Commission on Standardization of Geographical Names Outside the Republic of Poland

The Official List of Names of Countries and Non-Self-Governing Territories (Urzędowy wykaz nazw państw i terytoriów niesamodzielnych) contains names of 195 countries recognized by the Republic of Poland (i.e. 193 member states of the United Nations Organization, Kosovo, and Vatican City) and 69 non-self-governing territories. Attached is a list of three territories with an undetermined or disputed international status. The correct spelling of the names of countries and their capitals has been provided, which the Commission on Standardization of Geographical Names Outside the Republic of Poland (KSNG) recommends for common use in Polish texts, such as encyclopaedias, tourist guidebooks, textbooks, publications written in order to obtain an academic degree, in the press and electronic media, and particularly on maps. The publication takes into account the resolutions of the Commission passed until June 14, 2023.

The names of countries, territories and their capitals included in the list have been approved by the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Any footnotes clarifying the status or the names of states and territories come from the Ministry.  The adjectives derived from names of countries and territories, as well as names of citizens and inhabitants have been provided in line with the opinion provided by the Orthography and Onomastics Unit of the Council for the Polish Language.

The Official list is published in Polish only, but the inset in English has been also prepared. This inset includes a translation of the introductory part of the Polish language publication entitled Urzędowy wykaz nazw państw i terytoriów niesamodzielnych, i.e. the editorial page, table of contents, “From the Publisher” note, introduction, romanization rules, explanation of abbreviations, Polish-English dictionaries of country, territory and language names, as well as a translation of the footnotes included in the publication.

For each state and territory are given:

• short name of the country/territory (nominative, genitive, locative) in Polish
• official full name of the country/territory in Polish (in the nominative case, and also in the genitive and locative cases where the declension of a name may cause problems)
• name of official language (languages) in Polish
• short name of the country/territory in official language (or in official languages)
• official full name of the country/territory in the official language (or in official languages)
• adjective from the name of the country/territory in Polish (nominative, singular, male gender)
• name of inhabitants of the country/territory in Polish (male and female gender singular, and male gender plural)
• name of the country's/territory's capital used in the Polish language
• name of the country's/territory's capital in the official language (or in official languages)