The Polish people, or Poles (Polish: Polacy, singular Polak) are a Slavic nation and ethnic group native to Poland, they are bounded by the Polish language, which belongs to the Lechitic subgroup of west slavic languages of Central Europe, living mainly in Poland. Their religion is mainly Roman Catholic. They use modified Latin alphabet.
Quick Facts Total population, Regions with significant populations ...
Poles
Polacy![](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b4/Matejko_Christianization_of_Poland.jpg/220px-Matejko_Christianization_of_Poland.jpg) The Baptism of Poland. Detail from Jan Matejko's Christianisation of Poland AD 966. |
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c. 60 million[1] |
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Poland 38,000,000[2][3][4] |
United States | 10,600,000[3][4][1][5] |
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Brazil | 3,000,000[5] |
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Germany | 2,850,000[6] |
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Israel | 1,250,000 (ancestry, passport eligible);[7] 202,300 (citizenship)[8] |
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Canada | 1,010,705[9] |
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France | 1,000,000[1]
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Other countries |
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| United Kingdom | 911,000[10][11] |
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Argentina | 500,000[12] |
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Belarus | 295,000[13] |
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Russia | 273,000[14] |
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Australia | 216,056[15] |
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Lithuania | 164,000[16] |
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Ukraine | 144,130[17] |
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Ireland | 122,515[18] |
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Norway | 120,000[19] |
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Italy | 109,018[20] |
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Sweden | 75,323[21] |
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Belgium | 70,600[14] |
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Spain | 70,606[22] |
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Austria | 69,898[23] |
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Netherlands | 60,000[14] |
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Latvia | 44,783[24] |
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Denmark | 37,876[25] |
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Kazakhstan | 34,057[26] |
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South Africa | 30,000[27] |
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Czech Republic | 20,305[28] |
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Paraguay | 16,748[29] |
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United Arab Emirates | 14,500[14] |
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Greece | 14,145 |
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Iceland | 10,540[30] |
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Venezuela | 9,000[31] |
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Peru | 7,000[32] |
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Hungary | 5,730[33] |
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Moldova | 4,174[34] |
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Romania | 3,671[35] |
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Slovakia | 3,084[36] |
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Finland | 3,000[37] |
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New Zealand | 2,166[38] |
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Estonia | 1,747[39]
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Polish • Kashubian • Silesian |
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Christianity (Catholic Church)[40]
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Other West Slavs: Silesians, Kashubs, Czechs, Slovaks, Moravians, Sorbs, Hanoverian Wends(†), Obotrites(†), Veleti(†) |
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There are about 60 million Poles in the world. Besides Poland, many live in the United States, Australia, Brazil, Germany, Canada, France, the United Kingdom, Ukraine and elsewhere.
The most famous Poles are Pope John Paul II, Maria Skłodowska-Curie, Nicolaus Copernicus and Lech Wałęsa.
Polish surnames often end with "-ski", "-ska", "-cki" or "-cka".
The most popular Polish surnames are Nowak and Kowalski.