Poland Population Distribution
It has already been said that Poland ranks 6th among the European states by absolute population; for the relative population it is surpassed, among the largest states, by Great Britain, Germany and Italy, and among the states of secondary importance, by Belgium, Holland, Czechoslovakia, Switzerland and Hungary. Denmark (82) and Austria (81) have a population density roughly equal to that of Poland. As can be seen from the map on p. 731, the population is very unevenly distributed. This can also be seen considering only the data of the voivodships (which have an average area of 24,250 sq km, with a minimum of 4230 sq km for the Silesian voivodeship and a maximum of 36,825 for that of Polessia): various voivodships in western and southern Poland have (1931 census) more than 100 residents per sq. km. (maximum in Silesia, 307; then Łódź, Krakow, Kielce and Lviv), while some of those in eastern Poland have fewer than 50 residents (Nowogródek, Vilna, Polessia; minimum in the latter voivodeship, 30.8). Even stronger differences are felt in the data of the districts, in some of which even more than 1000 residents per sq. km. (even excluding those that include large centers), while in others it drops to less than 20. A line drawn between Grudziądz and Równe leaves NE. territories with less than 50 residents per sq. km., and to SW. those with density higher than that figure. The most populated regions are, on the whole, Silesia, Lesser Poland, Lublinese, Podolia and the areas around Warsaw and Łódź; the least populated,
According to fashionissupreme, this varied distribution of the population depends on causes of a very different order: the economically more advanced regions are more populated, where industry has taken great development (due to the presence of mineral deposits) and agriculture is more advanced, also because it is favored by more fertile soils (Silesia, pre-Carpathian area and Podolic Shelf, covered by löss and è ernozem ; in the rest of Poland, the podsol prevails, suitable for forest formations, but little for crops; v. beyond: Agriculture) and a milder climate. The most depopulated areas coincide with the regions where the climate is more rigid, the podsolization of the soil stronger and the extension of the forest mantle larger, and where a very large percentage of the land is covered by lakes, ponds and swamps.
The distribution of the population was certainly influenced by causes of a historical nature: it will suffice to note that the greatest densities are found in the territories that were subject to Austria or Germany before the World War, the minor ones in those then subjected to Russian misrule.
The following table shows the population from 1860 to 1931 of the 11 cities with more than 100,000 residents. (to which Nowy Chorzów was added in 1934, see above).
Village types and their distribution. – The types of village prevalent in Poland (whose distribution was studied by B. Zaborski) can be reduced to three, with some of their varieties, namely: the crowded village, the street village and the chain village. The first type, called in Polish wie ś wielodro ż nica (corresponding to the Haufendorf of the Germans), has rather tightly packed houses, built without order along various more or less winding streets, and prevails in part of Silesia, in a band along the course of the upper Vistula and the San and throughout SE Poland. (Dnestr basin and Podolic Shelf). It is characteristic of regions without forests for a long time.
The street village (pol. Wie ś ulicówka ; ted. Strassendorf) consists of two compact series of houses which for ½-2 km. they line up on both sides of a road. This type is found almost everywhere, but more frequently in Polessia and in the Nowogródek region, where the valley floors are swampy and subject to flooding and where human settlement naturally prefers the narrow higher and drier areas that serve as a watershed. A form of transition between the crowded village and the street village is to be considered the crossroad village (wie ś widlica), frequent in Volhynia; and street village variety, the oval village (wie śowalnica, Langdorf), consisting of two arched streets joined in the shape of a spindle, with a square, a pond, a church or a cemetery in the middle. The oval village is widespread in Posnania and Pomerania.
The chain village (wie ś rz ę dówka, Reihendorf) is made up of 1-2 series of houses, a little distant from each other, aligned along a straight road, from which secondary roads branch off parallel to each other, which usually share the various properties, and comes from recent colonization (19th and 20th centuries). This type absolutely prevails throughout western and central Poland. Sometimes it takes the form of a regular rectangle, with houses built next to each other: this variety (wie ś szeregówka) is prevalent in the area between Parczew, Grodno and Pińsk. A variety of chain villages is also prevalent in the Carpathian area and in the Lublinese, where it often rises on the slopes or on wooded terraces, stretching along the entire length of the land belonging to the village itself (wie ś ł a ń cuchówka, Waldhufendorf). The areas where settlement in isolated residences prevails are relatively small: they are located in Pomerania, in Posnania, between Włocławek and Brodnica, along the middle course of the Vistula, in Polessia, in the southern Carpathian area. An intermediate type settlement between the isolated dwelling and the village is the one in the elementary aggregates, the Weilers of the Germans (in Polish przysió ł ek), small groups of houses usually without a place of assembly. They are in N. of the Vistula between Plock, Mława and Białystok and in a large part of NE Poland, in N. of Niemen.
The current state of rural settlement in Poland is the result of a long evolution, which was influenced by both physiographic factors (relief, water, soil constitution, forest cover, etc.) and social factors (habits of the various populations, need for defense, intensity and various forms of agricultural exploitation, legislation, etc.).
Occupations of the population. – The essentially agricultural character of Poland, already indicated by the percentage of the rural population, is confirmed by that of the population employed in agriculture and forestry: 63.8% (data from 1921). The rest of the population is divided as follows: industries and mines, 15.4%; trade, 6.2%; communications and transport, 3.3%; other occupations, 11.3%. In the Silesian Voivodeship alone, the people employed in agriculture and forestry are less than 50% (36.2%), but still higher than those employed in mines and industries (35.6%). Regardless of the small administrative division that includes the capital (where of course we find 34.4% of the population living in industry, 23.0% in commerce and 10.6% in communications and transport), it is noted that the agricultural character is accentuated overall from O. to E. (percentage of the population living from agriculture and forestry in the voivodships of Poznań 55.7, of Pomerania 61.9, of Warsaw 67.8, of Białystok 72, 3, from Nowogródek 83.7, from Vilna 88.6, from Łódź 53.8, from Kielce 61.9, from Lublin 73.4, from Polessia 82.0, from Krakow 65.6, from Lviv 70.9, of Stanisławów 77.1, of Tarnopol 81.3, of Volhynia 81.0). The most industrial voivodships after Silesia are those of Łódź (24.6% of the population), Kielce (21.3%) and Poznań (16.8%). 0, from Krakow 65.6, from Lviv 70.9, from Stanisławów 77.1, from Tarnopol 81.3, from Volhynia 81.0). The most industrial voivodships after Silesia are those of Łódź (24.6% of the population), Kielce (21.3%) and Poznań (16.8%). 0, from Krakow 65.6, from Lviv 70.9, from Stanisławów 77.1, from Tarnopol 81.3, from Volhynia 81.0). The most industrial voivodships after Silesia are those of Łódź (24.6% of the population), Kielce (21.3%) and Poznań (16.8%).
