[[File:Map of the Polish Diaspora in the World.svg|thumb|upright=1.8|World map of Polish diaspora.
]]The Polish diaspora comprises Polish people and people of Polish heritage or origin who live outside Poland. The Polish diaspora is also known in modern Polish language as Polonia, the name for Poland in Latin and many Romance languages.
There are roughly 20,000,000 people of Polish ancestry living outside Poland, making the Polish diaspora one of the largest in the world[Michael Pieslak, Poles around the World (see Polonia > statystyka)] and one of the most widely dispersed. Reasons for displacement include border shifts, forced expulsions, resettlement by voluntary and forced exile, and political or economic emigration.
Substantial populations of Polish ancestry can be found in their native region of Central and Eastern Europe and many other countries as well as in the Americas and Australia.
The Polonia in English-speaking countries often uses a dialect of Polish called Poglish. It is made up of a Polish core with many English words inside it.
There are also smaller Polish communities in Asia and Africa, most notably Kazakhstan and South Africa.
History
Poles participated in the creation of the first European settlements in the Americas. In the 17th century, Polish missionaries arrived for the first time in
Japan. Vast numbers of Poles left the country during the Partitions of Poland for economic and political reasons as well as the ethnic persecution practised by
Russian Empire,
Prussia and
Austria.
Many of the Poles who emigrated were Polish Jews, who make up part of the Jewish diaspora. The Second Polish Republic was home to the world's largest Jewish population.[Devorah Hakohen, Immigrants in Turmoil: Mass Immigration to Israel and its Repercussions... Syracuse University Press, 2003 - 325 pages. p. 70. ][ Wilson Center, "New Evidence on Poland in the Early Cold War" By Andrzej Werblan (PDF)][Andrzej Friszke, " The March 1968 Protest Movement in Light of Ministry of Interior Reports to the Party Leadership," Intermarium 1:1 (1997, translated from Polish, originally published in Więź, March 1994).][ Encyclopedia of the Nations: Poland—Religions, available at Advameg, 2010 (bottom)]
A recent, large emigration of Poles took place after Poland acceded to the European Union and opening of the EU's labour market. About 2 million primarily young Poles took up jobs abroad.
Europe
All countries and areas of residence thereafter are listed in alphabetical order.
Austria
Belarus
in Belarus in 1960:
]]
According to the census, there are 396,000 Poles living in Belarus (official 1999 census;
During the Second World War, the Soviet Union forcibly resettled large numbers of Belarusian Poles to Russia, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan. Few Belarusian Poles now live in Siberia and the Russian Far East, and some of those who managed to survive resettlement returned to Poland after 1956.
The census of 1959 had 538,881 ethnic Poles in Belarus (332,300 in Grodno Region, 83,800 in Vitebsk Region, 70,000 in Minsk Region including Minsk, 42,100 in Brest Region, 7,200 in Gomel Region and 3,500 in Mogilev Region).
Benelux
There were some migrations from Poland to the Netherlands in the early modern period, with notable emigrants including painters Krzysztof Lubieniecki and Teodor Lubieniecki, and Admiral Krzysztof Arciszewski who served in the Dutch West India Company.
Some 200 Poles, mostly intelligentsia and military officers, fled to Belgium after the unsuccessful Polish November Uprising in the 1830s, with some 60 officers employed the Belgian army, including Polish General Jan Zygmunt Skrzynecki, who was in charge of organizing the newly formed Belgian army, and others serving as instructors.[Lechwar-Wierzbicka, p. 176]
Polish immigration to the Netherlands has steadily increased since Poland joined the EU, and now 173,231 Polish people live in the country (2021, first generation. Most of them are guest workers from the European Union contract labour program, as more Poles obtain light industrial jobs. The number of Polish nationals could double in the next decade, depending on economic conditions in Poland. Most Poles in the Netherlands are in The Hague (30,000), but Polish émigrés have been long settled in Amsterdam and industrial towns or cities like Utrecht and Groningen. Polish immigrants arrived to find employment in the country in the 19th and 20th centuries. Some 3,200 Poles lived in the Netherlands in the 1920s.
