Geographical information about Poland on PICC site

Republic of Poland flag	Polish ensign	Poland on map of Europe

Geographical information:

Country: Republic of Poland (Poland, "POLSKA")
Area: 312,679 km2
Population: 38,130,302 people
Capital city: Warsaw ("Warszawa")

Other big cities:
Szczecin
Gdańsk
Poznań
Wrocław
Łódź
Kraków
Bydgoszcz
Lublin
Katowice
Opole

Breakdown of border lengths per country: 
Czech Republic: 790 km
Slovakia: 541 km
Ukraine: 535 km
Germany: 467 km
Belarus: 418 km
Russia (Kaliningrad): 210 km
Lithuania: 104 km

Languages
Official language: polish

Administrative Divisions

     The voivodeships are subdivided into powiats (counties), and these are further divided into gminas (also known as communes or municipalities). Major cities normally have the status of both gmina and powiat. Poland currently has 16 voivodeships, 379 powiats (including 65 cities with powiat status), and 2,478 gminas.

voivodeships in Poland

MORE INFO:

     Poland’s territory extends across several geographical regions. In the northwest is the Baltic seacoast, which extends from the Bay of Pomerania to the Gulf of Gdansk. This coast is marked by several spits, coastal lakes and dunes. The largely straight coastline is indented by the Szczecin Lagoon, the Bay of Puck, and the Vistula Lagoon. The center and parts of the north lie within the North European Plain. Rising gently above these lowlands is a geographical region comprising the four hilly districts of moraines and moraine-dammed lakes formed during and after the Pleistocene ice age. These lake districts are the Pomeranian Lake District, the Greater Polish Lake District, the Kashubian Lake District, and the Masurian Lake District. The Masurian Lake District is the largest of the four and covers much of northeastern Poland. The lake districts form part of the Baltic Ridge, a series of moraine belts along the southern shore of the Baltic Sea. South of the Northern European Lowlands lie the regions of Silesia and Masovia, which are marked by broad ice-age river valleys. Farther south lies the Polish mountain region, including the Sudetes, the Cracow-Częstochowa Upland, the Świętokrzyskie Mountains, and the Carpathian Mountains, including the Beskids. The highest part of the Carpathians is the Tatra Mountains, along Poland’s southern border.

     The longest rivers are the Vistula (Polish: Wisła), 1,047 kilometres (651 mi) long; the Oder (Polish: Odra) which forms part of Poland’s western border, 854 kilometres (531 mi) long; its tributary, the Warta, 808 kilometres (502 mi) long; and the Bug, a tributary of the Vistula, 772 kilometres (480 mi) long. Poland’s rivers have been used since early times for navigation. The Vikings, for example, traveled up the Vistula and the Oder in their longships. In the Middle Ages and in early modern times, when the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was the breadbasket of Europe, the shipment of grain and other agricultural products down the Vistula toward Gdańsk and onward to eastern Europe took on great importance. Poland has 21 mountains over 2,000 metres (6,600 ft) in elevation, all in the High Tatras. The Polish Tatras, which consist of the High Tatras and the Western Tatras, is the highest mountain group of Poland and of the entire Carpathian range. In the High Tatras lies Poland’s highest point, the northwestern peak of Rysy, 2,499 metres (8,200 ft) in elevation. At its foot lies the mountain lake, the Morskie Oko.

     The Polish Baltic coast is approximately 528 kilometres (328 mi) long and extends from Świnoujście on the islands of Usedom and Wolin in the west to Krynica Morska on the Vistula Spit in the east. For the most part, Poland has a smooth coastline, which has been shaped by the continual movement of sand by currents and winds from west to east. Błędów Desert, the only desert in Poland is a desert located in Southern Poland in the Silesian Voivodeship and stretches over the Zagłębie Dąbrowskie region. It has a total area of 32 square kilometres (12 sq mi). Forests cover 28% of Poland’s land area. More than half of the land is devoted to agriculture. While the total area under cultivation is declining, the remaining farmland is more intensively cultivated. More than 1% of Poland’s territory, 3,145 square kilometres (1,214 sq mi), is protected within 23 national parks. In this respect, Poland ranks first in Europe.

     The judicial branch plays an important role in decision-making. Its major institutions include the Supreme Court of the Republic of Poland (Sąd Najwyższy); the Supreme Administrative Court of the Republic of Poland (Naczelny Sąd Administracyjny); the Constitutional Tribunal of the Republic of Poland (Trybunał Konstytucyjny); and the State Tribunal of the Republic of Poland (Trybunał Stanu). On the approval of the Senate, the Sejm also appoints the Ombudsman or the Commissioner for Civil Rights Protection (Rzecznik Praw Obywatelskich) for a five-year term. The Ombudsman has the duty of guarding the observance and implementation of the rights and liberties of Polish citizens and residents, of the law and of principles of community life and social justice.

Demographics

     Poland, with 38,116,000 inhabitants has the eighth-largest population in Europe and the sixth-largest in the European Union. It has a population density of 122 inhabitants per square kilometer (328 per square mile). The largest metropolitan areas that lie in Poland are the Silesian metropolitan area centred on Katowice and other cities of Upper Silesian Coal Basin (over 5 million inhabitants: ~4 million in Poland, ~1 million in Czech Republic); the capital, Warsaw (~3 million); Kraków (~1.3 million), Łódź (~1.2 million); the Tricity of Gdańsk-Sopot-Gdynia, Poznań and Wrocław (each about 1 million). The largest urban area is Katowice urban area (~2,7 million inhabitants).

source: Wikipedia