Poland Map: Voivodeships and Regions of Poland

This Poland map shows all 16 voivodeships, the provinces that make up the country, grouped into 7 macroregions from the South to the Masovian Voivodeship. Poland has no states. It had 37,242,958 residents on 30 June 2026 (GUS estimate), and its capital is Warsaw. On this interactive map of Poland, click a region or voivodeship to see its capital, population, area, GDP per capita, largest cities and UNESCO sites, or type a town in the search box to find its voivodeship.

How to use this Poland map

Every region and voivodeship on this regions map of Poland is clickable.

• Explore a region: click or tap one of the 7 macroregions to open its voivodeships, population, area and landmarks. Switch the Regions / Voivodeships toggle to see all 16 voivodeships on their own.
• Compare data: use View by to color the map by region, population, density, area, GDP per capita in zloty or UNESCO sites. The GDP layer shows the gap between Masovia and the poorest voivodeships at a glance.
• Find a town: type a town in the search box to see its voivodeship and region. It answers questions such as which voivodeship Kraków, Gdańsk or Wrocław is in.
• Print it: Printables has printable maps of Poland in A4, including a blank map.
• Take the data: Export downloads all 16 voivodeships as CSV with a citation.

We publish the same kind of map for other countries, including the regions of Russia, whose Kaliningrad Oblast borders northern Poland, and the regions of Austria and Switzerland. For the continent, see Europe, and for everything we have on the country, Poland.

The 7 regions of Poland

The Central Statistical Office (GUS) groups the 16 voivodeships into seven macroregions, the NUTS 1 level of the EU statistical system. They are statistical units with no government of their own. Six contain two or three voivodeships, and the seventh is Masovia alone. Most travel writing means something else by “regions of Poland”: historical regions such as Silesia and Kashubia, which the table further down maps onto today’s voivodeships. Click a column heading to sort.

The South has the most people, 7,675,379, and the North-West has the most land, 21.3% of the country’s area for 16.2% of its people. The South is the reverse: 20.6% of the population on 8.8% of the area. The Central macroregion has the fewest people, 3,461,158, or 9.3% of the total.

The regions of Poland one by one

South (Lesser Poland, Silesian) has 7,675,379 people and is the most crowded macroregion. It runs along the Czech and Slovak borders from the Tatra mountains to the Upper Silesian industrial basin. Its anchors are Kraków (819,493) and Katowice (276,563), and it holds 7 of Poland’s 20 UNESCO entries by voivodeship. For Kraków itself, see our pros and cons of living in Krakow.

North-West (Greater Poland, West Pomeranian, Lubusz) has 6,033,138 people and covers 66,728 km², the most of any macroregion. It stretches from Poznań (533,110) and the Warta basin to the Baltic coast at Szczecin (382,271), with the German border on the Oder to the west. Its only UNESCO site is Muskauer Park in Lubusz, shared with Germany.

South-West (Lower Silesian, Opole) has 3,771,068 people in the upper Oder basin, on the borders with Germany and the Czech Republic. Wrocław (672,579) is the biggest city, and Opole (124,260) is the capital of Poland’s smallest voivodeship. Lower Silesian reaches from the Oder lowlands to the Karkonosze peaks, including Śnieżka, in the Sudeten mountains.

North (Kuyavian-Pomeranian, Warmian-Masurian, Pomeranian) has 5,655,767 people, from the lower Vistula and the Baltic coast to the Masurian Lakes. Gdańsk (489,050), Gdynia (238,014) and Sopot form the Tricity on the coast. Inland, the centers are Bydgoszcz (319,528), Toruń (192,159) and Olsztyn (164,999). The Teutonic castle at Malbork and the medieval town of Toruń are both UNESCO sites.

Central (Łódź, Holy Cross) has 3,461,158 people between Warsaw and the southern uplands. It lost 3.8% of its population between June 2021 and June 2026, more than any other macroregion. Łódź (636,753) is the fourth-largest city in Poland, and Kielce (177,980) is the capital of Holy Cross, named for the Holy Cross Mountains. Łódź has no UNESCO site, and Holy Cross has one, the Krzemionki flint mines.

