Voivodships of Poland
A voivodship (in Polish województwo) is a unit of administrative division and local government in Poland since the 14th century. As a result of Local Government Reogranization Act of 1998, 16 new voivodships were created (effective January 1 1999) and replaced the 49 voivodships which had existed since 1 July 1975.Today's provinces are largely based on the country's historical regions, whereas those of 1975-1998 were centered on and named for individual cities. The new units range in area from under 10,000 km² (Opole Voivodship) to over 35,000 km² (Masovian Voivodship), and in population from one million (Lubusz Voivodship) to over five million (Masovian Voivodship).
Voivodships are combined into bigger regions, that are used for statistical reports.
Poland's present voivodships (since 1999)
See also Map of Polish Regions
See also List of capitals of subnational entities.
For a table with area and population figures, see the Polish ("Polski") version of this page.
| Poland | |
|---|---|
| Voivodships of Poland | |
| Greater Poland | Kuyavia-Pomerania | Lesser Poland | Lodz | Lower Silesia | Lublin | Lubusz | Masovia | Opole | Podlachia | Pomerania Swietokrzyskie | Silesia | Subcarpathia | Warmia and Masuria | West Pomerania | |
| Principal cities | |
| Warsaw | ŁÃ³dź | Kraków | Wrocław | Poznań | Gdańsk | Szczecin | Bydgoszcz | Lublin | Katowice | Białystok | Częstochowa | Gdynia | Toruń Radom | Kielce | Rzeszów | Olsztyn | |
Polish voivodships 1975-1998 (49)
from 1989 Third Polish Republic
This reorganisation of administrative division of Poland was mainly a result of local government reform acts of 1973-1975. In place of three level administrative division (voivodship, county, commune), new two-level administrative division was introduced (49 small voidships and communes). The three smallest voivodships: Warsaw, Cracow and Lodz had a special status of city voivodship; the city president (mayor) was also province governor.
(English name, Polish name, abbrevation, capital city)
- Biala Podlaska Voivodship (województwo bialskopodlaskie, bp, Biala Podlaska)
- Bialystok Voivodship (województwo białostockie, bk, Bialystok)
- Bielsko-Biala Voivodship (województwo bielskie, bb, Bielsko-Biala)
- Bydgoszcz Voivodship (województwo bydgoskie, by, Bydgoszcz)
- Chelm Voivodship (województwo chełmskie, ch, Chelm)
- Ciechanow Voivodship (województwo ciechanowskie, ci, Ciechanow)
- Czestochowa Voivodship (województwo częstochowskie, cz, Czestochowa)
- Elblag Voivodship (województwo elbląskie, el Elblag)
- Gdansk Voivodship (województwo gdańskie, gd, Gdansk)
- Gorzow Voivodship (województwo gorzowskie, go, Gorzow Wielkopolski)
- Jelenia Gora Voivodship (województwo jeleniogórskie, jg, Jelenia Gora)
- Kalisz Voivodship (województwo kaliskie, kl, Kalisz)
- Katowice Voivodship (województwo katowickie, ka, Katowice)
- Kielce Voivodship (województwo kieleckie, ki, Kielce)
- Konin Voivodship (województwo konińskie, kn, Konin)
- Koszalin Voivodship (województwo koszalińskie, ko, Koszalin)
- Kraków Voivodship (województwo krakowskie, kr , Kraków)
- Krosno Voivodship (województwo krośnieńskie, ks, Krosno)
- Lodz Voivodship (województwo łÃ³dzkie, ld, Lodz)
- Leszno Voivodship (województwo leszczyńskie, le, Leszno)
- Legnica Voivodship (województwo legnickie, lg, Legnica)
- Lomza Voivodship (województwo łomżyńskie, lo, Lomza)
- Lublin Voivodship (województwo lubelskie, lu, Lublin)
- Nowy Sacz Voivodship (województwo nowosądeckie, ns, Nowy Sacz)
- Olsztyn Voivodship (województwo olsztyńskie, ol, Olsztyn)
- Opole Voivodship (województwo opolskie, op, Opole)
- Ostroleka Voivodship (województwo ostrołęckie, os, Ostroleka)
- Pila Voivodship (województwo pilskie, pi, Pila)
- Piotrkow Trybunalski Voivodship (województwo piotrkowskie, pt, Piotrkow Trybunalski)
- Plock Voivodship (województwo płockie, pl, Plock)
- Poznan Voivodship (województwo poznańskie, po, Poznan)
- Przemysl Voivodship (województwo przemyskie, pr, Przemysl)
- Radom Voivodship (województwo radomskie, rs, Radom)
- Rzeszow Voivodship (województwo rzeszowskie, rz, Rzeszow)
- Siedlce Voivodship (województwo siedleckie, se, Siedlce)
- Sieradz Voivodship (województwo sieradzkie, si, Sieradz)
- Skierniewice Voivodship (województwo skierniewickie, sk, Skierniewice)
- Slupsk Voivodship (województwo słupskie, sl, Slupsk)
- Suwalki Voivodship (województwo suwalskie, su, Suwalki)
- Szczecin Voivodship (województwo szczecińskie, sz, Szczecin)
- Tarnow Voivodship (województwo tarnowskie, ta, Tarnow)
- Tarnobrzeg Voivodship (województwo tarnobrzeskie, tg, Tarnobrzeg)
- Torun Voivodship (województwo toruńskie, to, Torun)
- Walbrzych Voivodship (województwo wałbrzyskie, wb, Walbrzych)
- Warszawa Voivodship (województwo warszawskie, wa, Warszawa)
- Wloclawek Voivodship (województwo włocławskie, wl, Wloclawek)
- Wroclaw Voivodship (województwo wrocławskie, wr, Wroclaw)
- Zamosc Voivodship (województwo zamojskie, za, Zamosc)
- Zielona Gora Voivodship (województwo zielonogórskie, zg, Zielona Gora)
In 1950 new voivodships created: Koszalin - previously part of Szczecin, Opole - previously part of Katowice, and Zielona Góra - previously part of Poznan, Wroclaw and Szczecin voivodships.
Newly acquired teritories in the west and north organized into the voivodships of Szczecin, Wroclaw, Olsztyn and partly joined to Gdansk,
Katowice and Poznan voivodships.
Polish voivodships 1950-1975 (17+5)
1950-1975 2 cities with voivodship status: Warsaw and Lodz,
1957-1975 5 cities with voivodship status: additionally Wroclaw
, Kraków and Poznan.Polish voivodships 1945-1950 (14+2)
People's Republic of Poland
Polish voivodships 1921-1939 (16+1)
Second Polish Republic
Polish voivodships 1569-1795
Polish-Lithuanian CommonwealthProvince of Greater Poland
Province of Lesser Poland
Grand Duchy of Lithuania
Livonia