Poland

EuropeCapital city: WarsawCapital metro: WarsawPrime Minister: Donald TuskPresident: Karol Nawrocki
2026 population
37.3M
Rank #41 globally
Area
313k km² (121k sq mi)
Metros tracked
71
68% of population in metros
Composite score
119.8
Rank #20 globally

population: Monthly national estimate (31 May 2026) · indicators as of 2026-09-05 · 71 metros tracked

🗺️ Geography71 metros

Poland metro footprint, shaded by composite tier.

Loading map…
71 polygons

Hover for rank, click to open the metro page. Boundaries derived from Overture Maps administrative divisions; metros without source coverage are omitted.

🏙️ 71 tracked metros
71 metros
#90Warsaw★ Capital▲ Largest
31.2
Show all 71 rows
🗂️ Provinces

16 entries listed under Poland. Click any to see its metros and footprint.

16 total
📋 At a glance
Official language
Polish
Currency
Złoty (PLZ)
Government
Unitary state
Legislature
Parliament of Poland
Demonym
Polish
Time zones
Central European Summer Time, Central European Time, UTC+01:00, UTC+02:00
Driving side
Right
Calling code
+48
Internet TLD
.pl
ISO 3166
PL
Established
1918
Highest point
Rysy (2,501 m (8,205 ft))
National anthem
Poland Is Not Yet Lost

Facts via Wikidata.

📰 In the news1 story
Every story in the latest digest →
💹 Economy and developmentHigh income
Human Dev. Index
#34 / 191
0.906
UNDP · 2023
GDP
#21 / 193
$1.04T
World Bank · 2025
GDP per capita
#45 / 193
$28.4k
World Bank · 2025
GDP/capita (PPP)
#39 / 190
$54.3k
World Bank · 2025
GNI/capita (Atlas)
#45 / 192
$25.5k
World Bank · 2025
Life expectancy
#48 / 194
78.4 yrs
World Bank · 2024
Median age
41.3 yrs
UN WPP · 2023
Urban population
#106 / 194
60%
World Bank · 2025
Pop. growth
-0.3%
World Bank · 2025
Pop. density
#73 / 193
120/km²
World Bank · 2023
Foreign-born
#94 / 193
4.5%
World Bank · 2024
Rule of law
#38 / 175
0.88
V-Dem · 2025
Gini index
#20 / 166
28.5
World Bank · 2023
Internet users
#66 / 193
89%
World Bank · 2024
Inflation
#115 / 185
3.8%
World Bank · 2025
CO₂ per capita
#163 / 192
7.1 t
Global Carbon Budget · 2024
Renewable electricity
#96 / 186
32%
Ember · 2025

Ranks are among sovereign countries with data; ★ marks a top-5% finish. Sources: World Bank Open Data and Our World in Data (UNDP, UN WPP, V-Dem, Global Carbon Budget, Ember, Energy Institute; CC BY 4.0). Each card credits its originating body. Renewable share is of electricity generation, not of primary energy. Each figure is the most recent year available.

Alliances & Organisations5 full memberships

Security

Political & Economic

Subregional

Full memberDashed border = Candidate / ApplicantItalic = Dialogue / Observer

🏛️ Leadership History66 leaders · click to expand

marks a leader associated with atrocities or defiance of law, systemic subversion of democratic institutions, or a criminal conviction. Convictions arising from political persecution, and annulled convictions, are excluded. denotes a monarch. These are editorial designations, applied per entry rather than derived automatically.

Third Polish Republic

Karol Nawrocki✦ Current

2025Present

President

Tenure: 10m 25dIndependent (PiS-backed)

