Polish Society
The demographics of Poland constitute all demographic features of the population of Poland, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.
According to the estimates of Polish Central Statistical Office (GUS), at the end of 2007 Poland had a population of 37,115,000, which translates into average population density of 122 people/km² (urban 1105 per 1 km², rural 50 per 1 km²). 61.5% of Polish population lives in the urban areas, a number which is slowly diminishing. Poland is the 33rd most populous country in the world (9th in Europe, with 5.4% of European population). Total population of Poland is almost stagnant (population growth was 0,08%). Average life expectancy was 70.5 for men and 78.9 for women. In 2009 it is expected to be 73.1 for men and 79.5 for women. Population distribution is uneven. From ethnic perspective, Poland is very homogeneous, with 96.7% of population being Polish.
A number of censuses have assessed this data, including a national census in 2002, and a survey by the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights (HFHR), which confirmed there are numerous autochthonous ethnic groups in Poland. Estimates by INTEREG and Eurominority present a similar demographics picture of Poland but they provide estimates only for the most numerous of the autochthonous ethnic groups.
Poland is aging, and aging fast. In 1950, the median age was 25.8: half of the Polish population was younger, half older. Today it is 38.2. If current trends continue, it will be 51 in 2050. As the population is aging, it has also started to decline mainly due to low birth rates and a continued emigration which is impacting hard on the economy. Number of children born in Polish families (TFR of 1,31, down from 2 in 1990) is one of the lowest in the Eastern Europe.
Read more about Polish Society: Historical Population, Nationalities, Largest Metropolitan and Urban Areas, Demographics By Town, Demographics By Voivodeship, Demographic Statistics
Famous quotes containing the words polish and/or society:
“The total and universal want of manners, both in males and females, is ... remarkable ... that polish which removes the coarser and rougher parts of our nature is unknown and undreamed of.”
—Frances Trollope (1780–1863)
“The most remarkable aspect of the transition we are living through is not so much the passage from want to affluence as the passage from labor to leisure.... Leisure contains the future, it is the new horizon.... The prospect then is one of unremitting labor to bequeath to future generations a chance of founding a society of leisure that will overcome the demands and compulsions of productive labor so that time may be devoted to creative activities or simply to pleasure and happiness.”
—Henri Lefebvre (b. 1901)