Belgium has 70,000 Poles, but the number of Belgians of Polish descent could be as high as 200,000). Present Queen of the Belgians, Mathilde, is daughter to a Pole, Countess Anna Maria d'Udekem d'Acoz, née Komorowska.
Luxembourg has 4,844 (as of 2020).
Bulgaria
According to 2023 estimates of the Polish Embassy in
Sofia, some 5,500 Poles and people of Polish descent live in
Bulgaria. Polish presence in Bulgaria dates back to the 19th century, with Poles contributing to the development of the country, after it regained independence.
Czech Republic
The Polish community in the Czech Republic is concentrated in
Cieszyn Silesia (or
Trans-Olza), in the northeast of the country. It traces its origins to border changes after the First World War that partitioned the area between Poland and what was then
Czechoslovakia, leaving many Poles on what is now the Czech side of the border. The Polish population was 38,218 at the 2021 census.
[
]
Denmark
By 1904, there was a Polish community consisting of several thousand workers scattered throughout Denmark.[
]
According to the Danish government's statistics, almost 51,000 Polish citizen live in Denmark. Up to 70,000 might have Polish ancestry.
Finland
The history of the Polish community in Finland dates from the early 19th century when many Poles from the Russian-controlled part of the country settled there. In 1917, there were around 4,000 Poles in Finland, mostly soldiers of the Russian Imperial Army. In 1917, the Polish Legion in Finland was formed to fight for Finnish independence and then stationed in Viipuri, and after the Finnish victory some 2,500 Polish soldiers were evacuated to Poland.
Finland has never been a major destination for Polish immigrants, and only around 5,400 Poles live there. Most are well-educated: musicians, medical doctors, engineers and architects with families.[Polish Embassy in Helsinki (2012), POLONIA W FINLANDII: Struktura społeczna. Ministerstwo Spraw Zagranicznych Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej. Wyróżnikiem Polonii fińskiej jest stosunkowo wysoki wskaźnik osób posiadających wykształcenie wyższe i średnie. Wśród najczęściej spotykanych zawodów występują muzycy, lekarze, inżynierowie różnych specjalności i architekci.] Around half lives in Helsinki, and the biggest Polish organization there is the Polish Association, founded on April 3, 1917.
France
Between 500,000 and one million people of Polish descent live in France.
Germany
The second-largest Polonia in the world and the largest in Europe is the Polish minority in Germany. Estimates of the number of Poles living in Germany vary from 2 million
Greece
The Polish minority in Greece numbers more than 50,000, most of whom are first-generation immigrants. There might be many more since the Greek Orthodox Church administers Greek names for marriage and christening. Statistics show that over 300,000 Poles visit Greece each year for tourism, especially during the summer months. Famous people with mixed Polish and Greek ethnicity include Polish singer Eleni Tzoka.
Hungary
The Polish minority in Hungary is 7,001, according to the 2011 census, and has a long history of over 1000 years. The Kingdom of Poland and Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth contained five exclaves in Spisz surrounded by territory of the Kingdom of Hungary, and following the Partitions of Poland, the Hungarian part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (1867–1918), contained Spisz and Orava with sizeable indigenous Polish populations.
Iceland
In 2021, Statistics Iceland recorded 18,508 Polish-born people living in Iceland, with Poles constituting roughly 5% of the total population.
Ireland
After Poland joined the European Union in 2004, Ireland immediately opened its borders and welcomed Polish workers as relatively cheap qualified labour (only the United Kingdom and Sweden did the same). Ireland quickly became a key destination for young Poles seeking work outside the country. According to the 2011 census, there are 122,585 Poles living in Ireland,
Italy
The Polish minority of confirmed status in Italy is 74,981, whereas the estimated total is 100,000, as of 2023. Most Poles are late-20th-century immigrants drawn by the Italian economy's desire for imported labour. Large Polish immigrant communities are found in Rome, Milan and Venice. Polish immigration to Italy might continue while the EU contract labour program between the two countries remains in place.
History of Polish migration to Italy dates back over 500 years. In the 1920s, some 1,000 Poles lived in Italy, mostly clergy, artists, scholars and students, with Polish associations active in Rome and Trieste.
