Historical demography of Poland

The Poles come from different tribes living on territories belonging later to Poland in the early Middle Ages (see: Prehistory of Poland). Poland's demography in the past was much more diverse than nowadays – for many centuries the Polish population consisted of many ethnic minorities.

Around the year 1000, the population of Polish lands is estimated at about 1,000,000 to 1,250,000. Around 1370 Poland had 2 million inhabitants with a population density of 8.6 per square kilometre. Poland was less affected by the Black Death than western Europe.

Although the population of the Kingdom of Poland in late Middle Ages consisted mostly of Poles, influx of other cultures was significant: particularly notable were Jewish and German settlers, who often formed significant minorities or even majorities in urban centers. Sporadically migrants from other places like Scotland, Netherlands settled in Poland as well. At that time other notable minorities included various incompletely assimilated people from other Slavic tribes (some of whom would eventually merge totally into the Polish people, while others merged into neighboring nations).

Around 1490, the combined population of Poland and Lithuania, in a personal union (the Polish–Lithuanian union) since the Union of Krewo a century before, is estimated at about 8 million. An estimate for 1493 gives the combined population of Poland and Lithuania at 7.5 million, breaking them down by ethnicity at 3.25 million Poles, 3.75 million Ruthenians and 0.5 million Lithuanians. The Ruthenians composed most of the population of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania: this is the reason that the late GDL is often called a Slavic country, alongside Poland, Russia etc. In time, the adjective "Lithuanian" came to denote a Slav of the Grand Duchy. Eventually the Lithuanian speakers came to be known as Samogitians (see also Samogitian nobility), after the province in which they were the dominant majority. Another estimate for the combined population at the beginning of the 16th century gives 7.5 million, roughly split evenly, due to much larger territory of the Grand Duchy (with about 10-15 people per square km in Poland and 3-5 people per square km in the Grand Duchy, and even less in the south-east Cossack borderlands). By 1500, about 15% of Poland's population lived in urban centers (settlements with over 500 people).

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