Everything about Poles totally explained
The
Polish people, or
Poles, are a
Western Slavic ethnic group of
Central Europe, living predominantly in
Poland. Poles are sometimes defined as people who share a common Polish culture and are of Polish descent. Their religion is predominantly
Roman Catholic. The Poles can also be referred to as the inhabitants of the
Republic of Poland and Polish emigrants irrespective of their ethnicity. A wide-ranging
Polish diaspora exists throughout Western and Eastern Europe, the Americas and Australia.
There is no commonly accepted definition of the Polish people. According to the
preamble of the
Constitution of Poland, the Polish Nation consists of all
citizens of Poland. However, like in most European countries, many people limit the group to native speakers of the
Polish language, people that share certain views or traditions, or people who share a common ethnic background originating from Poland. As to its origins, the name of the nation comes from a
western Slavic ethnic group of
Polans primarily associated with Poland and the Polish language. Poles belong to the
Lechitic subgroup of these ethnic people. The
Polans of
Giecz,
Gniezno, and
Poznań were one of the most influential tribes of
Greater Poland and managed to unite many other West Slavic tribes in the area under the rule of what became the
Piast dynasty, thus giving birth to a new state. The Polish word for a Polish person is
Polak (male) and
Polka (female), however, when this common noun is used
verbatim in the English language (usually spelled as
Polack) it's always offensive.
Statistics
Poles or Polish are the sixth largest national group in Europe. Estimates vary depending on source, though available data suggests a total number around 60 million people worldwide (with approx. 21 million living outside of Poland). There are almost 39 million Poles in Poland alone. There are also
autochthonous Polish minorities in the surrounding countries including
Germany, the
Czech Republic,
Lithuania,
Ukraine, and
Belarus. There are some smaller minorities in nearby countries such as
Moldova and
Latvia. There is also a Polish minority in
Russia which included autochthonous Poles as well as those forcibly deported during and after
WWII; the total number of Poles in what was the former
Soviet Union is estimated at up to 3 million.
The term "
Polonia" is usually used in Poland to refer to people of Polish origin who live outside Polish borders, officially estimated at around 10-12 to 20 million. There is a notable Polish
diaspora in the
United States (
Polish-American),
Canada, (
Polish Canadians) and
Brazil (see
Polish Brazilian).
France has a special relationship with Poland and has a relatively large Polish-descendant population, though Poles lived in France since the late 1700s. In the early 20th century, over a million Polish people came to France, mostly hired contract labourers during WWI and Polish émigrés fleeing either Nazi occupation and later Soviet rule.
In the United States a significant number of Polish immigrants settled in
Chicago,
Detroit,
New York City,
Orlando, and
Buffalo. The majority of Polish Canadians arrived to Canada since WWII, the number of Polish immigrants peaked after 1945 to 1970 but on the rise again since the fall of Communism in 1989. In recent years, since joining the
European Union, many Polish people have emigrated to countries such as
Ireland; where an estimated 200,000 Polish people have entered the labour market. It is estimated that three quarters of a million Polish people have immigrated to the
United Kingdom.
Polish tribes
The following is the list of
Polish tribes -
tribes which constituted the lands of Poland in the
early Middle Ages, at the beginning of the Polish state. Some of them have remained a separate ethnicity while others have been assimilated into the culture of Poland.
European Union
» (for ethnic Poles living abroad see Polonia, for those living and working in the United Kingdom see Polish British)
A survey carried out by the
CBOS public opinion institute, between March 30 and April 2, 2007, found that 86% of Poles felt that
EU membership had had a positive effect, with only 5% of the respondents speaking against it, down from 22 percent in 2004. The institute also found that 55% of those surveyed prefer the EU to remain a union of sovereign states, while 22% supported the idea of a "
United States of Europe". Principal areas of Polish life that have been improved by EU membership, are agriculture (according to 75% of those surveyed), the environment (61%), productivity (57%) and unemployment (56%).
Among the ten new EU members, of which eight are Central or Eastern European, Poles are the most mobile, with considerable numbers of Polish migrants found in almost all ‘old’ EU countries, filling numerous vacancies on the European labour market, especially in areas where indigenous workforce is insufficient. According to Franck Duvell of
Oxford, some countries, like Germany and Austria, missed on that opportunity by discriminating against mobile Europeans, granting them freedom of movement without freedom of employment, which resulted in the increase of numbers of illegal migrant workers there. “In fact, the EU accession process, and namely the Polish experience could possibly serve as a paradigm for easing some of Europe’s migration dilemma,” Duvell suggested.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Poles'.
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