The present administrative regions of Poland were introduced on January 1st, 1999. Jerzy Buzek's government's reorganisation of the administration reduced number of the regions (called voivodships) from 49 to 16, making them more like regions in other European countries, having historical background and economically stronger. Counties (poviats) were brought back to the administration structure - they group communities and are grouped into voivodships; there are about 400 poviats in Poland.
The maps presented here are up to the date of January 1st, 2002. We're going to provide more detailed information on every region soon.