East (Lublin, Subcarpathian, Podlaskie) has 5,144,405 people along the borders with Belarus, Ukraine, Slovakia and Lithuania. Lublin (325,745), Białystok (288,476) and Rzeszów (199,604) are its centers, and it holds the Białowieża Forest, the Bieszczady mountains and the old city of Zamość. Lublin and Subcarpathian have two of the three lowest GDP per capita figures in Poland.

Masovian Voivodeship is a macroregion of one voivodeship, with 5,502,043 people, 14.8% of the country on 11.3% of the area. It centers on Warsaw (1,866,929). At the NUTS 2 level it splits into the Warsaw Capital Region, with a GDP per capita of PLN 197,889 in 2024, and the Masovian Regional region, with PLN 88,094.

All 16 voivodeships of Poland

The table lists every voivodeship with its capital, macroregion, population at 30 June 2026 and total area at 1 January 2026. Click a heading to sort, or a name to open its card on the map. GUS area includes inland waters and the internal sea waters of the Szczecin and Vistula lagoons, the Bay of Puck and part of the Gulf of Gdańsk, so it is larger than the land the map draws. Polish names are adjectives: Masovian is mazowieckie, Lesser Poland is małopolskie and Silesian is śląskie.

Poland covers 313,937 km² and had 37,242,958 residents on 30 June 2026, or 118.6 per km². That is 2.0% fewer than the 37,989,517 counted on 30 June 2021, with both figures on the revised basis that follows the 2021 census. Four voivodeships, Masovian, Silesian, Greater Poland and Lesser Poland, hold 44.7% of the population.

Capital of Poland and voivodeship capitals

Warsaw (Warszawa) is the capital of Poland and of the Masovian Voivodeship. It had 1,866,929 residents on 30 June 2026, 5.0% of the country and more than twice the population of Kraków (819,493), the second-largest city. Kraków was the royal capital until the court moved to Warsaw in 1596. Behind Warsaw and Kraków come Wrocław (672,579), Łódź (636,753), Poznań (533,110) and Gdańsk (489,050).

Each voivodeship has a capital where its government sits. In 14 of the 16 the capital is the largest city, and in the two with split seats, covered in the next section, the largest city holds one of the seats. Silesian is a case of its own: Katowice (276,563) is the capital, but the voivodeship holds 19 cities with powiat rights, more than any other. A question about the “capital of southern Poland” has no single answer, because the South macroregion has two voivodeships, with capitals in Kraków and Katowice.

Two capitals: Kuyavian-Pomeranian and Lubusz

Two voivodeships divide their government between two cities. The voivode, the central government’s representative, sits in one, and the elected regional assembly (sejmik) and the marshal’s office sit in the other.

• Kuyavian-Pomeranian: the voivode is in Bydgoszcz (319,528), the largest city, and the sejmik and marshal are in Toruń (192,159).
• Lubusz: the voivode is in Gorzów Wielkopolski (113,032), and the sejmik and marshal are in Zielona Góra (138,312), the larger city.

The map lists both seats on each card. Toruń’s medieval town is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Does Poland have states or provinces?

Poland has no states. It is a unitary country, and the voivodeship (województwo) is its first level of regional government. English-language sources usually translate the word as province, so “provinces of Poland” and “voivodeships of Poland” are the same 16 units, and a search for the states of Poland leads to them.

A voivodeship is both a state office and a self-governing region. The voivode, appointed by the Prime Minister, represents the central government. The sejmik is the elected regional assembly, with a five-year term, and a marshal heads its executive board. Below the voivodeships are 380 powiats and 2,479 gminas. Unlike states in the United States or Germany, voivodeships have no constitutions, courts or tax powers of their own.

Which voivodeship is it in?

Search a town on the map to see its voivodeship. These are the 15 largest Polish towns, with populations at 30 June 2026.