Donald Tusk✦ Current

2023Present

Prime Minister

Tenure: 2y 6m 27dKO

Mateusz Morawiecki

20172023

Prime Minister

Tenure: 6y 3dPiS

Beata Szydło

20152017

Prime Minister

Tenure: 2y 6dPiS

Andrzej Duda

20152025

President

Tenure: 10y 23dPiS

Ewa Kopacz

20142015

Prime Minister

Tenure: 1y 1mPO

Bronisław Komorowski

20102015

President

Tenure: 5yPO

Bronisław Komorowski

20102010

Acting President

Tenure: 3mPO

Donald Tusk

20072014

Prime Minister

Tenure: 6y 10m 12dPO

Jarosław Kaczyński

20062007

Prime Minister

Tenure: 1y 4m 10dPiS

Lech Kaczyński

20052010

President

Tenure: 4y 3m 9dPiS

Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz

20052006

Prime Minister

Tenure: 8m 16dPiS
Show all 25 leaders

Marek Belka

20042005

Prime Minister

Tenure: 1y 6m 7dSLD

Leszek Miller

20012004

Prime Minister

Tenure: 2y 6m 26dSLD

Jerzy Buzek

19972001

Prime Minister

Tenure: 3y 11m 9dAWS

Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz

19961997

Prime Minister

Tenure: 1y 8m 2dSLD

Aleksander Kwaśniewski

19952005

President

Tenure: 10y 23dSLD

Józef Oleksy

19951996

Prime Minister

Tenure: 11m 7dSLD

Waldemar Pawlak

19931995

Prime Minister

Tenure: 1y 4m 17dPSL

Hanna Suchocka

19921993

Prime Minister

Tenure: 1y 3m 22dUD

Jan Olszewski

19911992

Prime Minister

Tenure: 6m 2dPC

Jan Krzysztof Bielecki

19911991

Prime Minister

Tenure: 11m 6dKLD

Lech Wałęsa

19901995

President

Tenure: 5y 26dSolidarity

Tadeusz Mazowiecki

19891991

Prime Minister

Tenure: 1y 4m 18dSolidarity

Wojciech Jaruzelski

19891990

President

Tenure: 1y 5m 11dPZPR

Polish People's Republic

Wojciech Jaruzelski

19811989

General Secretary

PZPR

Stanisław Kania

19801981

General Secretary

PZPR

Edward Gierek

19701980

General Secretary

PZPR

Władysław Gomułka

19561970

General Secretary

PZPR

Edward Ochab

19561956

General Secretary

PZPR

⚠️ Bolesław Bierut

19451956

President

PPR / PZPR

Government-in-Exile / WWII

Władysław Sikorski

19391943

Prime Minister (in exile)

Front Morges / Independent

Władysław Raczkiewicz

19391945

President (in exile)

Independent

Second Polish Republic

Ignacy Mościcki

19261939

President

Nonpartisan Bloc (BBWR)

Józef Piłsudski

19261935

De facto leader (post-May Coup)

Sanacja

Stanisław Wojciechowski

19221926

President

Polish People's Party "Piast"

Gabriel Narutowicz

19221922

President

Independent

Józef Piłsudski

19181922

President (Chief of State)

