Size: 312,683 sq km

Population: 38.6 million (1998), 97 per cent ethnically Polish, with 60 per cent of total population living in cities. Population density is 123 per sq km.

Religion: Roman Catholic: 95 per cent. Other Christian denominations include Russian Orthodox and Protestant.

Government: A democratic republic, with legislative power vested in the National Assembly which, subject to dissolution, is elected for a four-year term. The NA has an upper chamber, the Senate, with 100 members, and a lower chamber, the Sejm, with 460 members.

Principal Cities: Katowice (region): 4.5 million; Warsaw: 2 million; Lodz: 850,000; Krakow: 750,000; Wroclaw: 650,000; Poznan: 600,000; Gdansk: 500,000.

Economy: GDP (1997) in current prices and PPS: 291 billion PPS (PPS: Purchasing Power Standards, is the artificial currency used to remove the effect of price differences between countries. PPS are based on a basket of goods and services). GDP (1997) per person in current prices and PPS : 7,500 PPS.

Growth: GDP 6.9 per cent for 1997 - almost 40 per cent of the EU average.

Inflation: September 1997/September 1998: 10.6 per cent. Forecast 9.5 per cent, December 1997/December 1998.

Employment: Labour force: 17.5 million, with 60 per cent in the private sector, of which the non-agricultural sector takes 46 per cent. Women are about 50 per cent of the workforce. Unemployment is about 15.4 per cent, with wide variations from region to region and considerable unemployment in the age group 15-24, but the rate of unemployment is levelling off.

Currency: the zloty: PLZ 5.13 = IR£1; PLZ 5.67 = Stg£1; PLZ 3.43 = $1; PLZ 2.05 = DM1.

Useful addresses/phone numbers:

Embassy of Poland, 5 Ailesbury Road, Dublin 4 Tel: (01) 2830855 Fax: (01) 2698309

Commercial Section Tel: (01) 2691370 Fax: (01) 2697662

Polish National Tourist Office, First Floor, Remo House, 310-312 Regent Street, London W1R 5AJ Tel: 0044 171 5808811 Fax: 0044 171 5808866

LOT Polish Airlines, 313 Regent Street, London W1R 7PE Tel: 0044 171 5805037 Fax: 0044 171 3230774

Ireland Poland Economic Association, 84-86 Lr Baggot Street, Dublin 2 Tel: (01) 6601011

Irish-Polish Society, 20, Fitzwilliam Place, Dublin 2 Tel: (01) 6762515

Bord Trachtala, Merrion Hall, Strand Road, Sandymount, Dublin 4 Tel: (01) 2066000 Fax: 2066400