Tag Archives: Study in Poland

Poland is a state in eastern central Europe. The capital is called Warsaw. At around 310,000 km², the country is only slightly larger than Italy. It consists mainly of lowlands, which are very rich in lakes in the north. The south of the country is occupied by a mountain belt. There is a temperate climate that becomes increasingly drier to the east. The temperature differences between summer and winter also increase to the east. The ethnic composition of the population is very uniform. 97% belong to the Poles. There are also minorities of Germans, Ukrainians and Belarusians. The people are strongly influenced by the Catholic faith.

In the 10th century Poland had adopted Latin Christianity. In the 18th century, Prussia, Austria and Russia completely divided Poland among themselves. Only in 1918 did Poland become a separate state again. After the Second World War, the country belonged to the Eastern Bloc as a communist people’s republic. With the collapse of the Soviet Union and the political upheavals at the end of the 1980s, Poland turned to the West. In 1997 the country adopted a new constitution.

In Poland’s economy, agriculture still plays a major role. It employs over 10% of the workforce. Most people work in the service sector, which is also the most important economically. In contrast, the coal mining and steel industries are in a serious crisis.

Poland is a parliamentary republic. The head of state is the president, who has only limited power. The closest allies are the USA and neighboring European countries. Poland has been a member of NATO since 1999 and of the European Union since 2004. The country does not belong to the euro zone, however, and payment is made in the złoty. In the 2015 elections, Poland saw a shift to the right. According to COUNTRYAAH, Poland is a nation in Eastern Europe, the capital city of which is Warsaw. The latest population of Poland is 37,846,622. MYSTERYAROUND: Lists and descriptions of main religions and beliefs in Poland, including religion demographics and statistics on Christianity, Islam, Judaism, etc.
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Since the beginning of the 1950s, Poland has developed from an agricultural to an industrial-agricultural state. The industrialization accelerated with the building of socialism went hand in hand with a profound change in the economic and social structure; The state-controlled planned economy, organized according to the Soviet model, led the country into a severe economic crisis, despite major development efforts and the reform attempts undertaken since the early 1980s, which led to major social unrest in 1981-83 (Solidarność). In October 1989 a reform program with gradual privatization of state enterprises and the transition to a market economy was implementedinitiated, the corresponding laws were passed in 1990. The consequences of the restructuring concept implemented in 1990/91 for the economy (called the »Balcerowicz Plan« after the finance minister at the time, also known as »shock therapy«) were decisive. The liberalization of foreign trade, the privatization of state-owned companies, the abolition of subsidies for companies and agricultural products and a profound institutional reorganization existed. This stopped the economic decline and stabilized economic development. The inflation rate fell from 59.4% to 2.1% in 1991–2017. The gross domestic product (GDP) achieved annual growth rates between 1.6 and 6.8% from 2007 to 2017 (2017: 4.7%). An important driver of economic growth is the export-oriented industry. The national debt was 50.6% of GDP in 2017. The public budget deficit (2017: 1.7% of GDP) will be further reduced. Foreign investments and EU subsidies made a not inconsiderable contribution to economic growth and to Poland’s integration into the world market. Poland has been a member of the EU since May 1, 2004.

Foreign trade: The foreign trade balance was negative until 2014; an export surplus has been recorded since 2015 (2017: € 3 billion). When imported, the most important commercial goods are chemical products, crude oil, natural gas and lubricants, machines and vehicles, electrotechnical and electronic products, foodstuffs and live cattle; in export: machines and vehicles, automotive parts, cables, foodstuffs, textiles, metal goods, electrotechnical and electronic products. The main trading partners are Germany (22.7% of imports; 27.2% of exports), Italy, France and China.