Polish people
Template:Polish ethnicity Polish people, or Poles, (Template:Lang-pl) 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 Poles. 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 the ethnicity, the name of the nation comes from a western Slavic ethnic group 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 name for a Pole is Polak (male) and Polka (female).
Statistics
Estimates vary greatly, though most data suggests a total number around 50 million. There are 38 million Poles in Poland alone as well as autochthonous Polish minorities in the surrounding countries such as Germany, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Ukraine, and Belarus. There are also some smaller minorities that like other nearby countries like Moldova and Latvia. Note that there is also a Polish minority in Russia which included autochthonous Poles as well as some forcibly deported Poles. The total number of Poles in what was the former Soviet Union is estimated at 3 million[citation needed].
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, in Paraná see "polaco"). In the United States a significant number of Polish immigrants settled in Chicago, Detroit, New York City, Orlando, and Buffalo. 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 have in 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
Following Poland's entry into the EU in May 2004 the number of Polish registered workers employed in Administration, Business & Management Services in the United Kingdom between May 2004 and September 2006 was 310 thousand[1] (Chart2, p.8 and Table 2, p.9; this number shows only employees who registered with authorities as required).
According to a preamble by the British Home Office, "nationals from the A8 countries continue to come to the UK to work, contributing to the success of the UK economy, while making few demands of our welfare system"[1]
Roughly 200,000[citation needed] Poles came to Ireland. Many Poles work in seasonal occupations and a large number is likely to move back and forth including between Ireland and other EU nations.
Notes
- ^ a b Home Office, Department for Work and Pensions, HM Revenue & Customs and Department for Communities and Local Government, Template:PDFlink, 21 November 2006, accessed 22 November 2006.