Latvia
Poles form about 2.3% of Latvia total population and number 51,548 people. They are mainly concentrated in Latvia's largest cities: Riga and Daugavpils. Since most of them don't use Latvian language as their primary language their citizenship status can vary.
Lithuania
According to 2021 census, Poles are 6.52% of Lithuania's population, totaling 183,421 people[ Polacy wciąż trzymają się mocno na Litwie. Ujawniono pierwsze wyniki spisu ludności. Media Narodowe] and over 16% of Vilnius population.[ Vilnius population review]
Malta
Moldova
Polish presence in the territories of present-day Moldova dates back several centuries, as the northern part of modern Transnistria formed part of the Kingdom of Poland before the Partitions of Poland, and the Principality of Moldavia was a vassal state of the Kingdom of Poland and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth at various times. The most numerous Polish communities in Moldova live in the cities of Bălți, Chișinău, Rîbnița (former ) and Tiraspol. According to the 2004 census, comprising both Moldova and Transnistria, there were 4,174 Poles in the country.
Norway
According to the Norwegian Statistics Bureau ( Statistisk sentralbyrå), there are 137,425 Poles in Norway (2024 Official Norway estimate)
Portugal
There are, as of December 2022, approximately 4,326 Polish people in Portugal, mainly recent immigrants.
Romania
According to the 2021 census, 2,137 Poles live in Romania, mainly in the villages of the Suceava County ().
Russia
Following the Partitions of Poland, Russia annexed the largest portion of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and afterwards many Poles were either deported eastwards as political prisoners or were conscripted to the Russian Army, and some migrated voluntarily.
During the Second World War, the Soviet Union annexed large parts of Poland's former eastern territories of Kresy. Many Poles were expelled, but a significant number remained in what is now Belarus, Ukraine, and Lithuania. The Soviet authorities also forcibly resettled large numbers of Poles to Russia, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan. In Russia there are about 47,000 Poles.
Serbia
There is a small community of descendants of Silesians miners in Ostojićevo.
Slovakia
According to the 2011 Slovak census results, there are 3,084 (0.1%) Poles living in Slovakia.
Spain
The Polish minority in Spain numbers between 45,000 and 60,000.
Sweden
During World War II, the Polish resistance, in cooperation with Polish outposts in Sweden, organized escapes of Poles from German-occupied Poland to Sweden by sea.
Like only the United Kingdom and Ireland, Sweden let Poles work in the country once Poland joined the European Union in 2004. The number of Poles in Sweden has been estimated to be around 118,060 people, 100,062 of who were born in Poland and 17,998 with both of their parents being born in Poland. Poles are thus Sweden's fifth-largest immigrant group, after Finns, Iraqis, former Yugoslavs (Bosnians, Croats, Serbs) and Syrians.
Switzerland
Like the Polish community of Finland, some Polish diasporans from Germany were come from the Rhine-Ruhr basin, as immigrant workers to Switzerland. The biggest Polish diaspora community lives in Northern Switzerland.
Turkey
In 1842, Prince Adam Czartoryski founded the village of Adampol for Polish immigrants who came to Turkey after the failed November Uprising. The village still exists and is now called Polonezköy (Turkish language for Polish Village). It is the main centre of the small but historic Polish community in Turkey. The Polish minority in Turkey has been estimated to be around 4,000 people. However, it is higher than the Turkish census indicates because of Turkified Poles who marry Turks. For example, Leyla Gencer's mother was Atiye Çeyrekgil, who was born Alexandra Angela Minakovska and converted to Islam after the death of her husband.[Leyla Gencer] Also, Nazım Hikmet Ran's mother, Ayşe Celile Hanım, was a descendant of Mustafa Celaleddin Pasha, who was born as Konstantin Borzecki in 1826. He immigrated to Ottoman Empire after Greater Poland Uprising and embraced Islam in 1848. He later became an Ottoman General and died in 1876.[Nâzım Hikmet]
Ukraine
According to the 2001 Ukrainian census, 144,130 Poles were residing in the country.
