The Sarmatian Review Index

January 2001

Vol. XXI, No. 1

Number of recruits from the county of Piotrków in central Poland drafted into the tsarist Russian army between 1833-1856: 11,000.

Of these, the number that eventually returned to Piotrków: 498, all of them invalids incapable of further service in the imperial army.

Source: Piotrków City Council research, as reported in J. Grabiec, Powstanie Styczniowe, 1863-1864, 2d ed. (Warsaw: J. Mortkowicz Publishers, 1921). Reprinted in Poznan, n.d, p. 271.

Number of Chechen refugees in Ingushetia who lost their homes due to military action during the second Russian-Chechen war launched on 1 October 1999: 200,000.

Number of Chechen civilians who died in that war, according to Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov 45,000 (in addition to 2,500 rebel fighters).

Number of missing Chechen men in the past year (presumably detained by Russians or dead), according to the Council of Europe: 18,000.

Number of Russian military casualties, according to the official Russian count (said to be underestimated): 2,400.

The net winner in the Chechen war, according to Russian political analyst Viktor Kremenyuk: Vladimir Putin.

Source: AFP (Moscow), 28 September 2000.

Estimated number of Russians infected with HIV in 1999: 130,000 (up from 40,000 in 1997).

Estimated number of intravenous drug users in Russia in 1999: between 1 million and 2.5 million.

Source: UN Study, as reported by Robert McMahon in "Study Notes AIDS Surge In Ukraine, Russia," Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 28 June 2000.

Registered number of HIV-positive cases in Russia in November 2000: 71,000.

Source: Russian health officials, as reported by AFP (Moscow), 1 December 2000.

Amount of money Poland must spend on cleaning up the environment in the next twelve years to comply with the European Union standards: $27.1 billion.

Source: Polish environment ministry, as reported by AFP (Warsaw), 4 September 2000.

Percentage of Russian men and women who suffer in varying degrees from alcoholism: 50 percent and 17 percent, respectively.

Source: AFP (Moscow), 1 September 2000.

People

Official number of foreigners working illegally in Poland: 200,000.

Polish media estimate of the number of foreigners working illegally in Poland: one million.

Source: AFP, 21 August 2000.

Poverty

Percentage of Poles living below the poverty line in 2000: 33 percent, or 13 million.

Monthly per capita income considered to be poverty borderline in Poland: 378 Zl, or $80.

Number of homeless people in Poland in 2000: 500,000.

Source: Polish government survey conducted in June 2000, as reported by Jan Maksymiuk, "A Bitter Taste of an Historic Victory," Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 20 September 2000; Niedziela, 22 October 2000.

Economy

Percentage of the minimum wage earners in the United States who are over 30: 2.8 percent.

Source: Brian C. Anderson, "How Catholic Charities Lost Its Soul," Catholic World Report, October 2000, p. 58.

Poland's public debt at the end of 1999: $64.67 billion, or 44 percent of the country's GDP.

Percentage of public debt held by the central government: 97.7 percent.

Source: Polish Central Bank, as reported by AFP (Warsaw), 14 July 2000.

Polish money supply as of August 2000: $62 billion (Poland's M2 measurement includes banknotes in circulation, term and demand deposits, and savings bonds).

Source: Polish government survey conducted in June 2000, as reported by Jan Maksymiuk, "A Bitter Taste of an Historic Victory," Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 20 September 2000.

Amount of money Vietnamese Americans send to Vietnam each year: $2-$4 billion, or 16 percent of Vietnam's GDP.

Source: Vietnamese American Andrew Lam on the MacNeil-Lehrer Newshour, 20 November 2000.

World oil reserves in billions of barrels: Kazakhstan, 305; Saudi Arabia, 259; Iraq, 99; Iran, 93; Kuwait, 92; United Arab Emirates, 63; Russian Federation, 53; Venezuela, 48; China, 34; Mexico, 28.

