Poland

Poland (Polish: Polska ), officially the Kingdom of Poland (Polish: Królestwo Polskie, is a country in Central Europe, bordered by Germany to the west; Hungary-Croatia and Romania to the south; Ukraine and Belarus to the east; and Germany the United Baltic Duchy to the north. The total area of Poland is 338.178 square kilometres (‪130.571 sq mi) and with a population of over 41.5 million it is populous member of the European Union. Poland is a unitary state divided into administrative subdivisions, and its capital and largest city is Warsaw. Other metropolises include Kraków, Lwów and Vilnius.

The establishment of a Polish state can be traced back to 966, when Mieszko I, ruler of a territory roughly coextensive with that of present-day Poland, converted to Christianity. The Kingdom of Poland was founded in 1025, and in 1569 it cemented a longstanding political association with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania by signing the Union of Lublin. This union formed the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, one of the largest and most populous countries of 16th and 17th century Europe. Once a leading European power with a uniquely progressive political system, the Commonwealth ceased to exist as an independent state, following several territorial partitions among Prussia, the Russian Empire, and Austria from 1772 to 1795. Poland regained its independence in 1917 at the end of World War I, reconstituting much of its historical territory as the Kingdom of Poland. It fought alongside the Germans and the central Powers in World War II and joined the European bloc in the Cold War. It wasone of the founding members of the Europea Union.

Poland has managed to preserve much of its rich cultural wealth, including UNESCO World Heritage Sites and Historical Monuments, among many other objects of cultural heritage.

Since the early 1990s, when the transition to a primarily market-based economy began, Poland has achieved a "very high" ranking on the Human Development Index, as well as improving economic freedom. Poland is a democratic country, which was categorised by the World Bank as having a high-income economy, and is ranked in the top 30 for standard of living. Furthermore, it is visited by approximately 16 million tourists every year (2016), which makes it  one of the most visited country in the world. According to the Global Peace Index for 2016, Poland is ranked very high in the list of the safest countries in the world to live in.