Voivodeships of Poland


A voivodeship is the highest-level administrative division of Poland, corresponding to a province in many other countries. The term has been in use since the 14th century and is commonly translated into English as "province".
The Polish local government reforms adopted in 1998, which went into effect on 1 January 1999, reduced the number of voivodeships to sixteen. These 16 replaced the 49 former voivodeships that had existed from 1 July 1975, and bear a greater resemblance to the voivodeships that existed between 1950 and 1975.
Today's voivodeships are mostly named after historical and geographical regions, while those prior to 1998 generally took their names from the cities on which they were centered. The new units range in area from under to over , and in population from nearly one million to over five million.
Administrative authority at the voivodeship level is shared between a government-appointed governor called a voivode, an elected assembly called a Voivodeship sejmik, and an executive board chosen by that assembly, headed by a voivodeship marshal. Voivodeships are further divided into powiats and gminas, the smallest administrative divisions of Poland.

Etymology and use

Some English-language sources, in historical contexts, speak of "palatinates" rather than "voivodeships". The term "palatinate" traces back to the Latin palatinus, which traces back to palatium.
More commonly used now is province or voivodeship. The latter is a loanword-calque hybrid formed on the Polish "województwo".
Some writers argue against rendering województwo in English as "province", on historical grounds: before the third, last Partition of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, in 1795, each of the main constituent regions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth—Greater Poland, Lesser Poland, Lithuania, and Royal Prussia—was sometimes idiosyncratically referred to as a "province". According to the argument, such a prowincja cannot consist of a number of subdivisions that are likewise called "provinces". This, however, is an antiquarian consideration, as the word "province" has not been used in Poland in this sense of a region for over two centuries; and those former larger political units, all now obsolete, can now be referred to in English as what they actually were: "regions".
The Polish województwo, designating a second-tier Polish or Polish–Lithuanian administrative unit, derives from wojewoda, and the suffix -ztwo.
The English voivodeship, which is a hybrid of the loanword voivode and -ship, has never been much used and is absent from many dictionaries. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, it first appeared in 1792, spelt "woiwodship", in the sense of "the district or province governed by a voivode." The word subsequently appeared in 1886 also in the sense of "the office or dignity of a voivode."
Poland's Commission on Standardization of Geographic Names outside the Republic of Poland prefers the form which omits the 'e', recommending the spelling "", for use in English.

Current

Administrative powers

Competences and powers at voivodeship level are shared between the voivode, the sejmik and the marshal. In most cases these institutions are all based in one city, but in Kuyavian-Pomeranian and Lubusz Voivodeship the voivode's offices are in a different city from those of the executive and the sejmik. Voivodeship capitals are listed in the table below.
The voivode is appointed by the Prime Minister and is the regional representative of the central government. The voivode acts as the head of central government institutions at regional level, manages central government property in the region, oversees the functioning of local government, coordinates actions in the field of public safety and environment protection, and exercises special powers in emergencies. The voivode's offices collectively are known as the urząd wojewódzki.
The sejmik is elected every five years. ) Elections for the sejmik fall at the same time as that of local authorities at powiat and gmina level. The sejmik passes by-laws, including the voivodeship's development strategies and budget. It also elects the marszałek and other members of the executive, and holds them to account.
The executive, headed by the marszałek drafts the budget and development strategies, implements the resolutions of the sejmik, manages the voivodeship's property, and deals with many aspects of regional policy, including management of European Union funding. The marshal's offices are collectively known as the urząd marszałkowski.

List

Economies

According to 2017 Eurostat data, the GDP per capita of Polish voivodeships varies notably and there is a large gap between the richest per capita voivodeship and the poorest per capita.

Historical development

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth

Greater Poland (''Wielkopolska'')

The following is a list of the Voivodeships within Greater Poland at various points over the period from the mid-16th century until the late 18th century:
The following is a list of the Voivodeships within Lesser Poland over the period of the mid-16th century until the late 18th century:
Voivodeships of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania during the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth were based on the administrative structure that existed in the Duchy prior to the Commonwealth's formation, from at least the early-15th century. They were:
While the Duchy of Livonia was part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, approximately 1569–1772, in various periods it comprised the following voivodeships in varying combinations:
From 1816 to 1837 there were 8 voivodeships in Congress Poland.
The administrative division of Poland in the interwar period included 16 voivodeships and Warsaw. The voivodeships that remained in Poland after World War II as a result of Polish–Soviet border agreement of August 1945 were very similar to the current voivodeships.
Collapsed list of car registration plates from 1937, please use table-sort buttons.
Car plates VoivodeshipPolish nameCapital city modern name in parenthesesArea in km2 Population
20–24BiałystokbiałostockieBiałystok26,0001,263,300
25–29KielcekieleckieKielce22,2002,671,000
30–34KrakówkrakowskieKraków17,6002,300,100
35–39LublinlubelskieLublin26,6002,116,200
40–44LwówlwowskieLwów 28,4003,126,300
45–49ŁódźłódzkieŁódź20,4002,650,100
50–54NowogródeknowogródzkieNowogródek 23,0001,057,200
55–59PolesiepoleskieBrześć nad Bugiem 36,7001,132,200
60–64PomeranianpomorskieToruń25,7001,884,400
65–69PoznańpoznańskiePoznań28,1002,339,600
70–74StanisławówstanisławowskieStanisławów 16,9001,480,300
75–79?SilesianśląskieKatowice5,1001,533,500
80–84TarnopoltarnopolskieTarnopol 16,5001,600,400
85–89Warsaw warszawskieWarsaw31,7002,460,900
00–19Warsaw WarszawaWarsaw1401,179,500
90–94WilnowileńskieWilno 29,0001,276,000
95–99WołyńwołyńskieŁuck 35,7002,085,600