Source: Investor's Business Daily, 8 September 2000.

Polish treasury debt in July 2000: $61 billion ( includes national and foreign debt, but excludes municipal debt), an increase of 1.1 percent over the previous month totaling 47.5 percent of the GDP.

Source: Polish finance ministry, as reported by AFP (Warsaw), 28 September 2000.

Foreign direct investment in Poland, Czech Republic, and Russia in 1999: $7.5 billion, $5.1 billion and $2.9 billion, respectively.

Source: The UN World Investment Report, as reported by Robert McMahon, "UN: Foreign Investment In Eastern Europe Remains Steady," RFE/RL, 4 October 2000.

Mobile telephone density, or the percentage of residents using mobile phones, in Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, and European Union, respectively: 13.7 percent, 18.9 percent, 15.9 percent, and 34 percent (data from June 2000).

Source: AFP (Warsaw), 8 September 2000.

Decrease of Polish exports of meat products to CIS countries between 1999 and 2000: from $16.7 million to $12.3 million.

Increase of Polish exports of meat products to EU and other European countries between 1999 and 2000: from $33.3 million to $40.7 million.

Source: Rzeczpospolita, 16 October 2000.

Foreign currency reserves in Poland and Russia in August 2000: $24.6 million and $20 million.

Source: Economist, 14-20 October 2000.

Agriculture

Russian grain harvest in 2000: 65 million tons.

Amount of grain necessary to feed the population: 75 million tons.

Source: Agriculture Minister Alexei Gordeyev, as reported by AFP (Moscow), 31 August 2000.

Religious demography

Number of Polish citizens who consider themselves Roman Catholics: 35, 033,087, or 94 percent of the population.

Percentage of Polish citizens who say that they actively participate in religious ceremonies (denomination not mentioned): 68 percent.

Number of Polish citizens who are Jewish but not necessarily religious: between 10,000 and 30,000.

Number of Polish citizens of other denominations: 554,860 Orthodox Church members; 122,982 Jehovah's Witnesses; 110,380 Uniates; 87,291 Lutherans (Augsburg); 25,904 Old Catholic Mariavits; 23,969 members of the Polish-Catholic Church; 17,966 Pentecostals; 6,720 Seventh-Day Adventists; 5,894 Baptists; 5,438 members of the New Apostolic Church; 5,123 members of the Muslim Religious Union; 5,043 Hare Krishnas; 4,349 Methodists; 4,100 members of the Church of Christ; 3,980 Lutherans (Reformed); 3,011 Catholic Mariavits; 1,222 members of the Union of Jewish Communities; 950 members of the Eastern Old Ceremonial Church; and 180 members of the Karaims Religious Union.

Source: 2000 US Report on International Religious Freedom.

Percentage of citizens of the Russian Federation who consider themselves Orthodox Christians: 55 percent.

Percentage of citizens of the Russian Federation who follow other religions: 9 percent.

Percentage of citizens of the Russian Federation who identify themselves as atheists: 31 percent.

Percentage of inhabitants of the Russian Federation outside Moscow who identify themselves as Orthodox Christians and are regular churchgoers: 7 percent.

Source: An opinion poll of 1,500 respondents conducted by Public Opinion in April 1999, as reported by the 2000 US Report on International Religious Freedom.

Percentage of Moscow residents who attended Easter services in 2000: 1 percent.

Source: Lawrence Uzzell of Keston College, as quoted by Maura Reynolds, Los Angeles Times, 21 October 2000.

Percent of Israeli citizens who are Muslim, Christian and Druze, respectively: 16 percent , 2 percent and 1.5 percent.

Source: 2000 US Report on International Religious Freedom.

Economic demography

People employed in agriculture as percentage of labor force in 2000: Poland, 27 percent; Lithuania, 25 percent; Hungary, nine percent; Czech Republic, five percent; EU average, six percent.

Source: Economist, 14-20 October 2000.

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Last updated January 2001.