The Łódź Voivodeship (Polish: Województwo łódzkie [vɔjɛˈvut͡stfɔ ˈwut͡skʲɛ] ), also known as the Łódź Province,[3] is a voivodeship (province) of Poland. It was created on 1 January 1999 out of the former Łódź Voivodeship (1975–1999) and the Sieradz, Piotrków Trybunalski and Skierniewice Voivodeships and part of Płock Voivodeship, pursuant to the Polish local government reforms adopted in 1998. The province is named after its capital and largest city, Łódź, pronounced [wut͡ɕ].

Łódź Voivodeship
Województwo łódzkie
Location within Poland
Location within Poland
Division into counties
Division into counties
Coordinates (Łódź): 51°40′N 19°26′E / 51.667°N 19.433°E / 51.667; 19.433
Country Poland
CapitalŁódź
Counties
Government
 • BodyExecutive board
 • VoivodeTobiasz Bocheński (PiS)
 • MarshalGrzegorz Schreiber (PiS)
 • EPŁódź constituency
Area
 • Total18,219 km2 (7,034 sq mi)
Population
 (31 December 2021)
 • Total2,416,902 Decrease
 • Urban
1,499,697 Decrease
 • Rural
917,205 Decrease
GDP
 • Total€34.757 billion
 • Per capita€14,100
ISO 3166 codePL-10
Vehicle registrationE
HDI (2019)0.875[2]
very high · 7th
Websitewww.lodzkie.pl
*Further divided into 177 gminas
Historical regions in present-day Łódź Voivodeship and in Poland

Łódź Voivodeship is bordered by six other voivodeships: Masovian to the north and east, Świętokrzyskie to the south-east, Silesian to the south, Opole to the south-west, Greater Poland to the west, and Kuyavian-Pomeranian for a short stretch to the north. Its territory belongs to three historical provinces of Poland – Masovia (in the east), Greater Poland (in the west) and Lesser Poland (in the southeast, around Opoczno).

Cities and towns edit

The voivodeship contains 11 cities and 35 towns. These are listed below in descending order of population (according to official figures for 31 December 2021):[4]

Cities (governed by a city mayor or prezydent miasta):
  1. Łódź (664,071)  
  2. Piotrków Trybunalski (71,252)  
  3. Pabianice (63,023)  
  4. Tomaszów Mazowiecki (60,529)  
  5. Bełchatów (55,583)  
  6. Zgierz (54,974)  
  7. Skierniewice (47,031)  
  8. Radomsko (44,700)  
  9. Kutno (42,704)  
  10. Sieradz (40,891)  
  11. Zduńska Wola (40,730)  

Towns:

  1. Łowicz (27,436)  
  2. Aleksandrów Łódzki (21,789)  
  3. Wieluń (21,624)  
  4. Opoczno (20,409)  
  5. Ozorków (18,846)  
  6. Konstantynów Łódzki (18,533)  
  7. Rawa Mazowiecka (16,980)  
  8. Łask (16,687)  
  9. Głowno (13,727)  
  10. Łęczyca (13,587)  
  11. Koluszki (12,687)  
  12. Brzeziny (12,326)  
  13. Wieruszów (8,405)  
  14. Żychlin (7,866)  
  15. Zelów (7,356)  
  16. Tuszyn (7,193)  
  17. Poddębice (7,144)  
  18. Pajęczno (6,536)  
  19. Sulejów (6,065)  
  20. Działoszyn (5,627)  
  21. Krośniewice (4,208)  
  22. Drzewica (3,778)  
  23. Przedbórz (3,406)  
  24. Stryków (3,376)  
  25. Rzgów (3,376)  
  26. Złoczew (3,301)  
  27. Warta (3,135)  
  28. Biała Rawska (3,081)  
  29. Uniejów (2,965)  
  30. Kamieńsk (2,670)  
  31. Wolbórz (2,297)  
  32. Lututów (2,269)  
  33. Błaszki (1,992)  
  34. Szadek (1,880)  
  35. Piątek (1,652)  

Administrative division edit

 
Łódź
 
Piotrków Trybunalski
 
Pabianice
 
Kutno
 
Palace in Wola-Chojnata

Łódź Voivodeship is divided into 24 counties (powiats): 3 city counties and 21 land counties. These are further divided into 177 gminas.

The counties are listed in the following table (ordered within categories by descending population).[4]