Poles began settling in the territory of present Ukraine in the 14th century, after Red Ruthenia had become part of the Kingdom of Poland. The number of Poles in Ukraine gradually increased over the centuries, but after World War II, it drastically decreased, as a result of the Soviet mass deportation of the Poles in Ukraine to Siberia and other eastern regions of the USSR as well as a campaign of ethnic cleansing, which was carried out in the early 1940s by Ukrainian nationalists in the western part of the country (see Massacres of Poles in Volhynia). There was a Polish Autonomous District near Zhytomyr that was created in 1926, but it was disbanded in 1935 and its Polish inhabitants were either murdered or deported to Kazakhstan. The majority of those who survived the war in Ukraine were forcibly deported to the former eastern territories of Germany after Poland was shifted to the west by the Allied Potsdam Agreement after World War II.
United Kingdom
It was only after the First World War that Poles settled in large numbers in London – many from the Prisoner of War camps in Alexandra Palace and Feltham. During the Second World War many Poles came to the United Kingdom as political émigrés and to join the Polish Armed Forces in the West being recreated there. When the Second World War ended, a Communist government was installed in Poland and was hostile to servicemen returning from the West. Many soldiers refused to return to Poland, and around 150,000, after occupying resettlement camps, later settled in the UK. The Polish Government in London was not dissolved until 1991 when a freely elected president took office in Warsaw.
After Poland entered the European Union in May 2004, Poles gained the right to work in some other EU countries. While France and Germany put in place temporary controls to curb Central European migration, the United Kingdom (along with only Sweden and Ireland) did not impose restrictions. Many young Poles have come to work in the UK since then.
Estimates for the total number of people now living in the UK and born in Poland or of Polish descent vary significantly. There were an estimated 831,000 Polish-born residents in 2015
The 2008 financial crisis in the UK and the growing economy in Poland reduced the economic incentive for Poles to migrate to the UK.[ UK Poles return home. The Telegraph. February 21, 2009.] By the last quarter of 2008, it was claimed by the IPPR that up to half of those that had come to the UK to work may have returned home.[ Packing up for home: Poles hit by UK's economic downturn , This is London, October 20, 2008,] However, the 2011 UK Census also indicates that it was probably never true.
According to the UK Office for National Statistics, Poland had overtaken India as the most common overseas country of birth for foreign-born people living in the United Kingdom in 2015.
North America
The United States and Canada were the major focus of Polish political and economic migration since 1850 up until the fall of the Iron Curtain and Poland's accession into the EU.
Canada
|243x243px]]The first Polish immigrants came to Canada in the 19th century. Statistics Canada counted 982,820 Canadians of Polish origin in its 2021 Census.
The Canadian Polish Congress is an umbrella organization, founded in 1944 by Polish Canadians to coordinate the activities and to articulate the concerns of the community on public policy issues.
Haiti
About 5,000 Poles fighting in Polish Legions in the Napoleonic armies were sent to fight against the rebelling Haitians. Many of the Poles who were sent there felt it wrong to fight against the Haitians who were fighting for their freedom—just like the Poles in the Napoleonic armies—and some 400 Poles changed sides. After the war, the Haitian constitution stated that because the Poles switched sides and fought for their cause, all Poles could become Haitian citizens. Many of the Poles who were sent to Haiti stayed there. Most of their descendants live in Cazale and Fond-des-Blancs.
Mexico
The first Polish immigrants to Mexico arrived in the late 19th century. During World War II, Mexico received thousands of refugees from Poland, primarily of Jewish origin, who settled in the states of Chihuahua and Nuevo León.
United States
[[Image:Polish ancestry in the USA and Canada.png|thumb|Polish ancestry in the US and Canada by area:
|200x200px|left]]The first Polish settlement in the United States was founded in Panna Maria, Texas in 1854.
The United States Census Bureau published an infographic entitled Detailed Races and Ethnicities in the United States and Puerto Rico: 2020 Census. This data source showed that the number of Americans who cited their ethnic group as Polish was 2,686,362 alone and 8,599,601 alone or in any combination in 2020.
