Poland

Polska

Area: 312.685 km² Population: 38.195.200 Capital: Warsaw Major cities: Lodz, Cracow, Wroclaw, Poznan, Gdansk, Katowice, Szczecin Major airport: WAW - Warszawa Okęcie

Administrative division of Poland

In the 1990s Poland's system of administrative division was reformed in two stages. In 1990 the commune (gmina), the primary urban and rural unit, which had been abolished in 1975, was re-introduced. In 1998 the number of voivodships (województwa), the major territorial division, was reduced from 49 to 16, the county (powiat) was instated as an intermediate unit between the commune and the voivodship, and some of the administrative duties and tasks devolved from central government to the territorial and/or local authorities.