Minorities in Poland

Who can you meet in Poland?

Have you ever wondered how many different people you can meet in Poland? On my blog I will focus my attention on the national and ethnic minorities living there, so you will have a chance to get to know something more about the diversity of the society in my country. Ok, so now it’s the time to start!

One of the main documents  which regulates the issues of minorities is the Act of 6 January 2005 on national and ethnic minorities and on the regional languages (Polish- Ustawa z dnia 6 stycznia 2005 r. o mniejszościach narodowych i etnicznych, oraz o języku regionalnym). According to it  in  Poland there are 9 national minorities such as: Belorussians, Czechs, Lithuanians, Germans, Armenians, Russians, Slovaks, Ukrainians, Jews.

Do you know which group is the biggest ? As the official statistics show (The 2011 Polish Census of Population and Housing) it is the German minority (147814 people). In the second place there are Ukrainians (51001) and in the third Belarusians (46787).

Below you can see the pie chart of national minorities in Poland in percent. 

Source: own, based on data from 2011 Polish Census of Population and Housing

The number of ethnic minorities is less and it counts only 4 groups like: Karaites (313 people), Lemkos (10531), Roma (17049) and Tatars(1916).

Of course now the situation in Poland is a little bit different. The last  Censusof Population and Housing  was carried out in 2011.  From this time the political situation in Europe has changed and because of that the number of Ukrainians in Poland raised, but nevertheless this data  is still valid for most of nationalities.

As You can see some minorities are present in Poland. Next time I will write more about them  and explain what determines that a particular group officially becomes a minority. Stay tuned!

How to become a minority ?

In previous post I promised to explain what determines that a particular group officially becomes a minority. Have You got any idea ?

In Poland  all conditions  are listed in the Act of 6 January 2005 on national and ethnic minorities and on the regional languages.

According to this document,  national and ethnic minority is a group of Polish citizens who :

•         is numerically smaller than the rest of the population of  the Republic of Poland,

•         significantly differs from the rest of the citizens in its language, culture or tradition,

•         strives to preserve its language, culture or tradition,

• is aware of its own historical, national community, and is oriented towards its expression and protection,

• its ancestors inhabited the present territory of the Polish Republic for at least 100 years.

The only difference between national and ethnic minority is that the first group identifies itself with a nation organized in its own state and the second one not.  It is also very important that all requirements have to be fulfilled jointly .

Ok, so now You know what is necessary to be recognized as a minority.  But do you know something about their rights and the acts in Poland which describe them ? Next time I will try to write something more about it. See you soon!