Indicator history

In Polish law, a national minority is defined as a group of Polish citizens that collectively meets the following conditions: it is less in number than the remainder of the Polish population; it differs in a significant manner from other citizens by language, culture and tradition; it seeks to maintain its language, tradition and culture; it is conscious of its own historic national community and is inclined to express and protect it; has resided in the Republic of Poland for at least 100 years; and, it identifies with the nation organised in its own state. The definition of the ethnic minority is the same as the definition of the national minority except that the ethnic minority does not identify with a nation organised in its own state. This means that self-identification is not a sufficient enough criterion to be recognized as ethnic or national minority and, consequently, enjoy minority’s rights. For many years, Silesians have been unsuccessfully demanding recognition as a minority, even though in the 2002 census 173 thousand people declared Silesian nationality (experts on ethnic issues are not unanimous on whether it is actually possible to consider Silesians a minority). Due to the above legal definitions, migrant groups also cannot be treated as ethnic / national minorities.

According to the Act on National and Ethnic Minorities and Regional Language recognized national/ethnic minorities include Belarusians, Czechs, Lithuanians, Germans, Armenians, Russians, Slovaks, Ukrainians, Jews, the Roma, Lemkos, Karaims and Tatars. Kashebe are recognized as a group using regional language and enjoy the same linguistic rights as minorities.

Source: Act on National and Ethnic Minorities and Regional Language, Poland (Dz. U. 2005/17/141).