Kraków is in Lesser Poland, not in a voivodeship of its own, although it was the center of one before 1999. Gdańsk, Gdynia and Sopot, the Tricity, all lie in the Pomeranian Voivodeship, and Częstochowa, home of the Jasna Góra monastery, is in Silesian. Lower Silesian has Wrocław, and Silesian has Katowice, so the two are not interchangeable even though both names refer to Silesia.

Historical regions: Silesia, Lesser Poland, Pomerania, Kashubia and the rest

Thirteen of the 16 voivodeships carry the name of a historical or geographic region, and Opole, Lublin and Łódź carry the name of their capital. The borders do not line up. A historical region can spread over several voivodeships, and a voivodeship can hold parts of several regions. The table is approximate, because the edges of historical regions are debated and none follows a voivodeship boundary.

Kashubia is the clearest case of a region that is also a language community. The official register of gminas with an auxiliary language, dated 16 April 2021 and the latest published, lists 5 Kashubian gminas in Pomeranian, 22 German gminas in Opole, and 5 Belarusian entries and 1 Lithuanian entry in Podlaskie. Polish is the only official language everywhere. For more, see our lists of indigenous languages in Poland and dialects in Poland.

Largest and smallest voivodeships

Masovian covers 11.3% of Poland and holds 14.8% of its people. Greater Poland is the second-largest voivodeship by area (29,827 km²), and Silesian is the second most populous (4,246,702) on only 12,334 km², the third-smallest area. Opole has 3.0% of the area and 2.5% of the population. Silesian’s density of 344.3 per km² is 2.9 times the national 118.6, and Lesser Poland comes next at 225.8.

No voivodeship grew over the five years. Lesser Poland and Pomeranian came closest to holding steady, and Holy Cross, Lublin and Łódź lost the most.

Only Masovia, Lower Silesian (PLN 103,845) and Greater Poland (PLN 102,459) beat the national GDP per capita of PLN 97,786, and Silesian sits just under it at PLN 97,752. Masovia is 1.6 times the national figure and 2.2 times Lublin. GDP per capita counts what companies based in a voivodeship produce, not what residents earn, so Warsaw’s headquarters lift Masovia well above wages. For the city view, read our list of the richest cities in Poland.

From 49 voivodeships to 16

Poland’s current map dates from 1 January 1999, when the 49 voivodeships of 1975 were replaced by 16 under the Act of 24 July 1998 on the three-tier territorial division of the state. The same reform brought back the powiat as the level between voivodeship and gmina and gave each voivodeship an elected assembly. The 49 old units were named after their central city. The 16 new ones are larger and mostly take regional names, and they resemble the voivodeships that existed between 1950 and 1975.

The number has not changed since 1999. Proposals to split Masovia or to redraw the map appear in policy papers, but none is a bill.

Older borders still show in the data. Between 1772 and 1795 Poland was partitioned among Russia, Austria and Prussia, and the three zones stayed apart until 1918. A 2015 study by Grosfeld and Zhuravskaya in the Journal of Comparative Economics found that gaps in income, education and trust had faded, while railway density still jumps at the old borders and voting still differs: the former Russian zone votes more for post-communist parties and less for post-Solidarity ones. Other researchers credit religion for part of the pattern.

Poland on the map of Europe

Poland sits in Europe on the Baltic Sea and borders seven countries: Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania and Russia, through the Kaliningrad Oblast. Our list of countries that border Poland covers each border. On this map the Czech and Slovak borders run along the South macroregion, and the German border along the Oder and Neisse in the North-West and South-West. The East macroregion faces Belarus, Ukraine and Lithuania.

Interwar Poland covered 389,720 km². Today it covers 313,937 km² (GUS, 1 January 2026), after the borders moved west in 1945: a net loss of about 76,000 km². Poland is in the EU and the Schengen Area, so days spent there count toward the 90/180 rule in our Schengen calculator.

For sights beyond the map, see our lists of lakes in Poland and ruins in Poland.

