Global InformationLesser Poland Voivodeship information
Lesser Poland Voivodeship
Województwo małopolskie | |
|---|---|
Voivodeship | |
 Flag  Coat of arms  Brandmark | |
 Location within Poland | |
 Division into counties | |
| Coordinates (Kraków): 50°3′41″N 19°56′18″E / 50.06139°N 19.93833°E | |
| Country |  Poland |
| Capital | Kraków |
| Counties | 3 cities, 19 land counties *
|
| Government | |
| • Body | Executive board |
| • Voivode | Krzysztof Klęczar (PSL) |
| • Marshal | Witold Kozłowski (PiS) |
| • EP | Lesser Poland and Świętokrzyskie |
| Area | |
| • Total | 15,108 km2 (5,833 sq mi) |
| Population (2019) | |
| • Total | 3,404,863 |
| • Density | 230/km2 (580/sq mi) |
| • Urban | 1,641,189 |
| • Rural | 1,763,674 |
| GDP [1] | |
| • Total | €47.231 billion |
| • Per capita | €14,100 |
| ISO 3166 code | PL-12 |
| Vehicle registration | K |
| HDI (2019) | 0.892[2] very high · 3rd |
| Website | www |
| |
Lesser Poland Voivodeship (Polish: województwo małopolskie [vɔjɛˈvut͡stfɔ mawɔˈpɔlskʲɛ] ⓘ) is a voivodeship (province) in southern Poland. It has an area of 15,108 square kilometres (5,833 sq mi), and a population of 3,404,863 (2019).[3]
It was created on 1 January 1999 out of the former Kraków, Tarnów, Nowy Sącz and parts of Bielsko-Biała, Katowice, Kielce and Krosno Voivodeships, pursuant to the Polish local government reforms adopted in 1998. The province's name recalls the traditional name of a historic Polish region, Lesser Poland, or in Polish: Małopolska. Current Lesser Poland Voivodeship, however, covers only a small part of the broader ancient Małopolska region which, together with Greater Poland (Wielkopolska) and Silesia (Śląsk), formed the early medieval Polish state. Historic Lesser Poland is much larger than the current province. It stretches far north, to Radom, and Siedlce, also including such cities, as Stalowa Wola, Lublin, Kielce, Częstochowa, and Sosnowiec.
The province is bounded on the north by the Świętokrzyskie Mountains (Góry Świętokrzyskie), on the west by Jura Krakowsko-Częstochowska (a broad range of hills stretching from Kraków to Częstochowa), and on the south by the Tatra, Pieniny and Beskidy Mountains. Politically it is bordered by Silesian Voivodeship to the west, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship to the north, Subcarpathian Voivodeship to the east, and Slovakia (Prešov Region and Žilina Regions) to the south.
Almost all of Lesser Poland lies in the Vistula River catchment area. The city of Kraków was one of the European Cities of Culture in 2000. Kraków has railway and road connections with Katowice (expressway), Warsaw, Wrocław and Rzeszów. It lies at the crossroads of major international routes linking Dresden with Kyiv, and Gdańsk with Budapest. Located here is the second largest international airport in Poland (after Warsaw's), the John Paul II International Airport.
- ^ "EU regions by GDP, Eurostat". Retrieved 18 September 2023.
- ^ "Sub-national HDI - Subnational HDI". Global Data Lab. Radboud University Nijmegen. Retrieved 2021-12-13.
- ^ GUS. "Population. Size and structure and vital statistics in Poland by territorial division in 2019. As of 30th June". stat.gov.pl. Retrieved 2020-09-11.