HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
0.1% - note: no country specific models provided (2001 est.)

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
14,000 (2003 est.)

HIV/AIDS - deaths:
100 (2001 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Pole(s)
adjective: Polish

Ethnic groups:
Polish 96.7%, German 0.4%, Belarusian 0.1%, Ukrainian 0.1%, other
2.7% (2002)

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: 99.8%
male: 99.8%
female: 99.7% (2003 est.)

Government Poland

Country name:
conventional long form: Republic of Poland
conventional short form: Poland
local short form: Polska
local long form: Rzeczpospolita 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)
elections: president elected by popular vote for a five-year term;
election last 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
head of government: Prime Minister Marek BELKA (since 24 June 2004);
Deputy Prime Minister Jerzy HAUSNER (since 11 June 2003)
cabinet: Council of Ministers responsible to the prime minister and
the Sejm; the prime minister proposes, the president appoints, and
the Sejm appro