Historical demographics of Poland
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Before World War II the now Polish lands were noted for the richness and variety of their ethnic communities.
In the provinces of Lower Silesia, Western Pomerania, and Northern part of East Prussia there was a significant population of ethnic Germans. The native people of those provinces consisted of Silesians, Western Kashubs, Warmiaks and Masurs.
In the southeast, Ukrainian settlements were present in the regions east of Chelm and in the Carpathians east of Nowy Sacz. The three main native higlander populations were Lemkowie, Bojkowie and Huculi.
In all the towns and cities there were large concentrations of Yiddish-speaking Jews. The Polish ethnographic area stretched eastward: in Lithuania, Belarus, and western Ukraine, all of which had a mixed population, Poles predominated not only in the cities but also in numerous rural districts. There were significant Polish minorities in Daugavpils (in Latvia), Minsk (in Belarus), and Kyiv (in Ukraine).
Before the World War II period there were significant ethnic minorities: 4.5 million Ukrainians, 3 million Jews, 1 million Belarusians, and 800,000 Germans. The majority of the Jews were murdered by the Germans during the occupation in World War II and many others emigrated in the succeeding years.
Most Germans were removed from Poland at the end of the war, while many Ukrainians and Belorussians lived in territories incorporated into the USSR. Small Ukrainian, Belorussian, Slovak, and Lithuanian minorities reside along the borders, and a German minority is concentrated near the southwestern city of Opole. Groups of Ukrainians and Polish Ruthenians also live in western Poland, where they were forcefully resettled by communists.
As a result of the migrations and the Soviet Unions radically altered borders under the rule of Joseph Stalin, the population of Poland became one of the most ethnically homogeneous in the world. Virtually all people in Poland claim Polish nationality, with Polish as their native tongue. Ukrainians, the largest minority group, are scattered in various northern districts. Lesser numbers of Belarusians and Lithuanians live in areas adjoining Belarus and Lithuania. The Jewish community, almost entirely Polonized, has been greatly reduced. In Silesia a significant segment of the population, of mixed Polish and German ancestry, tends to declare itself as Polish or German according to political circumstances.
Minorities of Germans remain in their little homeland of Pomerania, Silesia, East Prussia, and Lubus.
Small populations of Polish Tartars still exist and still practice Islam. Some Polish towns, mainly in northeastern Poland have mosques. Tartars arrived as mercenary soldiers beginning in the late 1300s. The Tartar population reached approximately 100,000 in 1630 but is less than 5,000 in 2000.