Voivodeships of Poland Polish: Województwa Polski
Also known as: provinces
West Pomeranian Pomeranian Warmian-Masurian Podlaskie Lubusz Greater Poland Kuyavian- Pomeranian Lower Silesian Opole Silesian Świętokrzyskie Łódź Masovian Lublin Lesser Poland Subcarpathian
Category	Provinces (unitary local government subdivision)
Location	Republic of Poland
Number	16 voivodeships
Populations	966,000 (Opole) – 5,432,000 (Masovian)
Areas	9,413 km2 (3,634.2 sq mi) (Opole) – 35,580 km2 (13,737 sq mi) (Masovian)
Government	Voivodeship government, National government
Subdivisions	Powiat (county)

A voivodeship (/ˈvɔɪvoʊdʃɪp/ VOY-vohd-ship; Polish: województwo [vɔjɛˈvut͡stfɔ] ^ⓘ; plural: województwa [vɔjɛˈvut͡stfa]) 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".^[1]

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 (in territory, but not in name) 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 10,000 km² (3,900 sq mi) (Opole Voivodeship) to over 35,000 km² (14,000 sq mi) (Masovian Voivodeship), and in population from nearly one million (Opole Voivodeship) to over five million (Masovian Voivodeship).

Administrative authority at the voivodeship level is shared between a government-appointed governor called a voivode (wojewoda), an elected assembly called a sejmik, and an executive board (zarząd województwa) chosen by that assembly, headed by a voivodeship marshal (marszałek województwa). Voivodeships are further divided into powiats ('counties') and gminas ('communes' or 'municipalities'), the smallest administrative divisions of Poland.

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Etymology and use

Some English-language sources, in historic contexts, speak of palatinates rather than voivodeships. The term "palatine" traces back to the Latin palatinus.

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 historic grounds. Before the third and last Partition of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, which occurred 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" (prowincja). According to the argument, a province (such as Greater Poland) cannot consist of a number of subdivisions ("województwa", the plural of "województwo") that are likewise called "provinces". This is an antiquarian consideration, as " province" has not been used in this sense in Poland for over two centuries. The former larger political units, all now obsolete, can be referred to in English as they were, "regions".

The Polish województwo, designating a second-tier Polish or Polish–Lithuanian administrative unit, derives from wojewoda, (etymologically, a 'warlord', 'war leader' or 'leader of warriors', but now simply the governor of a województwo) and the suffix -ztwo (a "state or condition").

The English voivodeship, which is a hybrid of the loanword voivode and -ship (the latter a suffix that calques the Polish suffix -ztwo), has never been much used and is absent from many dictionaries. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, it first appeared in 1792, spelled "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."^[2]

Poland's Commission on Standardization of Geographic Names outside the Republic of Poland, prefers the form which omits the 'e', recommending the spelling "voivodship", for use in English.^[3][4]

Current

Administrative powers

Competences and powers at voivodeship level are shared between the voivode (governor), the sejmik (regional assembly) 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 (such as the police and fire services, passport offices, and various inspectorates), 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.^[5]

The sejmik is elected every five years. (The first of the five-year terms began in 2018; previous terms lasted four years.)^[6]) 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 (zarząd województwa), 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

Polish voivodeships since 1999

Abbr.	Flag	Coat of arms	Ter. code	Voivodeship	Polish name	Capital city/cities	Area (km2)[7]	Population (2022)[7]	Pop. per km2[8]	Car plates
DS			02	Lower Silesian	dolnośląskie	Wrocław	19,947	2,903,000	145	D
KP			04	Kuyavian-Pomeranian	kujawsko-pomorskie	Bydgoszcz1, Toruń2	17,971	2,056,000	115	C
LU			06	Lublin	lubelskie	Lublin	25,123	2,104,000	83	L
LB			08	Lubusz	lubuskie	Gorzów Wielkopolski1, Zielona Góra2	13,988	995,000	72	F
LD			10	Łódź	łódzkie	Łódź	18,219	2,443,000	134	E
MA			12	Lesser Poland	małopolskie	Kraków	15,183	3,399,000	225	K
MZ			14	Masovian	mazowieckie	Warsaw	35,559	5,432,000	153	W
OP			16	Opole	opolskie	Opole	9,412	966,000	104	O
PK			18	Subcarpathian	podkarpackie	Rzeszów	17,846	2,098,000	119	R
PD			20	Podlaskie	podlaskie	Białystok	20,187	1,182,000	58	B
PM			22	Pomeranian	pomorskie	Gdańsk	18,323	2,355,000	128	G
SL			24	Silesian	śląskie	Katowice	12,333	4,501,000	364	S
SK			26	Holy Cross	świętokrzyskie	Kielce	11,710	1,216,000	105	T
WN			28	Warmian-Masurian	warmińsko-mazurskie	Olsztyn	24,173	1,423,000	59	N
WP			30	Greater Poland	wielkopolskie	Poznań	29,826	3,486,000	117	P
ZP			32	West Pomeranian	zachodniopomorskie	Szczecin	22,905	1,694,000	74	Z
1 Seat of voivode. 2 Seat of sejmik and marshal.

