Województwo/en

VOIVODSHIP – a unit of the basic three-tier territorial division of the state. In years 1990-1998 the unit of the basic territorial division of government administration. Since 1999, also a local-government unit – the inhabitants of the v. constitute by virtue of law a regional local-government community. V. as a unit of division of the territorial system of the Polish state has distant historical traditions. V. is the largest unit of the basic territorial division of the country established for the purpose of performing public administration tasks. V. agglomerates → counties, cities with county rights, and → municipalities. On the basis of the Act introducing the new three-tier territorial division of the state, on 1st January 1999 16 voivodships were established: Lower Silesia v., Kujawy-Pomerania v., Lublin v., Lubuskie v., Łódź v., Małopolska v., Mazovia v., Opole v., Podkarpacie v., Podlasie v., Pomerania v., Silesia v., Świętokrzyskie v., Warmia-Masuria v., Wielkopolska v., West Pomerania v. The location of the headquarters of → voivodes and → voivodship sejmiks were also specified at that time. In two voivodships sejmik and voivode have offices in different cities (Kujawy-Pomerania and Lubuskie v.). The number of municipalities and counties included in the individual voivodships is very diverse. The largest number of local-government units are concentrated (as of November 2017) in Mazovia, and the smallest number is in Opole v. (→ local government, supervision of local government) [ K. Mroczka ].

Literature: E. Zieliński, Administracja rządowa i samorządowa w Polsce, Warszawa 2013.