The Ukrainian minority in Poland is composed of approximately 51,000 people according to the Polish census of 2011. Some 38,000 respondents named Ukrainian as their first identity (28,000 as their sole identity), 13,000 as their second identity, and 21,000 declared Ukrainian identity jointly with Polish nationality.
Most numerous concentrations of Ukrainians are in the north-east (Olsztyn and Elbląg), north-west (Słupsk and Koszalin) and south-west of Poland (Legnica and Wrocław). The Ukrainian language was taught at 162 schools in the year 2005–2006 attended by 2,740 Ukrainian students.
The history of the Ukrainian minority in Poland dates back to the Late Middle Ages. One of the last painful event was after the quashing of an Ukrainian insurrection at the end of World War II by the Soviet Union, about 140,000 Ukrainians remaining in Poland were forcibly moved to Soviet Ukraine, and to new territories in northern and western Poland during Operation Vistula.