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 (being the Masovian Voivodeship at 33,500 EUR) and the poorest per capita (being the Lublin Voivodeship at 14,400 EUR).^[9]

Historical development

Outline of Poland

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1619, around the time of the Commonwealth's greatest extent

Voivodeships of Congress Poland

Map of Polish voivodeships (1921–1939)

Poland's prewar and postwar borders, 1939–1945

Map of Polish voivodeships (1957–1975)

Map of Polish voivodeships (1975–1998)

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:

• Poznań Voivodeship (województwo poznańskie, Poznań)
• Kalisz Voivodeship (województwo kaliskie, Kalisz)
• Gniezno Voivodeship (województwo gnieźnieńskie, Gniezno) from 1768
• Sieradz Voivodeship (województwo sieradzkie, Sieradz)
• Łęczyca Voivodeship (województwo łęczyckie, Łęczyca)
• Brześć Kujawski Voivodeship (województwo brzesko-kujawskie, Brześć Kujawski)
• Inowrocław Voivodeship (województwo inowrocławskie, Inowrocław)
• Chełmno Voivodeship (województwo chełmińskie, Chełmno)
• Malbork Voivodeship (województwo malborskie, Malbork)
• Pomeranian Voivodeship (województwo pomorskie, Gdańsk)
• Duchy of Warmia (Księstwo Warmińskie, Lidzbark Warmiński)
• Duchy of Prussia (Księstwo Pruskie, Królewiec)
• Płock Voivodeship (województwo płockie, Płock)
• Rawa Voivodeship (województwo rawskie, Rawa Mazowiecka)
• Masovian Voivodeship (województwo mazowieckie, Warszawa)

Lesser Poland (Małopolska)

The following is a list of the Voivodeships within Lesser Poland over the period of the mid-16th century until the late 18th century:

• Kraków Voivodeship (województwo krakowskie, Kraków)
• Sandomierz Voivodeship (województwo sandomierskie, Sandomierz)
• Lublin Voivodeship (województwo lubelskie, Lublin)
• Podlaskie Voivodeship (województwo podlaskie, Drohiczyn)
• Ruthenian Voivodeship (województwo ruskie, Lwów )
• Bełz Voivodeship (województwo belzkie, Bełz )
• Volhynian Voivodeship (województwo wołyńskie, Łuck )
• Podole Voivodeship (województwo podolskie, Kamieniec Podolski )
• Bracław Voivodeship (województwo bracławskie, Bracław )
• Kijów Voivodeship (województwo kijowskie, Kijów )
• Czernihów Voivodeship (województwo czernichowskie, Czernihów )

Grand Duchy of Lithuania

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:

• Wilno Voivodship (województwo wileńskie, Wilno )1413
• Troki Voivodship (województwo trockie, Troki )
• Nowogrodek Voivodship (województwo nowogrodzkie, Nowogródek )
• Brest-Litovsk Voivodship (województwo brzesko-litewskie, Brześć Litewski )
• Minsk Voivodship (województwo mińskie, Mińsk Minsk, Belarus)
• Mscislaw Voivodship (województwo mścisławskie, Mścisław Mstsislaw, Belarus)
• Smolensk Voivodship (województwo smoleńskie, Smoleńsk Smolensk, Russia)
• Vitebsk Voivodship (województwo witebskie, Witebsk Vitebsk, Belarus)
• Polock Voivodship (województwo połockie, Połock Polotsk, Belarus)
• Duchy of Samogita (księstwo żmudzkie, Miedniki-Wornie Varniai, Lithuania)

Duchy of Livoniaedit

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:

• Wenden Voivodship (województwo wendeńskie, Wenden Cēsis, Latvia) from 1598 until the 1620s
• Dorpat Voivodship (województwo dorpackie, Dorpat Tartu, Estonia) from 1598 until the 1620s
• Parnawa Voivodship (województwo parnawskie, Parnava Pärnu, Estonia) from 1598 until the 1620s
• Inflanty Voivodeship (województwo inflanckie Dyneburg Daugavpils, Latvia) from the 1620s
• Duchy of Courland and Semigalia (księstwo Kurlandii i Semigalii), Mitawa Jelgava, Latvia)

Congress Polandedit

From 1816 to 1837 there were 8 voivodeships in Congress Poland.

• Augustów Voivodeship
• Kalisz Voivodeship
• Kraków Voivodeship
• Lublin Voivodeship
• Mazowsze Voivodeship
• Płock Voivodeship
• Podlaskie Voivodeship
• Sandomierz Voivodeship

Second Polish Republicedit

The administrative division of Poland in the interwar period included 16 voivodeships and Warsaw (with voivodeship rights). 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.