Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship


Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, Świętokrzyskie Province, or Holy Cross Province is one of the 16 voivodeships into which Poland is divided. It is situated in southeastern Poland, in the historical region of Lesser Poland, and takes its name from the Świętokrzyskie mountain range. Its capital and largest city is Kielce.
Świętokrzyskie Province is bounded by six other voivodeships: Masovian to the north, Lublin to the east, Subcarpathian to the southeast, Lesser Poland to the south, Silesian to the southwest and Łódź to the northwest.
The province was created on 1 January 1999, out of the former Kielce Voivodeship, eastern part of Częstochowa Voivodeship and western part of Tarnobrzeg Voivodeship, pursuant to the Polish local government reforms adopted in 1998. It covers an area of, making it the second smallest of the voivodeships. As at 2006, the total population of Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship is 1,281,796.

Cities and towns

The voivodeship contains 32 cities and towns. These are listed below in descending order of population :

Administrative division

Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship is divided into 14 counties : 1 city county and 13 land counties. These are further divided into 102 gminas.
The counties are listed in the following table.

Economy

The Gross domestic product of the province was 11.6 billion € in 2018, accounting for 2.3% of the Polish economic output. GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power was 15,400 € or 51% of the EU27 average in the same year. The GDP per employee was 58% of the EU average. Świętokrzyskie Voivodship is the province with the fifth lowest GDP per capita in Poland.

Protected areas

s in Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship include one National Park and nine Landscape Parks. These are listed below.