Local short name form

Official name

Area

Population

Capital

Currency

International telephone access code

ISO 3166 country codes

Car nationality plate code

Internet country code

GRC Country Code

   1 234,45

(where , indicates the decimal separator and a space the thousands separator)

   Note: This section last updated 31st May 2021

   dd/mm/yyyy
   dd.mm.yyyy
   yyyy-mm-dd

   14:32

The official language, Polish , is spoken by 98% of the population. Ukrainian is spoken by about 1 500 000 people; German by 1 400 000 people; Belorussian by 230 000; Kashubian by 200 000 and Romani (in four forms) by about 30 000 people.

It is required by law for a given name to clearly indicate the person’s gender.

Children usually take the surnames of their fathers. It is becoming popular to take two surnames (one from each parent). For example, Plichta-Bakowski, Plichta from the father and Bakowski from the mother. Female spouses often have double surnames (hyphenated), the first part her maiden name, the second the surname of her husband. Rarely, women do not take their husband’s surname, or children take the mother’s surname.

Polish names are usually written given name first, surname last. Females who take their husband’s surname may take a feminized form of the name. The wife of Mr Kowalski may be Mrs Kowalska. Polish surnames also take different endings according to a complex set of declensions. Mr Kowalski and Mrs Kowalski together become Mr and Mrs Kowalscy. These alter according to case and singular/plural, and the stem of the name, giving potentially up to 50 different written forms of the same surname.

   Tables of names can be acquired: given names , surnames/family names , family name prefixes , forms of address , job titles 

The following company types may be found in Polish addresses:

   Jednoosobowa działalność gospodarcza (sole proprietorship)
   Osoba fizyczna prowadzaca działalność gospodarcza (sole trader)
   PHUP
   PP (Przedsiębiorstwo Państwowe) - state enterprise 
   PPH
   PPHU
   SA (spółkaakcyjna) (joint stock company)
   SC (spółkaprawa cywilnego) (partnership)
   Spółkajawna (Sp.j.) (registered partnership)
   Spółkakomandytowa (Sp.k.) (limited partnership)
   Spółka partnerska(Sp. p.) - limited liability partnership 
   Spółkakomandytowa-akcyjna (SKA) (limited joint stock partnership)
   Spółkaz o.o. (Sp. z o.o. - Spółka z ograniczona odpowiedzialnościa) (limited company)
   Spółdzielnia ­ cooperative

   Comprehensive tables of these strings can be acquired – see http:www.grcdi.nl/addresses.htm 

   Note: This section last updated 18th August 2015

Addresses are written in this format:

   Form of address
   Recipient name 
   thoroughfare type[ ]Thoroughfare name[ ]number
   postal code[ ]SETTLEMENT

For example:

The form of address may also be written on the same line as the personal name, especially when a company name occupies the top line of the address block.

Sorting codes (a number after the settlement name) are sometimes found in addresses but they are not required.

Thoroughfare types are written beginning with a lower-case letter.

The house number may be followed by an ‘m’ or ‘/’ to indicate a flat number. In the following examples of layout, the house number is 12, the flat number 3:

   ul. Mala nr 12 m. 3
   ul. Mala 12/3
   ul. Mala 12 m. 3
   ul. Mala nr 12/3

Additional numbers or characters may indicate different entrances to the building. For example:

   ul. Mala 12/4/223
   ul. Mala 12A/3

In all cases the house number layout is familiar to Poles and the Polish Post Office and should not be altered.

Some villages have no street names - each house has its own number, which follows the village name like this:

   Mscijewo 11

Osiedle (Os.) may appear in an address to indicate a housing estate

   A table containing information about the relevant position of elements within address blocks can be acquired 

Thoroughfare types

   Comprehensive tables of these strings can be acquired – see http:www.grcdi.nl/addresses.htm 

Other elements commonly found in address databases

   Note: This section last updated 10th September 2020

The Polish word for Post office box is skrytka pocztowa, abbreviated to skr. poczt. “POBox” and “PO” are also used.

   Note: This section last updated 4th September 2017

Polish postal codes (Kody Pocztowe or Pocztowy Numer Adresowy (PNA)) ) have 5 digits and are written in this format:

   99[-]999

Each postal code defines a postal area which may cover a district, a small town, a street or part of a street. When no postal code is used, a region name is required in the address.

The first digit indicates the district as follows:

The second digit indicates a zone, the third a sector and the final two a delivery office.

   Metadata containing postal code formatting rules, exceptions and regular expressions can be acquired 

Poland - Postal code format graphic

Poland - Postal code format

Poland - Postal code specifics

Poland - Postal code regular expression

Poland - Postal code level of coverage

Poland - Postal code map

   Note: This section last updated 14th April 2017

The words nad (n.) and koło (k.) found in some place names mean near.

Refer to Exonyms in Poland for full lists of place names in Poland in other languages.

   Alternate place name forms/postal code tables can be acquired at http://www.grcdi.nl/settlements.htm 

   Other language place name data can be acquired at http://www.grcdi.nl/otherlanguageplace.htm 

On 1^st January 1999, Poland changed from having 49 provinces (województwa, singular - województwo) to having 16. They are not used in addresses. They are listed below:

Province	Postal code areas
Dolnoślạskie	5, 67-2
Kujawsko-Pomorskie	85 to 89-2, 89-4 to 89-5
Lubelskie	08-5, 20 to 24
Lubuskie	65 to 66-1, 66-3 to 66-4, 68 to 69
Łódzkie	26-3, 90 to 96-2, 97 to 99
Małopolskie	30 to 34-2, 34-4 to 34-7, 38-245 to 38-247, 38-3
Mazowieckie	00 to 07, 08-1 to 08-4, 09, 26-4, 26-9, 27-1, 27-3, 96-3 to 96-4
Opolskie	45 to 47-3, 48 to 49
Podkarpackie	35 to 37-1, 38-20 to 38-244, 38-4 to 38-7, 39
Podlaskie	15 to 19-2
Pomorskie	76-2, 77-1 to 77-3, 80 to 82-2, 82-4 to 82-5, 83 to 84, 89-6
Ślạskie	34-3, 40 to 44, 47-4
Świętokrzyskie	25, 26-0 to 26-2, 27-2, 27-4 to 27-6, 28 to 29
Warmińsko-Mazurskie	10, 11 to 14, 19-3 to 19-5, 82-3
Wielkopolskie	60 to 64, 77-4, 89-3
Zachodniopomorskie	70 to 76-1, 78

   This regions/postal code data can be acquired as a data file 

Administrative districts graphic

   Note: This section last updated 12th March 2023

Fixed geographic telephone numbers have total lengths of between 7 and 9 digits when called from abroad. Mobile numbers have 9 digits. Mobile numbers have one of these area codes: 45, 50-51, 530-531, 533, 535, 600-609, 660-665, 6660-6669, 669, 690-698, 69900, 69902-69909, 6991, 69920-69929, 6993-6995, 69960-69969, 6997, 6995, 6999, 720-726, 7271-7291, 780-785, 7860-7869, 787-788, 7890-7894, 790-794, 7950-7959, 796-798, 7990, 7997-7999, 880, 8811, 8818, 882, 8830-8839, 8841-8842, 8844-8845, 885-889.

   Tables of telephone number information/formats can be acquired – see http://www.grcdi.nl/telephone.htm