The United States Census Bureau also estimates language use through its American Community Survey. The most recent data release is Detailed Languages Spoken at Home and Ability to Speak English for the Population 5 Years and Over: 2017-2021.
Ever since the founding of the first settlement in Panna Maria, Polish Americans have been very active in the Catholic Church church. The Central Archives of American Polonia at the Orchard Lake Schools is a research center that compiles data about the history of Christianity among Polish Americans. This research center estimates that Polish Americans established approximately 1,000 parishes of a Polish character during the history of the United States.
Polish Americans have demonstrated a strong interest in the sovereignty of Poland. During World War I, notable numbers of Polish Americans joined the United States Armed Forces. The veterans associations from this conflict merged in 1931 to create the Polish Legion of American Veterans.
South America
There has been political and economic migration of Poles to South America since the mid-19th century. The largest number went to Brazil, followed by Argentina.
Argentina
In Argentina, Poles are one of the most significant minorities, with around 500,000.
Brazil
The number of people of Polish descent in Brazil is estimated at 3 million. Most Polish Brazilians are Catholic, but there are Jews and nonreligious minorities. The oldest (1871) and largest concentration of Poles is in the city of Curitiba, Paraná. Another large communities is to be found in Rio Grande do Sul and Espírito Santo. Both are in the South and Southeastern Regions.
Chile
A small number of Poles came to Chile. The first came during the Napoleonic Wars. In the early 20th century, there were around 300 Poles in Chile, but they were considered Germans. After World War II, from 1947 to 1951, around 1,500 Poles, mostly Zivilarbeitero as well as some former soldiers and Nazi concentration camp inmates settled in Chile, and in 1949, the Association of Poles in Chile was founded.[ Relaciones entre Polonia y Chile. Pasado y presente, (ed.) Katarzyna Dembicz serie: Polonia y el Mundo Iberoamericano, CESLA, Warszawa, 2002] Most live in Santiago de Chile. One of the notable Polish Chileans is Ignacy Domeyko.
Colombia
It is estimated that around 3,000 Poles live in Colombia, mostly in Bogotá.[ Polska Diaspora na świecie, Stowarzyszenie Wspólnota Polska, 2007. Retrieved 14 August 2020.]
Uruguay
Polish immigration in Uruguay brought Poles to settle in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. An estimated 10,000–50,000 Polish descendants are thought to live in Uruguay, mostly in Montevideo, the capital. Often, Poles came when the Germans and the Russians ruled Poland and so were known as "Germans" or "Russians".
Venezuela
The Polish colony in Venezuela is well dispersed throughout the country, but most of the Poles and their descendants live in big cities like Caracas, Maracaibo and Valencia.
Oceania
Australia
The first Polish settlers arrived in South Australia in 1856. After World War II, many migrated from Poland to Australia, including soldiers from the Polish Independent Carpathian Brigade (the "Rats of Tobruk").
Between 1947 and 1954, over 50,000 Polish individuals migrated to Australia, seeking refuge after many were displaced during World War II.
There are now 45,884 Poland-born Australians according to the 2021 census.
According to the 2021 census, there are 209,284 Polish Australians.
New Zealand
In 1944, more than 700 Polish orphans, survivors of forced resettlement of Poles to Soviet Siberia, and their caregivers were temporarily resettled at a refugee camp at Pahiatua, New Zealand. It was initially planned for the children to return to Poland after World War II ended, but as they had no homes or families to return to, they were eventually allowed to stay in New Zealand after the end of the war.
At the 2013 census, Polish New Zealanders numbered 1,944 by birth and 2,163 by ethnicity; of them, 42 percent lived in the Auckland Region and 23 percent in the Wellington Region.
Papua New Guinea
According to estimates from 2007, some 20 Poles lived in Papua New Guinea,[ mostly Polish Catholic missionaries and nuns, and physicians.