Powiats and gminas

Below the voivodeships, Poland had 380 powiats on 1 January 2026: 314 land powiats and 66 cities with powiat rights, which act as both city and powiat. The third tier is 2,479 gminas, of which 302 are urban, 724 urban-rural and 1,453 rural. Masovian has the most powiats (37 land powiats and 5 cities) and the most gminas (314). Opole has the fewest of each, 11 land powiats and 1 city, and 71 gminas. Silesian has 17 land powiats and 19 cities, the most cities.

The count of gminas did not change in 2025 or 2026, but their boundaries did. A regulation in force on 1 January 2026 gave six places town status, and another in force on 1 January 2027 gives 12 more. The search box on the map covers the towns and gminas.

UNESCO World Heritage sites by voivodeship

Poland has 18 UNESCO World Heritage properties. The newest is the Gdynia Modernist City Centre in the Pomeranian Voivodeship, inscribed in July 2026. Two properties lie in two voivodeships, so the voivodeship lists add up to 20 entries. The table below follows UNESCO’s list; our post on UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Poland describes the sites themselves.

Lesser Poland has six, Subcarpathian three, and Lower Silesian and Pomeranian two each. Seven voivodeships have one: Kuyavian-Pomeranian, Lublin, Lubusz, Masovian, Podlaskie, Silesian and Holy Cross. Five have none: Łódź, Opole, Warmian-Masurian, Greater Poland and West Pomeranian. Białowieża Forest is shared with Belarus, Muskauer Park with Germany and the Wooden Tserkvas with Ukraine. The UNESCO layer counts the entries per voivodeship.

Frequently asked questions

What is the capital of Poland?

Warsaw is the capital of Poland. It is also the capital of the Masovian Voivodeship and the largest city, with 1,866,929 residents on 30 June 2026. Kraków, now the capital of Lesser Poland, was the royal capital until the court moved to Warsaw in 1596.

How many voivodeships does Poland have?

Poland has 16 voivodeships, a number unchanged since 1 January 1999. They are Lower Silesian, Kuyavian-Pomeranian, Lublin, Lubusz, Łódź, Lesser Poland, Masovian, Opole, Subcarpathian, Podlaskie, Pomeranian, Silesian, Holy Cross, Warmian-Masurian, Greater Poland and West Pomeranian. Together they contain 380 powiats and 2,479 gminas.

What does voivodeship mean?

A voivodeship (województwo in Polish) is Poland’s first-level administrative division, usually translated as province. The name comes from the voivode (wojewoda), the governor who represents the central government in each voivodeship. A voivodeship also has an elected assembly, the sejmik, and an executive board led by a marshal.

Does Poland have states or provinces?

Poland has no states, and its 16 voivodeships are its provinces. The country is unitary, so voivodeships have no constitutions, courts or tax powers of their own, unlike states in a federation. Each voivodeship is divided into powiats and gminas.

What are the regions of Poland?

Poland has 7 macroregions in the official statistical system: South, North-West, South-West, North, Central, East and the Masovian Voivodeship, each a group of one to three voivodeships. Everyday usage also names historical regions such as Silesia, Greater Poland, Lesser Poland, Pomerania, Masovia and Kashubia, whose borders do not match the voivodeships.

Which voivodeships have two capitals?

Kuyavian-Pomeranian and Lubusz each have two seats. In Kuyavian-Pomeranian the voivode sits in Bydgoszcz and the regional assembly and marshal in Toruń. In Lubusz the voivode sits in Gorzów Wielkopolski and the assembly and marshal in Zielona Góra, which is also the larger city.

Which voivodeship are Kraków, Warsaw, Gdańsk and Wrocław in?

Kraków is in Lesser Poland, Warsaw in Masovian, Gdańsk in Pomeranian and Wrocław in Lower Silesian. To check any other town, type it in the search box above the map. It shows the voivodeship and the macroregion.

What are the largest and smallest voivodeships in Poland?

