that the Nazis murdered 1,860,000 Polish Jews in the extermination camps in Poland, plus another 1.0 million Polish Jewish deaths in prisons and ghettos. In addition 970,000 Jews from other nations were murdered in the Nazi extermination camps in Poland.
Included in the Polish figures of war dead are 2.0 million Polish citizens in the Polish areas annexed by the Soviet Union
Polish areas annexed by the Soviet Union
Immediately after the German invasion of Poland in 1939, which marked the beginning of World War II, the Soviet Union invaded the eastern regions of the Second Polish Republic, which Poles referred to as the "Kresy," and annexed territories totaling 201,015 km² with a population of 13,299,000...
Contemporary Russian sources also include these losses with Soviet war deaths.
Deaths Due to Soviet Occupation
The Polish Institute of National Remembrance
Institute of National Remembrance
Institute of National Remembrance — Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation is a Polish government-affiliated research institute with lustration prerogatives and prosecution powers founded by specific legislation. It specialises in the legal and historical sciences and...
(IPN) researchers estimated 150,000 Polish citizens were killed due to Soviet repression. Since the collapse of the USSR, Polish scholars have been able to do research in the Soviet archives on Polish losses during the Soviet occupation. Andrzej Paczkowski
Andrzej Paczkowski
Prof. Andrzej Paczkowski is a Polish historian. Professor of Collegium Civitas, director of Modern History Studies in the Political Institute of Polish Academy of Sciences, member of Collegium of Institute of National Remembrance.In 1960 he finished studies at the history department of the...
puts the number of Polish deaths at 90–100,000 of the 1.0 million persons deported and 30,000 executed by the Soviets.
5-Population Remaining in the USSR
Polish minority in the Soviet Union
The Polish minority in the Soviet Union refers to people of Polish descent who resided in the Soviet Union before its dissolution, and might remain in post-Soviet, sovereign countries as their significant minorities.-1917–1920:...
The number of Poles and Jews who remained in the USSR after the war was estimated at about 1.4 million by Polish scholar and historian Krystyna Kersten. Included with the Poles remaining in the USSR are about 700,000 Eastern Orthodox & Greek Catholic adherents who are sometimes classified with the Ukrainian and Belarusian groups.
6- Emigration to the West Poles and Jews who remained in non communist countries after the war.
7- Population gain Recovered Territories
Recovered Territories
Recovered or Regained Territories was an official term used by the People's Republic of Poland to describe those parts of pre-war Germany that became part of Poland after World War II...
Germans remaining in Poland after the war in the Recovered Territories
Recovered Territories
Recovered or Regained Territories was an official term used by the People's Republic of Poland to describe those parts of pre-war Germany that became part of Poland after World War II...
. This group included 1,130,000 bi-lingual Polish-German persons who declared their allegiance to Poland. Also remaining in 1950 were 94,000 German nationals, 36,000 Germans from pre-war Danzig and 1,500 ethnic Germans of other nations. Most of this group emigrated to Germany after 1956, the ethnic German population remaining in the 1990s was about 300,000.
8- Reimmigration 1946-50 Poles resident in western Europe before the war, primarily in Germany and France, who returned to Poland after the war.
9- Natural Increase 1946-1950 This is the official Polish government data for births and natural deaths
Death by natural causes
A death by natural causes, as recorded by coroners and on death certificates and associated documents, is one that is primarily attributed to natural agents: usually an illness or an internal malfunction of the body. For example, a person dying from complications from influenza or a heart attack ...
from Jan 1946 until the census of Dec 1950.
10- Population December 1950 Per Census The total population per the December 1950 census was 25 million. A breakdown by ethnic group was not given. However, we can estimate the Jewish population based on the postwar census taken by the Jewish community.Data for the Germans and others who remained in Poland after the war can be estimated using the 1946 Polish census
Early post-war period
Before World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, a third of Poland's population was composed of ethnic minorities. After the war, however, Poland's minorities were mostly gone, due to the 1945 revision of borders, and the Holocaust. Under the National Repatriation Office (Państwowy Urząd Repatriacyjny), millions of Poles were forced to leave their homes in the eastern Kresy
Kresy
The Polish term Kresy refers to a land considered by Poles as historical eastern provinces of their country. Today, it makes western Ukraine, western Belarus, as well as eastern Lithuania, with such major cities, as Lviv, Vilnius, and Hrodna. This territory belonged to the Polish-Lithuanian...
region and settle in the western former German territories
Recovered Territories
Recovered or Regained Territories was an official term used by the People's Republic of Poland to describe those parts of pre-war Germany that became part of Poland after World War II...
. At the same time approximately 5 million remaining Germans (about 8 million had already fled or had been expelled and about 1 million had been killed in 1944-46) were similarly expelled
Expulsion of Germans after World War II
The later stages of World War II, and the period after the end of that war, saw the forced migration of millions of German nationals and ethnic Germans from various European states and territories, mostly into the areas which would become post-war Germany and post-war Austria...
from those territories into the Allied occupation zones. Ukrainian
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
and Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
ian minorities found themselves now mostly within the borders of the Soviet Union; those who opposed this new policy (like the Ukrainian Insurgent Army in the Bieszczady Mountains
Bieszczady Mountains
Bieszczady is the Polish name for a mountain range in the extreme south-east of Poland, extending into Ukraine and Slovakia...
region) were suppressed by the end of 1947 in the Operation Vistula.
