Country Information

Poland is a unitary parliamentary republic as well as a representative democracy. The executive branch consists of the President acting as the head of state; the Prime Minister serving as the head of government and the Council of Ministers. The President is elected by popular vote for a five-year term. All ministers are selected by the Prime Minister, appointed by the President, and approved by Parliament. The legislative branch is a bicameral Parliament comprising a 460-member lower house (the Sejm) and a 100-member upper house (the Senate). Members of the Sejm are directly elected in multi-seat constituencies by proportional representation vote to serve 4-year terms while the Senate’s members are directly elected in single-seat constituencies by simple majority vote to serve 4-year terms.

Poland has an area of 312,685 km2 and a population of 37,437 million (end of March 2025). The country’s capital city is Warszawa (Warsaw). Poland’s territorial administrative structure is based on three levels of self-government. The country is divided into 16 provinces known as voivodeships. Currently (as of 2022) the voivodeships are subdivided into 380 counties (powiats), which are further separated into 2,477 municipalities (gminas).

Poland has been a member of the OECD since 1996 and became a full member of the European Union on 1 May 2004.