Independent

Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

👑 Stanisław II August Poniatowski

17641795

King

Tenure: 31y 10m 24dmedieval

👑 Augustus III

17331763

King

Tenure: 30y 0dmedieval

👑 Augustus II the Strong

16971733

King

Tenure: 36y 0dmedieval

👑 John III Sobieski

16741696

King

Tenure: 22y 0dmedieval

👑 Michael Korybut Wiśniowiecki

16691673

King

Tenure: 4y 0dmedieval

👑 John II Casimir Vasa

16481668

King

Tenure: 20y 0dmedieval

👑 Władysław IV Vasa

16321648

King

Tenure: 16y 0dmedieval

👑 Sigismund III Vasa

15871632

King

Tenure: 45y 0dmedieval

👑 Stephen Báthory

15761586

King

Tenure: 10y 0dmedieval

👑 Henry de Valois

15731575

King

Tenure: 2y 0dmedieval

Kingdom of Poland

👑 Sigismund II Augustus

15481572

King

Tenure: 24y 0dmedieval

👑 Sigismund I the Old

15061548

King

Tenure: 42y 0dmedieval

👑 Alexander Jagiellon

15011506

King

Tenure: 5y 0dmedieval

👑 John I Albert

14921501

King

Tenure: 9y 0dmedieval

👑 Casimir IV Jagiellon

14471492

King

Tenure: 45y 0dmedieval

👑 Władysław III

14341444

King

Tenure: 10y 0dmedieval

👑 Władysław II Jagiełło

13861434

King

Tenure: 48y 0dmedieval

👑 Jadwiga

13841399

Queen

Tenure: 15y 0dmedieval

👑 Louis I

13701382

King

Tenure: 12y 0dmedieval

👑 Casimir III the Great

13331370

King

Tenure: 37y 0dmedieval

👑 Władysław I the Elbow-high

13201333

King

Tenure: 13y 0dmedieval

👑 Bolesław III Wrymouth

11071138

Duke

Tenure: 31y 0dmedieval
Show all 18 leaders

👑 Władysław I Herman

10791102

Duke

Tenure: 23y 0dmedieval

👑 Bolesław II the Generous

10581079

King

Tenure: 21y 0dmedieval

👑 Casimir I the Restorer

10391058

Duke

Tenure: 19y 0dmedieval

👑 Mieszko II Lambert

10251031

King

Tenure: 6y 0dmedieval

👑 Bolesław I the Brave

9921025

King

Tenure: 33y 0dmedieval

👑 Mieszko I

960992

Duke

Tenure: 32y 0dmedieval
📈 Power over timeThe Power Atlas →
Today
Regional#20 · 1.0%
3%5%8%10%160017001800190019502000
Power (headline share)Latent (material mass)Recognised (standing)
Poland · share of world power, 1500–2026

The powerline is the headline share of world power, running from the state’s first ranked year (benchmark estimates with wide error bars before 1816). Latent power is material mass a state could mobilise (population, manpower, heavy industry). Recognised power is what the system actually treats it as (military spending, productive economy, reach, and status such as a Security Council seat or nuclear arsenal). When latent runs above recognised, a power is rising or under-rated; when recognised runs higher, it is punching above its weight or coasting on prestige. Material sub-indices run 1816 through 2016.

⚔️ Conflicts since 194536 interstate wars · click to expand
Iraq War2003–2011
Ba'athist Iraq,Insurgent groups
Combat deaths:
Czechoslovakia
Combat deaths: 254+
World War II1939–1945
Combat deaths:
Russian SFSR,Ukrainian SSR
Combat deaths:
Russian SFSR,Latvian SSR
Combat deaths:
First Czechoslovak Republic (until 1938),Second Czechoslovak Republic (1938–1939),First Slovak Republic (1939–1945),Third Czechoslovak Republic (1945–1948),Czechoslovak Socialist Republic (1948–1958)
Combat deaths:
Russian SFSR,Other Soviet republics,Mongolian People's Party
Combat deaths:
Show all 36 wars
Kingdom of Bavaria,Saxony,Württemberg,Kingdom of Westphalia Westphalia,Kingdom of Italy (Napoleonic) Italy,Naples,Swiss Confederation,Netherlands Holland
Combat deaths:
Russia,Targowica Confederates
Combat deaths:
Kingdom of Prussia (1715–20),Electorate of Hanover (1715–19),Great Britain,(1717–19)
Combat deaths:
Ottoman Empire,Crimean Khanate
Combat deaths:
Ottoman Empire,Crimean Khanate,Moldavia Principality of Moldavia,Cossack Hetmanate (Doroshenko's faction)
Combat deaths:
Crimean Khanate,Zaporozhian Cossacks,Ottoman Empire
Combat deaths:
Combat deaths:
Sweden Sweden,Brandenburg-Prussia (1656–57),Principality of Transylvania,Ukrainian Cossacks (1657),Grand Duchy of Lithuania,Wallachia,Moldavia
Combat deaths:
Tsardom of Russia,Ukrainian Cossacks
Combat deaths:
Smolensk War1632–1634
Combat deaths:
Combat deaths:
Livonian War1558–1583
Tsardom of Russia,Kingdom of Livonia
Combat deaths:
Grand Principality of Moscow
Combat deaths:
Combat deaths:
Grand Principality of Moscow,Livonian Order
Combat deaths:
Grand Principality of Moscow,Lithuanian rebels led by Michael Glinski
Combat deaths:

Bold = principal belligerent. Source: Wikipedia, “List of interstate wars since 1945.”

👥 Population over time
Population 2023
38.8m
#39 in the world
Since 1800
4.31×
from 9.0m
Peak
2023
at its largest now
Share of world
0.48%
0.92% in 1800
9.7m19.4m29.1m38.8m18001850190019502000
Poland · people, 1800–2023 · dashed to 2026 is projected

Our World in Data population (CC BY): UN WPP 2024 from 1950, Gapminder v7 1800-1949, HYDE 3.3 earlier; today's borders. Figures above are as of 2023, the last year that is estimated rather than forecast. The dashed tail to 2026 is a UN WPP medium-variant projection. It is drawn because the line should reach the present, and drawn differently because it has not happened yet: no rank, peak or share on this page uses it. Before 1950 the series is reconstruction rather than contemporaneous statistics, which is worth knowing when a country’s peak sits back there. The current population shown elsewhere on this page comes from the workbook and is unchanged by this. Note that people and share of world can move in opposite directions. A country can grow steadily and still become a smaller part of humanity, which is what happened to almost every rich country after 1960.

