at 119,968 people. Gliwice's population peaked in 1988 at 223,403 inhabitants. As of December 31, 2016, Gliwice's population stood at 182,156 people, a decrease of 1,236 over the previous year. Gliwice faces a continuous population decline since 1988, which is credited to very low birth rates (exceeded by death rates) and suburbanisation. Nationality, ethnicity and language Historically, Gliwice was ethnically diverse, initially inhabited by Poles, later it had a German majority as a result of German colonization, with a significant autochthonous Polish minority. In the Upper Silesian Plebiscite in 1921, 78.9 percent of voters opted for Germany (however 15.1 percent of the vote in Gliwice was cast by non-residents, who are believed to overwhelmingly vote for Germany across the region). However, in 1945 most of Germans were expelled or fled themselves, and the city was repopulated with Poles, mostly displaced from former Eastern Poland, annexed by the Soviet Union. Many of these new inhabitants were academics from the Lwów Polytechnic who created the Silesian University of Technology. According to the 2011 Polish Census, 93.7 percent of people in Gliwice claimed Polish nationality, with the biggest minorities being Silesians (or or both Poles and Silesians at the same time) at 9.7 percent (18,169 people) and Germans at 1.3 percent (2,525). 0.3 percent declared another nationality, and the nationality of 2.1 percent of people could not be established. These numbers do not sum up to 100 percent as responders were allowed to choose up to two nationalities. Most-common languages used at home were: Polish (97.7 percent), Silesian (2.3 percent), German (0.7 percent) and English (0.4 percent). Religion Except for a short period immediately after Reformation, Gliwice has always had a Catholic majority, with sizeable Protestant and Jewish minorities. According to the population estimate in 1861, 7,476 people (68.4 percent) were Catholic, 1,555 (14.2 percent) Protestant, and 1,892 Jewish (17.3 percent, highest share in city history). Currently, as of 2011 census, 84.7 percent of inhabitants claim they belong to a religion. The majority – 82.73 percent – belongs to the Catholic Church. This is significantly lower than the Polish average, which is 89.6 and 88.3 percent, respectively. According to the Catholic Church in Poland, weekly mass attendance in the Diocese of Gliwice is at 36.7 percent of obliged, on par with Polish average. Other larger denominations include Jehovah's Witnesses (0.56 percent or 1,044 adherents) and Protestants (0.37 percent or 701 adherents). Gliwice is