A list of cities and towns in Poland, preceded by a table of major Polish cities. The table ranks cities by population based on data from the Central Statistical Office of Poland. Note that in the Polish system of administration there is no difference between a city and a town. There are only cities (having city rights) and villages (which do not have city rights).
As of 30 June 2020, there are 944 cities and towns in Poland.[1]
Polish cities belong to the following size ranges in terms of the number of inhabitants:
66 cities are cities with powiat rights. In Polish cities, public administration bodies are the city's president or mayor. The city council is the decision-making and control body.
Below is the list of the most populated cities and towns in Poland.[2][3] The seats of either a voivode, or a voivodeship legislature, are marked in bold.
According to the law there are two main types of localities (Polish: miejscowość):[4]
a) independent localities(miejscowość samodzielna) called in register as basic localities (miejscowość podstawowa) - e.g. a city/town and a village, these are always independent localities, and
b) not independent localities(miejscowość niesamodzielna) integral parts of localities, each of which belongs to some basic locality - e.g. part of city/town, part of village, hamlet and housing estate, these are always not independent localities, however e.g. settlement and colony, these can be independent or not independent localities.
In 2015 there was 103,086 official names of localities and their parts, including (23 types):[5]
915 names of cities and towns(miasto),
6,710 names of parts of cities and towns (część miasta),
43,069 names of villages(wieś),
36,262 names of parts of villages (część wsi),
520 names of settlements of villages (osada wsi),
974 names of colonies of villages (kolonia wsi),
224 names of forest settlements of villages (osada leśna wsi),
5 names of housing estates of villages (osiedle wsi),
4,619 names of hamlets of villages (przysiółek wsi),
5,132 names of settlements(osada),
10 names of parts of settlements (część osady),
3 names of settlements of settlements (osada osady),
6 names of colonies of settlements (kolonia osady),
56 names of hamlets of settlements (przysiółek osady),
2,203 names of colonies(kolonia),
200 names of parts of colonies (część kolonii),
0 names of settlements of colonies (osada kolonii),
11 names of colonies of colonies (kolonia kolonii),
41 names of hamlets of colonies (przysiółek kolonii),
1,966 names of forest settlements(osada leśna),
5 names of housing estates(osiedle),
133 names of hamlets(przysiółek),
22 names of tourist refuges(schronisko turystyczne).
Thus, there are 53,445 of independent localities, called basic localities (8 types: "urban" - cities/towns, "rural" - villages, settlements, colonies, forest settlements, housing estates, hamlets and tourist refuges) and 49,641 of not independent localities, integral parts of basic localities (15 types: "urban" - parts of cities and towns, "rural" - parts of villages, settlements of villages, colonies of villages, forest settlements of villages, housing estates of villages, hamlets of villages, parts of settlements, settlements of settlements, colonies of settlements, hamlets of settlements, parts of colonies, settlements of colonies, colonies of colonies and hamlets of colonies).
A statistical locality (miejscowość statystyczna)[4] is a separated collection of several localities (out of all 23 types) for statistical purposes, for which statistical data are collected and compiled together. In a special case, the team may contain only one locality. There are two types of statistical localities:
I - city/town (miasto) including one "urban" basic locality and their integral parts, and
II - rural locality (miejscowość wiejska) including at least one "rural" basic locality and their integral parts.
In 2011 there was 42,490 of statistical localities.[6] Thus, a large number (approx. 11,000) of the "rural" basic localities is taken together under the statistical localities (however, this data do not stipulate how many of tham are fully uninhabited).