The population of Jews in Poland, which formed the largest Jewish community in pre-war Europe at about 3.3 million people, was all but destroyed by 1945. Approximately 3 million Jews died of starvation in ghetto
Ghetto
A ghetto is a section of a city predominantly occupied by a group who live there, especially because of social, economic, or legal issues.The term was originally used in Venice to describe the area where Jews were compelled to live. The term now refers to an overcrowded urban area often associated...
s and labor camp
Labor camp
A labor camp is a simplified detention facility where inmates are forced to engage in penal labor. Labor camps have many common aspects with slavery and with prisons...
s, were slaughtered at the German Nazi extermination camps or by the Einsatzgruppen
Einsatzgruppen
Einsatzgruppen were SS paramilitary death squads that were responsible for mass killings, typically by shooting, of Jews in particular, but also significant numbers of other population groups and political categories...
death squads. Between 40,000 and 100,000 Polish Jews survived the Holocaust in Poland, and another 50,000 to 170,000 were repatriated from the Soviet Union, and 20,000 to 40,000 from Germany and other countries. At its postwar peak, there were 180,000 to 240,000 Jews in Poland, settled mostly in Warsaw, Łódź, Kraków
Kraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
and Wrocław.
According to the national census, which took place on February 14, 1946, population of Poland was 23 930 000, out of which 32% lived in cities and towns, and 68% lived in the countryside. The 1950 census (December 3, 1950) showed the population rise to 25 008 000, and the 1960 census (December 6, 1960) placed the population of Poland at 29 776 000. In 1950, Warsaw was the biggest city of the country, with population of 804 000. Second was Lodz (pop. 620 000), third Krakow (pop. 344 000), fourth Poznan (pop. 321 000), and fifth Wroclaw (pop. 309 000).
Females were in the majority in the country. In 1931, there were 105.6 women for 100 men. In 1946, the difference grew to 118.5/100, but in subsequent years, number of males grew, and in 1960, the ratio was 106.7/100.
Current situation
Most Germans were expelled from Poland
Expulsion of Germans after World War II
The later stages of World War II, and the period after the end of that war, saw the forced migration of millions of German nationals and ethnic Germans from various European states and territories, mostly into the areas which would become post-war Germany and post-war Austria...
and the annexed east German territories at the end of the war, while many Ukrainians
Ukrainians
Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...
, Rusyns and Belarusians
Belarusians
Belarusians ; are an East Slavic ethnic group who populate the majority of the Republic of Belarus. Introduced to the world as a new state in the early 1990s, the Republic of Belarus brought with it the notion of a re-emerging Belarusian ethnicity, drawn upon the lines of the Old Belarusian...
lived in territories incorporated into the USSR
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. Small Ukrainian, Belarusian, Slovak
Slovaks
The Slovaks, Slovak people, or Slovakians are a West Slavic people that primarily inhabit Slovakia and speak the Slovak language, which is closely related to the Czech language.Most Slovaks today live within the borders of the independent Slovakia...
, and Lithuanian
Lithuanians
Lithuanians are the Baltic ethnic group native to Lithuania, where they number around 2,765,600 people. Another million or more make up the Lithuanian diaspora, largely found in countries such as the United States, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Russia, United Kingdom and Ireland. Their native language...
minorities reside along the borders, and a German minority is concentrated near the southwestern city of Opole
Opole
Opole is a city in southern Poland on the Oder River . It has a population of 125,992 and is the capital of the Upper Silesia, Opole Voivodeship and, also the seat of Opole County...
and in Masuria. Groups of Ukrainians and Polish Ruthenians also live in western Poland, where they were forcefully resettled by communists.
As a result of the migrations and the Soviet Unions radically altered borders under the rule of Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
, the population of Poland became one of the most ethnically homogeneous in the world. Virtually all people in Poland claim Polish nationality, with Polish
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
as their native tongue. Ukrainians resp. Rusyns, the largest minority group, are scattered in various northern districts. Lesser numbers of Belarusians and Lithuanians live in areas adjoining Belarus and Lithuania. The Jewish community, almost entirely Polonized, has been greatly reduced. In Silesia
Silesia
Silesia is a historical region of Central Europe located mostly in Poland, with smaller parts also in the Czech Republic, and Germany.Silesia is rich in mineral and natural resources, and includes several important industrial areas. Silesia's largest city and historical capital is Wrocław...
a significant segment of the population, of mixed Polish and German ancestry, tends to declare itself as Polish or German according to political circumstances.
Minorities of Germans remain in Pomerania, Silesia, East Prussia, and Lubus.
Small populations of Polish Tatars
Tatars
Tatars are a Turkic speaking ethnic group , numbering roughly 7 million.The majority of Tatars live in the Russian Federation, with a population of around 5.5 million, about 2 million of which in the republic of Tatarstan.Significant minority populations are found in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan,...
still exist. Some Polish towns, mainly in northeastern Poland have mosque
Mosque
A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...
s. Tatars arrived as mercenary
Mercenary
A mercenary, is a person who takes part in an armed conflict based on the promise of material compensation rather than having a direct interest in, or a legal obligation to, the conflict itself. A non-conscript professional member of a regular army is not considered to be a mercenary although he...
soldiers beginning in the late 14th century. The Tatar population reached approximately 100,000 in 1630 but is less than 500 in 2000. See also Islam in Poland
Islam in Poland
The first ever written account of Poland was recorded by the Muslim Caliphate of Córdoba's 10th-century envoy, Ibrahim ibn Jakub. A continuous presence of Islam in Poland began in the 14th century. From this time it was primarily associated with the Tatars, many of whom settled in the...
.