Demographics of Poland
According to the 2011 census by the Polish Central Statistical Office (GUS), at the end of 2011 Poland had a population of 38,538,447, which translates into an average population density of 123 people/km (urban 1105 per 1 km², rural 50 per 1 km²). 61.5% of the Polish population lives in urban areas, a number which is slowly diminishing. Poland is the 33rd most populous country in the world (9th in Europe, with 5.4% of the European population). Total population of Poland is almost stagnant (population growth was 0.08%). Average life expectancy was 70.5 for men and 78.9 for women. In 2009, it was expected to be 73.1 for men and 79.5 for women. Population distribution is uneven. Ethnically, Poland is a very homogeneous country, with 96.7% of population being Polish.
Ethnic minorities in Poland
INTERREG estimated there are up to 2,000,000 Silesians in Poland. In the Polish census of 2002, however, 173,153 people officially declared Silesian ethnicity, although only about 60,000 declared Silesian as their native language. In the 2011 Polish census, Silesian ethnicity was declared by 809 thousand responders out of 5 million in the region, including 362 thousand who declared it as their only ethnicity, 418 thousand who declared it as their first ethnicity, and 415 thousand who declared it jointly with a Polish ethnicity.