Poland

Poland is one of Europe's most ethnically homogeneous large countries, overwhelmingly Polish-speaking, though it now hosts a very large Ukrainian community. Its once multiethnic society was transformed by the upheavals of the 20th century.

Poland is among the most strongly Roman Catholic countries in Europe, the faith central to national identity, though practice is declining among the young.

Society

Poland has high literacy and rising prosperity, but a low birth rate and past westward emigration have created demographic pressures, now partly offset by Ukrainian arrivals.