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60 million (est.)[1] The Polish people, or Poles, (Polish Polacy p?'lat??s? ) are a Western Slavic ethnic group of Central Europe, living predominantly in Poland. Poles are sometimes defined as people who share a common Polish culture and are of Polish descent. Their religion is predominantly Roman Catholic. The Poles can also be referred to as the inhabitants of the Republic of Poland and Polish emigrants irrespective of their ethnicity. A wide-ranging Polish diaspora exists throughout Western and Eastern Europe, the Americas and Australia. There is no commonly accepted definition of the Polish people. According to the preamble of the Constitution of Poland, the Polish Nation consists of all citizens of Poland. However, like in most European countries, many people limit the group to native speakers of the Polish language, people that share certain traditions, or people who share a common ethnic background originating from Poland. As to its origins, the name of the nation comes from a western Slavic ethnic group of Polans primarily associated with Poland and the Polish language. Poles belong to the Lechitic subgroup of these ethnic people. The Polans of Giecz, Gniezno, and Poznan were one of the most influential tribes of Greater Poland and managed to unite many other West Slavic tribes in the area under the rule of what became the Piast dynasty, thus giving birth to a new state. The Polish word for a Polish person is Polak (male) and Polka (female), however, when this common noun is used verbatim in the English language (usually spelled as Polack) it is always offensive.[27] Poles or Polish are the sixth largest national group in Europe.[28] Estimates vary depending on source, though available data suggests a total number around 60 million people worldwide (with approx. 21 million living outside of Poland).[1] There are almost 39 million Poles in Poland alone. There are also autochthonous Polish minorities in the surrounding countries including Germany, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Ukraine, and Belarus. There are some smaller minorities in nearby countries such as Moldova and Latvia. There is also a Polish minority in Russia which included autochthonous Poles as well as those forcibly deported during and after World War II; the total number of Poles in what was the former Soviet Union is estimated at up to 3 million.[29]
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