]
Asia
Armenia
The first Poles in Armenia were merchants in the 16th century, while Polish Catholic missionaries have inhabited the country since the 17th century. According to estimates from 2007, some 1,200 Poles lived in Armenia.[
]
Azerbaijan
In nation, there is a long history of Poles in Azerbaijan (Polish: Polacy w Azerbejdżanie, Azerbaijani: Azərbaycan polyakları). However the current Polish population of the Republic of Azerbaijan is smaller than in former times, the number of people of Polish descent in Baku is around 2,000 and several thousand self-identified Poles live in Azerbaijan. Poles as an ethnic group have lived in Azerbaijan for centuries. The Russian Empire included Azerbaijan and parts of Poland during the 19th century, this was a large cause of the Polish minority in Azerbaijan.
China
Polish presence in China dates back to the 17th century, the first Poles in China being Polish missionaries and scholars. Eventually, Poles made contributions in the fields of medicine and healthcare, developed infrastructure and industry, introduced sugar beet cultivation to China and established the country's Harbin Brewery. The most vibrant Polish communities were centered in Harbin and Shanghai, however, most left China after both world wars. According to estimates from 2012, some 1,000 Poles lived in China, mostly in the cities of Beijing, Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Shanghai.
Georgia
Polish presence in Georgia dates back to the 18th century. Poles made great contributions in the fields of architecture, geography, arts, botany and zoology in Georgia. According to estimates from 2007, some 6,000 Poles lived in Georgia.[
]
India
The Indian maharaja Digvijaysinhji Ranjitsinhji, following the news of Poland being divided by the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany at the World War II, had welcomed a large number of Polish refugees, mostly children. They were the first Polish group to be in India.
Israel
In the early years of Zionism, Jewish immigrants from Poland (then divided between Austria-Hungary, The Kingdom of Prussia and the Russian Empire) were a significant part of the ideologically motivated immigration to the then Palestine during the Second Aliya and the Third Aliyah. Many Jews of Polish origin had prominent roles in building up the Yishuv, the autonomous Zionist-oriented Jewish community in Mandatory Palestine from which Israel developed. In the aftermath of the Holocaust, many Jewish Displaced Persons in Europe who eventually got to Israel were also of Polish origin. In later generations, they generally abandoned the Polish and Yiddish languages, in favour of Modern Hebrew.
About 4,000 non-Jewish ethnic Poles live in Israel. There are also about 50,000 Jewish immigrants from Poland, with an affinity to the Polish language and culture and about 150,000 of their descendants with very little of that affinity left.
Japan
1,510 Poles lived in Japan, as of 2023; the majority (915) in Kantō region and Tokyo.
In the 1920s, some 300 Poles lived in Japan, mostly in the Karafuto Prefecture.
Kazakhstan
The first Pole to travel to Kazakhstan was probably Benedict of Poland, sent as part of the delegation of Pope Innocent IV to the Khagan Güyük of the Mongol Empire. Later more Poles came to Kazakhstan during the Post-Soviet times. Today these Poles live in Karaganda with a population of 47,300 people.
Kyrgyzstan
Polish presence in Kyrgyzstan dates back to the 19th century, with the community growing from 240 in 1890 to 1,961 in 1979.
Pakistan
Philippines
During Spanish colonization, most Poles immigrated to the Philippines mostly for the Catholic clergy missionary work in other Asian countries. One of these Polish men was Wojciech Męciński a Jesuit missionary from Kraków. Later on, other Poles came to the Philippines but mostly they were Polish Americans, including Michael Sendzimir, a second lieutenant who worked in the 98th Infantry Division during World War II. Today the Polish community in the Philippines has about 93 people. Some of these Poles today come to the Philippines as immigrants, ex-pats, foreign exchange students, or settled down in the Philippines by their Filipino spouses. some members of the Polish community in the Philippines, include Robert Jaworski a basketball player and an ex-senator, Zaldy Zshornack (1937–2002) and an Australian Polish man Peter Pysk founded a Polish restaurant called Babci Kuchnia. Most of the Poles live in Metro Manila, and the Polish community is the fourth-largest Central European community after the German, Hungarian, and Albanian communities in the country.
Saudi Arabia
Some 500 Poles live in Saudi Arabia, mostly educated professionals, according to estimates from 2023.
Singapore
Some 1,500 to 2,000 Poles live in Singapore, mostly educated employees of the maritime sector, international corporations and banks, plus scientists, according to estimates from 2023.