Masovian is the largest by both area (35,559 km²) and population (5,502,043), and Opole is the smallest by both (9,412 km² and 919,766). Silesian is the most densely populated, with 344.3 people per km², and Warmian-Masurian the least, with 55.2.

Is Silesia, Lesser Poland or Pomerania a voivodeship?

Silesian, Lesser Poland and Pomeranian are voivodeships, but each covers only part of the historical region of the same name. Historical Silesia spans the Lower Silesian, Opole and Silesian voivodeships, and historical Pomerania spans West Pomeranian, Pomeranian and part of Kuyavian-Pomeranian. Much of the east of the Silesian Voivodeship lies in historical Lesser Poland.

How did Poland go from 49 voivodeships to 16?

A reform under the Act of 24 July 1998 took effect on 1 January 1999 and replaced the 49 voivodeships of 1975 with 16 larger ones. It also restored the powiat as the middle tier of government. The new voivodeships mostly take regional names, while the old ones were named after their central city.

Which voivodeship is the richest and which the poorest per person?

Masovian has the highest GDP per capita, PLN 154,703 in 2024, followed by Lower Silesian (PLN 103,845) and Greater Poland (PLN 102,459). Lublin is the lowest at PLN 69,026, just below Warmian-Masurian at PLN 69,118. The national figure is PLN 97,786. GDP per capita measures output where companies are based, not what residents earn.

How many UNESCO World Heritage sites does Poland have?

Poland has 18 UNESCO World Heritage properties, the latest being the Gdynia Modernist City Centre, inscribed in July 2026. Lesser Poland has six, Subcarpathian three, and five voivodeships have none: Łódź, Opole, Warmian-Masurian, Greater Poland and West Pomeranian. Properties that cross a voivodeship border count in each one.

Sources and methodology

• Population: GUS, population at 30 June 2026, published 15 October 2026, and the GUS Local Data Bank for 30 June 2021. Both follow the 2021 census revision. The 16 voivodeships sum to the national total of 37,242,958. Town populations are the GUS figures for the town only, not the wider urban area.
• Area: GUS, area and population in the territorial profile 2026, total area at 1 January 2026 from the GUGiK register of areas. It includes inland waters and internal sea waters. Density divides the June 2026 population by total area.
• Boundaries: GUGiK national register of boundaries (PRG), versions of January to March 2025, cut to the coastline with OpenStreetMap data (© OpenStreetMap contributors). The gmina boundary changes of 1 January 2026 are not drawn; voivodeship and powiat borders did not change.
• Powiats and gminas: GUS and the MSWiA territorial units base, 1 January 2026: 16 voivodeships, 314 land powiats, 66 cities with powiat rights and 2,479 gminas. Boundary and town-status changes are from Dz.U. 2025 poz. 1046 and Dz.U. 2026 poz. 1023.
• Regions: the GUS KTS classification (NUTS 2021): seven macroregions, with membership from the 30 June 2026 tables.
• GDP per capita: GUS regional accounts, Local Data Bank variable 458421, 2024, in zloty at current prices. GUS publishes it by NUTS 2 region. The Masovian figure (PLN 154,703) is the one GUS publishes for the whole voivodeship, and the Warsaw Capital Region (PLN 197,889) and Masovian Regional region (PLN 88,094) are published separately.
• Reform of 1999: Act of 24 July 1998 on the three-tier territorial division of the state (Dz.U. 1998 nr 96 poz. 603), whose article 2 lists the 16 voivodeships.
• Languages: the official register of gminas with an auxiliary language, state of 16 April 2021, the latest published.
• World Heritage: UNESCO World Heritage Centre, 18 properties, checked on 11 November 2026. Serial properties are split by voivodeship using their component sites.
• Towns: coordinates from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0).
• Historical regions: the table follows Wikipedia’s articles on each region; borders of historical regions are approximate. The 1939 area is from Wikipedia’s article on territorial changes of Poland, and the partition study is Grosfeld and Zhuravskaya, Journal of Comparative Economics 43(1), 2015, pages 55 to 75.

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