Poland - Rybnik

Rybnik.

Sent by Marcelina, a postcrosser from Poland.

This is from Wikipedia : Rybnik [ˈrɨbnik] is a city in southern Poland, in the Silesian Voivodeship. Rybnik is located close to the border with the Czech Republic and just outside the southern border of the largest urban area in Poland, the Upper Silesian Metropolitan Union. Rybnik is about 290 km south of Warsaw and about 100 km west of Kraków.

The city of Rybnik has a population of about 141,387 (June 2009), and its metropolitan area is 0.7 million. The Rybnik area is an important economic region of Poland, and visible center of culture, with a famous Szafrankowie Brothers State School of Music and Philharmonic Orchestra.

The city itself has 141,387 inhabitants (including 0.03% foreigners), density: 955.3 per km². (as of 30 June 2009). Rybnik ranks as Poland's 25th largest city. Rybnik's unemployment is significantly lower (4.6%) than the national average of 8.8% (as of October 2008). Ethnically, 88% of Rybnik's population declare themselves as Poles, 9% as Silesians and 3% as "others".

The city of Rybnik is the centre of a metropolitan area, the Rybnik Coal Region (Rybnicki Okręg Węglowy) with a population of 0.7 million. The distance to Katowice is about 50 km, and to Ostrava is about 30 km.