Voivodships of Poland
A voivodship (in Polish wojewÃÂództwo) 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.
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 (wojewÃÂództwo bialskopodlaskie, bp, Biala Podlaska)
- Bialystok Voivodship (wojewÃÂództwo białostockie, bk, Bialystok)
- Bielsko-Biala Voivodship (wojewÃÂództwo bielskie, bb, Bielsko-Biala)
- Bydgoszcz Voivodship (wojewÃÂództwo bydgoskie, by, Bydgoszcz)
- Chelm Voivodship (wojewÃÂództwo chełmskie, ch, Chelm)
- Ciechanow Voivodship (wojewÃÂództwo ciechanowskie, ci, Ciechanow)
- Czestochowa Voivodship (wojewÃÂództwo częstochowskie, cz, Czestochowa)
- Elblag Voivodship (wojewÃÂództwo elbląskie, el Elblag)
- Gdansk Voivodship (wojewÃÂództwo gdańskie, gd, Gdansk)
- Gorzow Voivodship (wojewÃÂództwo gorzowskie, go, Gorzow Wielkopolski)
- Jelenia Gora Voivodship (wojewÃÂództwo jeleniogÃÂórskie, jg, Jelenia Gora)
- Kalisz Voivodship (wojewÃÂództwo kaliskie, kl, Kalisz)
- Katowice Voivodship (wojewÃÂództwo katowickie, ka, Katowice)
- Kielce Voivodship (wojewÃÂództwo kieleckie, ki, Kielce)
- Konin Voivodship (wojewÃÂództwo konińskie, kn, Konin)
- Koszalin Voivodship (wojewÃÂództwo koszalińskie, ko, Koszalin)
- Krakow Voivodship (wojewÃÂództwo krakowskie, kr , Krakow)
- Krosno Voivodship (wojewÃÂództwo krośnieńskie, ks, Krosno)
- Lodz Voivodship (wojewÃÂództwo łÃÂódzkie, ld, Lodz)
- Leszno Voivodship (wojewÃÂództwo leszczyńskie, le, Leszno)
- Legnica Voivodship (wojewÃÂództwo legnickie, lg, Legnica)
- Lomza Voivodship (wojewÃÂództwo łomżyńskie, lo, Lomza)
- Lublin Voivodship (wojewÃÂództwo lubelskie, lu, Lublin)
- Nowy Sacz Voivodship (wojewÃÂództwo nowosądeckie, ns, Nowy Sacz)
- Olsztyn Voivodship (wojewÃÂództwo olsztyńskie, ol, Olsztyn)
- Opole Voivodship (wojewÃÂództwo opolskie, op, Opole)
- Ostroleka Voivodship (wojewÃÂództwo ostrołęckie, os, Ostroleka)
- Pila Voivodship (wojewÃÂództwo pilskie, pi, Pila)
- Piotrkow Trybunalski Voivodship (wojewÃÂództwo piotrkowskie, pt, Piotrkow Trybunalski)
- Plock Voivodship (wojewÃÂództwo płockie, pl, Plock)
- Poznan Voivodship (wojewÃÂództwo poznańskie, po, Poznan)
- Przemysl Voivodship (wojewÃÂództwo przemyskie, pr, Przemysl)
- Radom Voivodship (wojewÃÂództwo radomskie, rs, Radom)
- Rzeszow Voivodship (wojewÃÂództwo rzeszowskie, rz, Rzeszow)
- Siedlce Voivodship (wojewÃÂództwo siedleckie, se, Siedlce)
- Sieradz Voivodship (wojewÃÂództwo sieradzkie, si, Sieradz)
- Skierniewice Voivodship (wojewÃÂództwo skierniewickie, sk, Skierniewice)
- Slupsk Voivodship (wojewÃÂództwo słupskie, sl, Slupsk)
- Suwalki Voivodship (wojewÃÂództwo suwalskie, su, Suwalki)
- Szczecin Voivodship (wojewÃÂództwo szczecińskie, sz, Szczecin)
- Tarnow Voivodship (wojewÃÂództwo tarnowskie, ta, Tarnow)
- Tarnobrzeg Voivodship (wojewÃÂództwo tarnobrzeskie, tg, Tarnobrzeg)
- Torun Voivodship (wojewÃÂództwo toruńskie, to, Torun)
- Walbrzych Voivodship (wojewÃÂództwo wałbrzyskie, wb, Walbrzych)
- Warszawa Voivodship (wojewÃÂództwo warszawskie, wa, Warszawa)
- Wloclawek Voivodship (wojewÃÂództwo włocławskie, wl, Wloclawek)
- Wroclaw Voivodship (wojewÃÂództwo wrocławskie, wr, Wroclaw)
- Zamosc Voivodship (wojewÃÂództwo zamojskie, za, Zamosc)
- Zielona Gora Voivodship (wojewÃÂództwo zielonogÃÂórskie, zg, Zielona Gora)
In 1950 new voivodships created: Koszalin - previously part of Szczecin, Opole - previously part of Katowice, and Zielona GÃÂóra - 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- and Lodz,
1957-1975 5 cities with voivodship status: additionally Wroclaw
, Krakow 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