- deaths: less than 100 (1999 est.)

Nationality: noun: Pole(s)

adjective: Polish

Ethnic groups: Polish 97.6%, German 1.3%, Ukrainian 0.6%,
Byelorussian 0.5% (1990 est.)

Religions: Roman Catholic 95% (about 75% practicing), Eastern
Orthodox, Protestant, and other 5%

Languages: Polish

Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write

total population: 99%

male: 99%

female: 98% (1978 est.)

Poland Government

Country name: conventional long form: Republic of Poland

conventional short form: Poland

local long form: Rzeczpospolita Polska

local short form: Polska

Government type: republic

Capital: Warsaw

Administrative divisions: 16 provinces (wojewodztwa, singular -
wojewodztwo); Dolnoslaskie, Kujawsko-Pomorskie, Lodzkie, Lubelskie,
Lubuskie, Malopolskie, Mazowieckie, Opolskie, Podkarpackie,
Podlaskie, Pomorskie, Slaskie, Swietokrzyskie, Warminsko-Mazurskie,
Wielkopolskie, Zachodniopomorskie

Independence: 11 November 1918 (independent republic proclaimed)

National holiday: Constitution Day, 3 May (1791)

Constitution: 16 October 1997; adopted by the National Assembly 2
April 1997; passed by national referendum 23 May 1997

Legal system: mixture of Continental (Napoleonic) civil law and
holdover communist legal theory; changes being gradually introduced
as part of broader democratization process; limited judicial review
of legislative acts although under the new constitution, the
Constitutional Tribunal ruling will become final as of October 1999;
court decisions can be appealed to the European Court of Justice in
Strasbourg

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

Executive branch: chief of state: President Aleksander KWASNIEWSKI
(since 23 December 1995)

head of government: Prime Minister Jerzy BUZEK - Solidarity
Electoral Union - (since 31 October 1997), Deputy Prime Ministers
Janusz STEINHOFF (since 12 June 2000), Longin KOMOLOWSKI (since 19
October 1999)

cabinet: Council of Ministers responsible to the prime minister and
the Sejm; the prime minister proposes, the president appoints, and
the Sejm approves the Council of Ministers

elections: president elected by popular vote for a five-year term;
election held 8 October 2000 (next to be held NA October 2005);
prime minister and deputy prime ministers appointed by the president
and confirmed by the Sejm

election results: Aleksander KWASNIEWSKI reelected president;
percent of popular vote