👥 To 2100

The UN’s probabilistic projection for Poland: the median with its 80% and 95% bands, the UN’s own high, low and zero-migration scenarios beside it. Not this site’s model; the site reads it and says what it implies.

Peak
2023
38.8m; already passed
2050
32.8m
95% band 29.6m to 36.0m
2100
19.3m
95% band 11.5m to 28.5m
2100 against 2025
0.51×
median falling from 2024
Deaths outnumber births
since 2018
on the UN medium path; migration decides the rest
10.2m20.4m30.5m40.7m1950197520002025205020752100

Tap or drag across the chart to read any year: the estimate to 2023, then the UN median, its bands and the scenarios.

estimateUN median80% and 95% bandshigh and low fertilityzero migration

What drives it

Births, deaths and net migration on the UN medium path, with fertility, life expectancy and median age, every decade from 1950.

1950
755k born · 303k died · -19k net migration
TFR 3.65 · life expectancy 58.3 · median age 24.8
1960
667k born · 234k died · -6k net migration
TFR 3.00 · life expectancy 67.1 · median age 25.6
1970
541k born · 273k died · -67k net migration
TFR 2.25 · life expectancy 69.6 · median age 27.3
1980
699k born · 339k died · -42k net migration
TFR 2.28 · life expectancy 70.5 · median age 28.5
1990
548k born · 394k died · -50k net migration
TFR 2.06 · life expectancy 70.6 · median age 31.4
2000
378k born · 371k died · -16k net migration
TFR 1.37 · life expectancy 73.6 · median age 34.3
2010
422k born · 379k died · +120k net migration
TFR 1.41 · life expectancy 76.3 · median age 36.9
2020
360k born · 459k died · +4k net migration
TFR 1.38 · life expectancy 76.6 · median age 40.1
Show all 16 decades
2030
259k born · 430k died · -6k net migration
TFR 1.33 · life expectancy 79.8 · median age 45.0
2040
258k born · 475k died · -5k net migration
TFR 1.37 · life expectancy 81.5 · median age 49.3
2050
235k born · 481k died · -4k net migration
TFR 1.40 · life expectancy 83.0 · median age 51.8
2060
185k born · 468k died · -2k net migration
TFR 1.42 · life expectancy 84.4 · median age 52.5
2070
174k born · 488k died · -1k net migration
TFR 1.45 · life expectancy 85.6 · median age 54.4
2080
163k born · 448k died · -2k net migration
TFR 1.46 · life expectancy 86.8 · median age 55.2
2090
136k born · 363k died · -2k net migration
TFR 1.47 · life expectancy 87.9 · median age 54.5
2100
124k born · 324k died · -1k net migration
TFR 1.49 · life expectancy 89.0 · median age 55.3

Every country to 2100 →

Source: United Nations, DESA, Population Division. World Population Prospects 2024. Licensed under CC BY 3.0 IGO. Estimates to 2023; projections 2024 to 2100, medium variant and probabilistic intervals. The UN revises every two years; this is the WPP 2024 revision.

💰 Billionaires11 · $31.1B combined · click to expand
Finance & InvestmentsInvestments
HealthcarePharmaceuticals
Fashion & RetailSupermarkets
Media & EntertainmentTV broadcasting
TechnologyVideogames
Finance & InvestmentsDiversified
DiversifiedReal estate, gambling
Finance & InvestmentsDiversified
TechnologyAI voice cloning
TechnologyAI voice cloning
Logisticsparcel lockers

Source: Forbes real-time billionaires (via the rtb-api project). Net worth as of the latest monthly snapshot.

🏆 National Teams

Poland on the international stage. Click a card for the full record.

National Teams Champions

Every major championship won by Poland's national teams, newest first. 4 in total.

2018· 2018-09-30
2014· 2014-09-21
1976· 1976-07-30
1974· 1974-10-28
🏟️ League Hubs

Domestic league portals that operate in Poland: 1 league.