Polish-American Heritage Month: October 2023

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Polish-American Heritage Month: October 2023

October 2023

Press Release Number CB23-SFS.145

From The American Presidency Project, Proclamation 5548—Polish American Heritage Month, 1986:

“In October, we celebrate Polish American Heritage Month in the United States. Our nation owes an immeasurable debt of gratitude to the millions of freedom-loving Poles who have come to our shores to build a new land. Polish Americans can be justly proud of the vital contributions people of Polish descent have made to our nation in the arts, the sciences, religion, scholarship and every area of endeavor.

“The military genius of Kosciuszko and Pulaski was essential in the defense of our freedoms in the Revolutionary War. Since then, millions of Poland's sons and daughters have helped build our country's prosperity and defend our liberty.”

From the Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook, Poland:

“During the 18th century, internal disorders weakened the nation, and in a series of agreements between 1772 and 1795, Russia, Prussia, and Austria partitioned Poland among themselves. Poland regained its independence in 1918 only to be overrun by Germany and the Soviet Union in World War II. It became a Soviet satellite state following the war. Labor turmoil in 1980 led to the formation of the independent trade union "Solidarity" that over time became a political force with over 10 million members. Free elections in 1989 and 1990 won Solidarity control of the parliament and the presidency, bringing the communist era to a close. A "shock therapy" program during the early 1990s enabled the country to transform its economy into one of the most robust in Central Europe. Poland joined NATO in 1999 and the EU in 2004.”

Key Stats

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, International Database (demographic data) and USA Trade Online (trade data); Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook (country reference maps).

Population Clock, World Population Clock: Poland

Note: Click on the image above for the full page on Poland.

More Stats

Source: 2022 American Community Survey (ACS) 1-year estimates

Table B04006, People Reporting Ancestry, Universe: Total population (find Polish)

Table B05006, Place of Birth for the Foreign-Born Population in the United States, Universe: Foreign-born population excluding population born at sea (find Poland under Eastern Europe)

Table B16001, Language Spoken at Home by Ability to Speak English for the Population 5 Years and Over (find Polish)

Table C04006, People Reporting Ancestry, find Polish in table below

Table S0201, Selected Population Profile in the United States, Polish (ancestry)

Table S0201, Selected Population Profile in the United States, Poland (foreign-born population born in Poland)

Note: The Table C04006 image above was downloaded from census.gov and modified to sort the “Estimate” column numbers from U.S. total of 333,287,562 down to Subsaharan African, the 10th most reported ancestry. Polish was the sixth most-reported ancestry in the United States after German, English, Irish, American and Italian.

From Business and Economy > International Trade Data:

FT900: U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services, July 2023 (Poland mentioned 14 times) [1.3 MB]

Trade in Goods with Poland (1985-2023)

USA Trade Online, The Official Source of Trade Statistics

Note: After you create an account, select options for State Export Data (Origin of Movement) or State Import Data (State of Destination) by Harmonized System (HS) or NAICS. Select State, Measures, Commodity, Country (select Poland) or Time for data. More information can be found in the Quick Start Guide. USA Trade Online does not provide direct links to the data.

From International Programs Center > International Database (IDB).