The
Polish people, or
Poles ( , singular
Polak), 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 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 the Republic 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 who share certain 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 the male form of this common noun is used
verbatim in the English language (usually spelled as
Polack) it is always offensive, and the feminine form typically refers to the style of music.
Statistics
Polish people are the sixth largest national group in Europe. Estimates vary depending on source, though available data suggests a total number of 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 Polish minorities in the surrounding countries including
Germany, and
indigenous minorities in the
Czech Republic,
Lithuania,
Ukraine, and
Belarus. There are some smaller indigenous minorities in nearby countries such as
Moldova and
Latvia. There is also a Polish minority in
Russia which included indigenous Poles as well as those forcibly deported during and after
World War II; 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 to 20 million. There is a notable Polish
diaspora in the
United States,
Canada, and
Brazil.
France has a historic relationship with Poland and has a relatively large Polish-descendant population. Poles lived in France since the 1700s. In the early 20th century, over a million Polish people settled in France, mostly during world wars, among them 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,
Pittsburgh and
Buffalo. The majority of Polish Canadians arrived to Canada since World War II, the number of Polish immigrants increased between 1945 – 1970, and again since the fall of Communism in 1989. In Brazil the majority of Polish immigrants settled in
Paraná State, the city of
Curitiba has the second largest Polish diaspora in the world (after Chicago) and
Polish music,
dishes and
culture are quite common in the region. 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 over half a million Polish people have immigrated to the
United Kingdom. The Polish community in
Norway has increased dramatically and has grown to a total number of 120,000, making Polish people the largest immigrant group in Norway.
Prior to
World War II many
Polish Jews became followers of
Zionism and subsequently emigrated to the
British Mandate of Palestine. Following
the Holocaust, the vast majority of surviving Polish Jews moved to
Israel, contributing to the largest single place of origin of Israeli Jews.
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
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 has 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.
See also
