Social and cultural potential of Poland

Population STRUCTURE is affected by the rate of... natural increase, birth rate, death rate, life
expectancy

In a Pyramid, population is shown in 5 years age group

The sections of the pyramid represent the following groups: young dependents, economically
actives, elderly dependents

Life Expectancy ... is the average number of years a person is expected to live.

Why are population pyramids useful? They allow comparisons to be made between countries.

Which settlement type is the smallest? Hamlet

Which is the biggest type of settlement? Conurbation

In which urban land use zone would you tend to find terraced housing? Inner City

In which urban land use zone would you tend to find a large, detached house? Outer Suburbs

What does population density mean? The amount of people in a given area

What does population distribution mean? How people are spread out over an area

The population potential of the country is its population with a biological and socio-occupational
structure.

Population changes in Poland have been the result of natural growth changes and permanent
external migrations. The sum of both the natural growth and external migration balance gives the
real population growth.

The national structure is a percentage share of particular nationalities within the total population of
a given country.

Nationality is defined as a declared individual feature of every person, which is expressed by his/her
emotional, cultural or genealogical relationship with a given nation.

Settlement is the process od people’s occupying a given area.

Village and town are two basic settlement units.

Although generally villages have agricultural functions, some of them also have other, non-
agricultural functions, such as:

*religious functions

*spa functions

*recreational functions

*craft functions

*tourist functions.

A town is a historically developed settlement with a considerable population concentration, urban-

style housing and non-agricultural functions. Most towns in Poland are small and medium-sized.
Cities offer:

*better job opportunities in both services and industry,

*education at higher levels,

*culture and entertainment-cinemas, opera, theatre and music,

*better healthcare opportunities,

*shopping centers.

Negative aspects of cities:

*pollution-car fumes and waste,

*communication problems (traffic jams, parking problems),

*higher cost of living,

*noise,

*higher crime rate, less security

*looser family ties,

*limited interpersonal contacts.