Tajikistan
According to the 2010 census, 23 Poles lived in Tajikistan, although the diaspora was much more numerous, with over 700 people prior to the Tajikistani Civil War.
Thailand
In the 1920s some 20 Poles lived in Thailand,[
]
Turkmenistan
Polish presence in Turkmenistan dates back to the 19th century. According to the 1995 census, 501 Poles lived in Turkmenistan.
Uzbekistan
Polish presence in Uzbekistan dates back to the 19th century. According to estimates from 2023, some 2,000 Poles and people of Polish descent lived in Uzbekistan.
Vietnam
Some 200 to 300 Poles lived in Vietnam, according to 2023 estimates, including managers, entrepreneurs and teachers.
Africa
Senegal
A number of Polish missionaries worked in Senegal, starting with Jan Krzyżanowski, who lived there from 1932 until his death in 1963, making efforts to discover cures for yellow fever and other tropical diseases.[Ndiaye, pp. 198–205]
According to estimates from 2023, some 55 Poles lived in Senegal.
South Africa
According to the Council of Polonia in South Africa, 25,000 to 30,000 Poles live there.
Tanzania
During World War II, 6,631 Polish refugees escaping the Soviet Union, including 671 men (mostly elders), 3,255 women and 2,705 children, were admitted in the Tanganyika Territory (as of December 1944). After the war, most Poles were repatriated to Europe, and 230 were allowed to stay.
According to estimates from 2007, some 100 Poles lived in Tanzania.[
]
Uganda
During World War II, 6,443 Polish refugees escaping the Soviet Union, including 704 men (mostly elders), 2,833 women and 2,906 children, were admitted in the Protectorate of Uganda (as of December 1944). After the war, the Polish refugees were gradually repatriated to Europe. In 1948, there were still 1,387 Poles in Uganda. The remaining Polish refugees most likely left Uganda by 1952. A preserved remnant of Polish refugees in Uganda is the Our Lady Queen of Poland Catholic Church near Masindi.
According to estimates from 2007, some 100 Poles lived in Uganda.[
]
Zambia
During World War II, Polish refugees escaping the Soviet Union were admitted in Northern Rhodesia, whose number was 2,894 as of December 1944. After the war, most Poles were repatriated to Europe, except for some 340 people who were allowed to stay.
According to estimates from 2007, some 100 Poles lived in Zambia.[
]
Zimbabwe
During World War II, Polish refugees escaping the Soviet Union were admitted in Southern Rhodesia, mostly in Rusape and Marondera. As of December 1944, their number was 1,437. After the war, most Poles were repatriated to Europe, some were relocated to Tanganyika, and some 120 stayed.
According to estimates from 2007, some 800 Poles lived in Zimbabwe.[
]
List of countries by the population of Polish ethnicity
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Detailed Races and Ethnicities in the United States and Puerto Rico: 2020 Census |
Statistics Canada: Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population |
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[ Polonia w liczbach Stowarzyszenie Wspólnota Polska] |
[ ZJEDNOCZENIE POLSKIE W CHILE IM IGNACEGO DOMEYKI , a notice] |
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[ Statistics from belstat.gov.by (бюллетень). See page 22. RAR data compression of 171.5KB file. Listing total population of Belarus with population by age and sex, marital status, education, nationality, language and livelihood ("Общая численность населения; численность населения по возрасту и полу, состоянию в браке, уровню образования, национальностям, языку, источникам средств к существованию") ] |
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They make them the biggest minority ethnic group in Iceland, including second-generation immigrants. |
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Poles are the largest foreign-born community in Britain
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Politics
2025 Polish presidential election
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| Abroad and ships | 171,536 | 36.82 | 74,844 | 16.07 | 77,229 | 16.58 | 51,552 | 11.07 | 15,971 | 3.43 | 30,147 | 6.47 | 28,466 | 6.11 | 4,184 | 0.90 | 5,800 | 1.24 | 2,932 | 0.63 | 2,054 | 0.44 | 917 | 0.20 | 235 | 0.05 |
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| Source: National Electoral Commission |
See also
Notes
Bibliography
External links