English and
Polish names
Area
(km²)
Population
(31 December 2020)
Seat Other towns Total
gminas
City counties
Łódź 293 664,071   1
Piotrków Trybunalski 67 71,252   1
Skierniewice 33 47,031   1
Land counties
Zgierz County
powiat zgierski
854 165,110   Zgierz Ozorków, Aleksandrów Łódzki, Głowno, Stryków 9
Pabianice County
powiat pabianicki
491 118,616   Pabianice Konstantynów Łódzki 7
Sieradz County
powiat sieradzki
1,491 115,959   Sieradz Złoczew, Warta, Błaszki 11
Tomaszów Mazowiecki County
powiat tomaszowski
1,026 114,620   Tomaszów Mazowiecki 11
Bełchatów County
powiat bełchatowski
969 111,784   Bełchatów Zelów 8
Radomsko County
powiat radomszczański
1,443 110,584   Radomsko Przedbórz, Kamieńsk 14
Kutno County
powiat kutnowski
886 94,363   Kutno Żychlin, Krośniewice 11
Piotrków County
powiat piotrkowski
1,429 90,727   Piotrków Trybunalski * Sulejów, Wolbórz 11
Łowicz County
powiat łowicki
987 76,820   Łowicz 10
Wieluń County
powiat wieluński
928 75,167   Wieluń 10
Opoczno County
powiat opoczyński
1,039 74,867   Opoczno Drzewica 8
Łódź East County
powiat łódzki wschodni
499 72,856   Łódź * Koluszki, Tuszyn, Rzgów 6
Zduńska Wola County
powiat zduńskowolski
369 65,568   Zduńska Wola Szadek 4
Pajęczno County
powiat pajęczański
804 50,461   Pajęczno Działoszyn 8
Łask County
powiat łaski
617 49,533   Łask 5
Łęczyca County
powiat łęczycki
774 48,715   Łęczyca Piątek 8
Rawa County
powiat rawski
647 47,952   Rawa Mazowiecka Biała Rawska 6
Wieruszów County
powiat wieruszowski
576 41,759   Wieruszów Lututów 7
Poddębice County
powiat poddębicki
881 40,612   Poddębice Uniejów 6
Skierniewice County
powiat skierniewicki
756 37,915   Skierniewice * 9
Brzeziny County
powiat brzeziński
359 30,560   Brzeziny 5
* seat not part of the county

Protected areas edit

 
Łódź Hills Landscape Park

Protected areas in Łódź Voivodeship include seven Landscape Parks, as listed below.

Economy edit

The Gross domestic product (GDP) of the province was 26.7 billion euros in 2018, accounting for 6.0% of Polish economic output. GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power was 19,800 euros or 66% of the EU27 average in the same year. The GDP per employee was also 66% of the EU average.[5]

History edit

 
Łódź Voivodeship 1921–1939

The capital of the Łódź Voivodeship has always been Łódź, but the area of land which it comprises has changed several times. The first was a unit of administrative division and local government in the Second Polish Republic in the years 1921–1939. In 1938 some western counties were ceded to Greater Poland Voivodeship (see: Territorial changes of Polish Voivodeships on April 1, 1938).

After the change, Łódź Voivodeship's area was 20,446 square kilometres (7,894 sq mi), and its population (as for 1931) was 2,650,100. It consisted of 15 powiats (counties):

The largest cities of the voivodeship were (population according to the 1931 census):

  • Łódź (pop. 604,600),
  • Piotrków Trybunalski (pop. 51,300),
  • Pabianice (pop. 45,700),
  • Tomaszów Mazowiecki (pop. 38,000),
  • Zgierz (pop. 26,600),
  • Kutno (pop. 23,400),
  • Radomsko (pop. 23,000).

Source: Mały rocznik statystyczny 1939, Nakładem Glownego Urzędu Statystycznego, Warszawa 1939 (Concise Statistical Year-Book of Poland, Warsaw 1939).

The next incarnation existed from 1945 until 1975 (although the city of Łódź was excluded as a separate City Voivodeship). This Łódź Voivodeship was then broken up, superseded by Łódź (see below), Sieradz, Piotrków Trybunalski, Skierniewice and partly Płock Voivodeships.

 
Łódź Voivodeship 1975–1998

Łódź Voivodeship, also known as Łódź Metropolitan Voivodeship (województwo miejskie łódzkie), existed from 1975 until 1998, after which it was incorporated into today's Łódź Voivodeship. Until 1990, the mayor of the city of Łódź was also the voivodeship governor.

As of 1995, major cities and towns in Łódź Metropolitan Voivodeship included (with their 1995 populations):

Culture and education edit

 
The Rector's Office of the Lodz University of Technology
 
National Film School in Łódź

The basic cultural activities in the Łódź Region are: monitoring activities of seven regional self-government cultural institutions, i.e., the Arthur Rubinstein Łódź Philharmonic, Museum of Art in Łódź (having one of the biggest modern art collections in Europe), the Opera House, Stefan Jaracz Theater, the Museum of Archeology and Ethnography, the Józef Piłsudski Regional and Municipal Public Library in Łódź, the Chamber of Culture in Łódź but also: supporting NGO’s, protection of monuments, awarding scholarships to young artists and rewards for the prominent artists. What is more, infrastructural projects are being undertaken. Among the most important investments are: the creation of four regional scenes in Stefan Jaracz Theatre, opening the new section of the Museum of Art in Łódź - ms² or the reconstruction of medieval settlement in Tum in the vicinity of Łęczyca.

As of 2020, there were 76,897 students in various institutions of higher education in Łódź Voivodeship.[6] The major universities in the voivodeship are:

The excellent scientific staff of the higher education establishments in Łódź is complemented by Łódź’s scientists from the Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN) and scientific ministerial institutes working within the field of the occupational medicine, textile, paper and leather industries.

References edit

  1. ^ "EU regions by GDP, Eurostat". Retrieved 18 September 2023.
  2. ^ "Sub-national HDI - Subnational HDI". globaldatalab.org. Radboud University Nijmegen. Retrieved 2021-12-13.
  3. ^ Arkadiusz Belczyk, Tłumaczenie polskich nazw geograficznych na język angielski Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine [Translation of Polish Geographical Names into English], 2002-2006.
  4. ^ a b "Local Data Bank". Statistics Poland. Retrieved 26 August 2022.
  5. ^ "Regional GDP per capita ranged from 30% to 263% of the EU average in 2018". Eurostat.
  6. ^ Higher Education and its Finances in 2020 (PDF). Warszawa: Statistics Poland. 2021. p. 18.

External links edit