Łódź Voivodeship

Łódź Voivodeship (also known as Lodz Province,[3] or by its Polish name Województwo łódzkie [vɔjɛˈvut͡stfɔ ˈwut͡skʲɛ]) is a province-voivodeship in central 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
Voivodeship
Flag
Coat of arms
Location within Poland
Division into counties
Coordinates (Łódź): 51°40′N 19°26′E
Country Poland
CapitalŁódź
Counties
Government
 • VoivodeTobiasz Bocheński (PiS)
 • MarshalGrzegorz Schreiber (PiS)
Area
 • Total18,219 km2 (7,034 sq mi)
Population
 (31 December 2019)
 • Total2,454,779
 • Urban
1,530,967
 • Rural
923,812
GDP
 (nominal; 2014)[1]
 • Total€25 billion
 • Per capita€10,000
ISO 3166 codePL-10
Vehicle registrationE
HDI (2017)0.853[2]
very high · 7th
Websitewww.lodzkie.pl
*further divided into 177 gminas

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

The voivodeship contains 44 cities and towns. These are listed below in descending order of population (according to official figures for 31 December 2019):[4]

  1. Łódź (679,941)
  2. Piotrków Trybunalski (73,090)
  3. Pabianice (64,757)
  4. Tomaszów Mazowiecki (61,960)
  5. Bełchatów (56,973)
  6. Zgierz (56,190)
  7. Skierniewice (48,089)
  8. Radomsko (45,843)
  9. Kutno (43,911)
  10. Sieradz (41,953)
  11. Zduńska Wola (41,686)
  12. Łowicz (28,224)
  13. Wieluń (22,269)
  14. Aleksandrów Łódzki (21,739)
  15. Opoczno (21,060)
  16. Ozorków (19,311)
  17. Konstantynów Łódzki (18,206)
  18. Rawa Mazowiecka (17,324)
  19. Łask (17,143)
  20. Głowno (14,119)
  21. Łęczyca (13,971)
  22. Koluszki (12,928)
  23. Brzeziny (12,501)
  24. Wieruszów (8,517)
  25. Żychlin (8,109)
  26. Zelów (7,541)
  27. Poddębice (7,374)
  28. Tuszyn (7,255)
  29. Pajęczno (6,662)
  30. Sulejów (6,177)
  31. Działoszyn (5,810)
  32. Krośniewice (4,322)
  33. Drzewica (3,826)
  34. Przedbórz (3,513)
  35. Stryków (3,478)
  36. Rzgów (3,371)
  37. Złoczew (3,363)
  38. Warta (3,242)
  39. Biała Rawska (3,151)
  40. Uniejów (3,000)
  41. Kamieńsk (2,753)
  42. Wolbórz (2,328)
  43. Błaszki (2,085)
  44. Szadek (1,902)

Administrative division
Łódź
Piotrków Trybunalski
Pabianice
Tomaszów Mazowiecki
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 (ordering within categories is by decreasing population).[4]

English and
Polish names		 Area
(km²)		 Population
(31 December 2019)		 Seat Other towns Total
gminas
City counties
Łódź 293 679,941 1
Piotrków Trybunalski 67 73,090 1
Skierniewice 33 48,089 1
Land counties
Zgierz County
powiat zgierski		 854 166,113 Zgierz Ozorków, Aleksandrów Łódzki, Głowno, Stryków 9
Pabianice County
powiat pabianicki		 491 119,291 Pabianice Konstantynów Łódzki 7
Sieradz County
powiat sieradzki		 1,491 117,674 Sieradz Złoczew, Warta, Błaszki 11
Tomaszów Mazowiecki County
powiat tomaszowski		 1,026 116,519 Tomaszów Mazowiecki 11
Bełchatów County
powiat bełchatowski		 969 112,779 Bełchatów Zelów 8
Radomsko County
powiat radomszczański		 1,443 112,644 Radomsko Przedbórz, Kamieńsk 14
Kutno County
powiat kutnowski		 886 96,569 Kutno Żychlin, Krośniewice 11
Piotrków County
powiat piotrkowski		 1,429 91,353 Piotrków Trybunalski * Sulejów, Wolbórz 11
Łowicz County
powiat łowicki		 987 78,099 Łowicz 10
Wieluń County
powiat wieluński		 928 76,256 Wieluń 10
Opoczno County
powiat opoczyński		 1,039 76,106 Opoczno Drzewica 8
Łódź East County
powiat łódzki wschodni		 499 72,179 Łódź * Koluszki, Tuszyn, Rzgów 6
Zduńska Wola County
powiat zduńskowolski		 369 66,380 Zduńska Wola Szadek 4
Pajęczno County
powiat pajęczański		 804 51,220 Pajęczno Działoszyn 8
Łask County
powiat łaski		 617 49,918 Łask 5
Łęczyca County
powiat łęczycki		 774 49,747 Łęczyca 8
Rawa County
powiat rawski		 647 48,592 Rawa Mazowiecka Biała Rawska 6
Wieruszów County
powiat wieruszowski		 576 42,105 Wieruszów 7
Poddębice County
powiat poddębicki		 881 41,108 Poddębice Uniejów 6
Skierniewice County
powiat skierniewicki		 756 38,174 Skierniewice * 9
Brzeziny County
powiat brzeziński		 359 30,833 Brzeziny 5
* seat not part of the county

Protected areas
Łódź Hills Landscape Park

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

Economy

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
Further information: Łódź Voivodeship (1919–1939)
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
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. The major universities in Łódź Voivodeship are:

There are also dozens of other schools and academies, but for the last four years the best students in Łódź Voivodeship (according to the prestigious contest "Studencki Nobel") have been studying at the University of Łódź - in 2009 the regional laureate was Piotr Pawlikowski, in 2010 - Joanna Dziuba, in 2011 and 2012 - Paweł Rogaliński.[6][7]

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. The number of students in the higher education establishments in Łódź is still growing. Currently, they educate 113,000 students from Poland and other countries.

References
  1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-02-29. Retrieved 2016-02-28.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. "Sub-national HDI - Area Database - Global Data Lab". hdi.globaldatalab.org. Retrieved 2018-09-13.
  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. "Local Data Bank". Statistics Poland. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
  5. "Regional GDP per capita ranged from 30% to 263% of the EU average in 2018". Eurostat.
  6. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-05-17. Retrieved 2012-06-25.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) History of the contest "Studencki Nobel" (in Polish)
  7. "Młody dziennikarz znów pretenduje do Nobla! (in Polish)". Archived from the original on 2013-03-13. Retrieved 2010-05-29.
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