Polish People's Republic

After World War II, the new administrative division of the country within the new national borders was based on the prewar one and included 14 voivodeships, then 17. The voivodeships in the east that had not been annexed by the Soviet Union had their borders left almost unchanged. The newly acquired territories in the west and north were organized into the new voivodeships of Szczecin, Wrocław and Olsztyn, and partly joined to Gdańsk, Katowice and Poznań voivodeships. Two cities were granted voivodeship status: Warsaw and Łódź.
In 1950, new voivodeships were created: Koszalin, Opole, and Zielona Góra. In 1957, three more cities were granted voivodeship status: Wrocław, Kraków and Poznań.
Collapsed list of car registration plates from 1956 – please use table-sort buttons
Poland's voivodeships 1975–1998
Administrative division of Poland between 1979 and 1998 included 49 voivodeships upheld after the establishment of the Third Polish Republic in 1989 for another decade. This reorganisation of the administrative division of Poland was mainly a result of the local government reform acts of 1973–1975. In place of the three-level administrative division, a new two-level administrative division was introduced. The three smallest voivodeships—Warsaw, Kraków and Łódź—had the special status of municipal voivodeship; the city president was also provincial governor.
Collapsed list of Voivodeships: 1975–1998, please use table-sort buttons.
Abbr.VoivodeshipPolish nameCapitalArea km2 Population No. of citiesNo. of communes
bpBiała Podlaska VoivodeshipbialskopodlaskieBiała Podlaska5,348286,400635
bkBiałystok VoivodeshipbiałostockieBiałystok10,055641,1001749
bbBielsko-Biała VoivodeshipbielskieBielsko-Biała3,704829,9001847
byBydgoszcz VoivodeshipbydgoskieBydgoszcz10,3491,036,0002755
chChełm VoivodeshipchełmskieChełm3,865230,900425
ciCiechanów VoivodeshipciechanowskieCiechanów6,362405,400945
czCzęstochowa VoivodeshipczęstochowskieCzęstochowa6,182747,9001749
elElbląg VoivodeshipelbląskieElbląg6,103441,5001537
gdGdańsk VoivodeshipgdańskieGdańsk7,3941,333,8001943
goGorzów VoivodeshipgorzowskieGorzów Wielkopolski8,484455,4002138
jgJelenia Góra VoivodeshipjeleniogórskieJelenia Góra4,378492,6002428
klKalisz VoivodeshipkaliskieKalisz6,512668,0002053
kaKatowice VoivodeshipkatowickieKatowice6,6503,733,9004346
kiKielce VoivodeshipkieleckieKielce9,2111,068,7001769
knKonin VoivodeshipkonińskieKonin5,139441,2001843
koKoszalin VoivodeshipkoszalińskieKoszalin8,470462,2001735
krKraków VoivodeshipkrakowskieKraków3,2541,167,5001038
ksKrosno VoivodeshipkrośnieńskieKrosno5,702448,2001237
lgLegnica VoivodeshiplegnickieLegnica4,037458,9001131
leLeszno VoivodeshipleszczyńskieLeszno4,254357,6001928
luLublin VoivodeshiplubelskieLublin6,793935,2001662
loŁomża VoivodeshipłomżyńskieŁomża6,684325,8001239
ldŁódź VoivodeshipłódzkieŁódź15231,127,800811
nsNowy Sącz VoivodeshipnowosądeckieNowy Sącz5,576628,8001441
olOlsztyn VoivodeshipolsztyńskieOlsztyn12,327681,4002148
opOpole VoivodeshipopolskieOpole8,535975,0002961
osOstrołęka VoivodeshipostrołęckieOstrołęka6,498371,400938
piPiła VoivodeshippilskiePiła8,205437,1002435
ptPiotrków VoivodeshippiotrkowskiePiotrków Trybunalski6,266604,2001051
plPłock VoivodeshippłockiePłock5,117496,100944
poPoznań VoivodeshippoznańskiePoznań8,1511,237,8003357
prPrzemyśl VoivodeshipprzemyskiePrzemyśl4,437380,000935
raRadom VoivodeshipradomskieRadom7,295702,3001561
rzRzeszów VoivodeshiprzeszowskieRzeszów4,397648,9001341
seSiedlce VoivodeshipsiedleckieSiedlce8,499616,3001266
siSieradz VoivodeshipsieradzkieSieradz4,869392,300940
skSkierniewice VoivodeshipskierniewickieSkierniewice3,959396,900836
slSłupsk VoivodeshipsłupskieSłupsk7,453369,8001131
suSuwałki VoivodeshipsuwalskieSuwałki10,490422,6001442
szSzczecin VoivodeshipszczecińskieSzczecin9,981897,9002950
tgTarnobrzeg VoivodeshiptarnobrzeskieTarnobrzeg6,283556,3001446
taTarnów VoivodeshiptarnowskieTarnów4,151607,000941
toToruń VoivodeshiptoruńskieToruń5,348610,8001341
wbWałbrzych VoivodeshipwałbrzyskieWałbrzych4,168716,1003130
waWarsaw VoivodeshipwarszawskieWarsaw 3,7882,319,1002732
wlWłocławek VoivodeshipwłocławskieWłocławek4,402413,4001430
wrWrocław VoivodeshipwrocławskieWrocław6,2871,076,2001633
zaZamość VoivodeshipzamojskieZamość6,980472,100547
zgZielona Góra VoivodeshipzielonogórskieZielona Góra8,868609,2002650