(2002)
Languages:
Polish 97.8%, other and unspecified 2.2% (2002 census)
Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 99.8%
male: 99.8%
female: 99.7% (2003 est.)
Government Poland
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:
adopted by the National Assembly 2 April 1997, passed by national
referendum 25 May 1997, effective 17 October 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, but rulings of the Constitutional Tribunal are
final; 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 Marek BELKA (since 24 June 2004);
Deputy Prime Minister Izabela JARUGA-NOWACKA (since 24 June 2004)
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 last held 8 October 2000 (next to be held 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 - Aleksander KWASNIEWSKI 53.9%, Andrzej
OLECHOWSKI 17.3%, Marian KRZAKLEWSKI 15.6%, Lech WALESA 1%
Legislative branch:
bicameral legislature consisting of an upper house, the Senate or
Senat (100 seats; members are elected by a majority vote on a
provincial basis to serv
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