Warmińsko-Mazurskie Voivodeship (voivodeship is the biggest administration unit in Poland, due to the administrative division of the country) is situated in the north-eastern part of Poland. It consists of the historic regions of Warmia, Mazury and Powiśle. Due to the qualities of its nature, it is recognized as one of the most beautiful areas of Poland.
Warmińsko-Mazurskie Voivodeship is the fourth largest region of Poland with the area of more than 24 000 km².
Administrative division: 116 gminas, 19 poviats.
The capital of the region: Olsztyn (the population of more than 170. 000).
Other towns: Elblag (the population of 130. 000), Elk (the population of 60. 000)
Forests: 29.7 % of the area,
Water bodies: 6% of the area,
Cultivated land: 54 % of the area
Warmińsko-Mazurskie Voivodeship is inhabited by the population of more than 1.4 million. The population density is the lowest in Poland, with 59 persons per one square kilometer (Poland – 122).
It is the most ethnically diversified area of the country with numerous national minorities: the Ukrainians (about 80.000), the Germans (20.000), the Romanies, the Belorussians and others
Cultivated land takes up 54% of the voivodeship’s area with 33.4% of arable land, 7.5% of pastures and 0.1% of orchards whereas forests account for 29.7% of the total.
The natural conditions (a short vegetation period, terrain configuration and soil diversification) set the voivodeship’s agriculture the requirement of a high-level territorial development and cause that individual costs of agricultural production are higher with profitability lower than in other regions of the country.
Nearly all farms are in private hands. The area of the average individual farm is quite big and amounts to 14 ha whereas the percentage of the holdings bigger than 20 ha (14.5%) definitely outnumbers the country’s average. The voivodeship’s water bodies occupy 6. 0% of its area, which accounts for 18.2% of the Polish waters total. Fishery management plays a significant role in the region and operates at three levels: lake management, pond management and river management. Sea fishery is performed in the waters of the Vistula Bay. As far as market scale is concerned, regional agriculture mainly produces and processes crops (79.4% of the cropland) and potatoes (3.8%). Breeding primarily covers poultry, swine, cattle, horses and a slight number of sheep.
Warmińsko-Mazurskie Voivodeship, as one of the least polluted regions of the country, is covered by the Green Lungs of Poland programme. The main sectors of economy comprise healthy food production, wood industry, pro-ecological forest management, eco-tourism as well as manufacture of tyres, machinery and equipment with the use of pure industrial technologies and renewable sources of energy.
The predominant sectors include production of food and beverages (about 32.2% of the industrial production sold), furniture (about 14.3%), electrical machinery and apparatus (about 4.3%), clothing and fur garments (about 1.6%). 42.5 % of the country’s production of rubber merchandise comes from Olsztyn, where is located a tyre plant.
With the GDP per capita amounting to PLN 14,065 Warmińsko-Mazurskie Voivodeship ranks below the country’s average (19,430). At the end of 2002 it stayed at the level of 72% of the Polish mean.
Warmińsko-Mazurskie Voivodeship has 110,390 business entities registered under the REGON system with the predominance of the private sector, which accounts for 94%.
The industrial production sold in the region comes to PLN 13.9 billion, which ranks the area in the eleventh position among 16 voivodeships. The share of the private sector in the industrial production sold amounts to 86%. Among the overall number of business entities 76.3% establishments are run by natural persons, 0.7% by cooperatives and 10.9% by commercial law companies whereas state businesses account for a mere 0.056% of the total.
Warmia and Mazury is the region of remarkable tourist and leisure qualities. It is called the land of one thousand lakes although their number should be doubled.
The biggest lakes are Śniardwy (113.8 km²) and Mamry (104.4 km²) whereas the deepest ones include Wukśniki (68 m), Babięta Wielkie (65 m), Piłakno (56.6 m) and Ełckie Lake (55.8 m). Some of the lakes, linked by canals and rivers, stretch to multikilometre water routes, among which the The voivodeship’s weal is also contributed to the woods and primeval forests occupying nearly 30% of the area and housing numerous scenery parks as well as nature reserves best-known one is the Elbląski Canal with the system of ramps enabling the… land voyage.
The voivodeship’s wealth is also contributed to the woods and primeval forests occupying nearly 30% of the area and housing numerous scenery parks as well as nature reserves.
The beauty of the natural landscape is complete thanks to man-made structures, i.e.: well-preserve gothic castles, churches and palaces. 16 out of 100 monuments recorded on the list of unusual sights of Poland, drafted by a daily “Rzeczpospolita”, are located in Warmia and Mazury. Tourist attractions cause that the region is averagely visited by 5 million tourists a year with every fifth one coming from abroad. The region offers more than 34 000 beds at their disposal.
Many tourists are attracted by the Fields of Grunwald, where in 1410 the allied Polish and Lithuanian armies defeated the Teutonic Order. The year-by-year anniversaries of the battle are celebrated with the performances conveying the spirit of the past days and presenting the knight culture. Other attractions, which also enjoy a great interest with tourists, include the ruins of the former Hitler’s military headquarters in Gierłoż near Kętrzyn as well as the Museum of Folk Buildings in Olsztynek.