The voivodeship contains 11 cities and 35 towns. These are listed below in descending order of population (according to official figures for 31 December 2021):[4]
Cities (governed by a city mayor orprezydent miasta):
Thegross domestic product (GDP) of the province was 26.7 billion euros in 2018, accounting for 6.0% of Polish economic output. GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power was 19,800 euros or 66% of the EU27 average in the same year. The GDP per employee was also 66% of the EU average.[5]
After the change, Łódź Voivodeship's area was 20,446 square kilometres (7,894 sq mi), and its population (as for 1931) was 2,650,100. It consisted of 15 powiats (counties):
The next incarnation existed from 1945 until 1975 (although the city of Łódź was excluded as a separate City Voivodeship). This Łódź Voivodeship was then broken up, superseded by Łódź (see below),Sieradz,Piotrków Trybunalski,Skierniewice and partlyPłock Voivodeships.
Łódź Voivodeship 1975–1998
Łódź Voivodeship, also known as Łódź Metropolitan Voivodeship (województwo miejskie łódzkie), existed from 1975 until 1998, after which it was incorporated into today's Łódź Voivodeship. Until 1990, the mayor of the city of Łódź was also the voivodeship governor.
As of 1995, major cities and towns in Łódź Metropolitan Voivodeship included (with their 1995 populations):
The current Łódź Voivodeship was created on 1 January 1999 out of the former Łódź Voivodeship (1975–1999) and theSieradz,Piotrków Trybunalski andSkierniewice Voivodeships and part ofPłock Voivodeship, pursuant to thePolish local government reforms adopted in 1998. In July 2025 the voivodeship government purchased offices at theBrama Miasta office building at 66a Kilińskiego street with the intention of consolidating offices which are spread at different locations in the city.[11]
The basic cultural activities in the Łódź Region are: monitoring activities of seven regional self-government cultural institutions, i.e., theArthur Rubinstein Łódź Philharmonic, Museum of Art in Łódź (having one of the biggest modern art collections in Europe), the Opera House,Stefan Jaracz Theater, the Museum of Archeology and Ethnography, theJózef Piłsudski Regional and Municipal Public Library in Łódź, the Chamber of Culture in Łódź but also: supporting NGO’s, protection of monuments, awarding scholarships to young artists and rewards for the prominent artists. What is more, infrastructural projects are being undertaken. Among the most important investments are: the creation of four regional scenes inStefan Jaracz Theatre, opening the new section of theMuseum of Art in Łódź - ms² or the reconstruction ofmedieval settlement in Tum in the vicinity ofŁęczyca.
As of 2020, there were 76,897 students in various institutions of higher education in Łódź Voivodeship.[12] The major universities in the voivodeship are:
The excellent scientific staff of the higher education establishments in Łódź is complemented by Łódź’s scientists from the Institute of thePolish Academy of Sciences (PAN) and scientific ministerial institutes working within the field of the occupational medicine, textile, paper and leather industries.
There are numerousWorld War II memorials, including a museum at the site of the former Nazi GermanRadogoszcz prison in Łódź, and monuments at the sites of German-perpetrated massacres and camps.
Football andvolleyball enjoy the largest following in the province.ŁKS Łódź andWidzew Łódź contest the Łódź Derby, one of the fiercest football rivalries in Poland.
The Polish language of the inhabitants of the voivodeship is considered the closest to the Polish literary language, as the region did not develop its own dialect, but was a place of blending of dialects from the neighboring larger regions ofGreater Poland,Lesser Poland,Mazovia andSilesia.[17]
^Koter, Marek (2016). "Historyczno-geograficzne podstawy oraz proces kształtowania się regionu łódzkiego". In Marszał, Tomasz (ed.).Miasto–region–gospodarka w badaniach geograficznych (in Polish). Łódź: WydawnictwoUniwersytetu Łódzkiego. p. 130.ISBN978-83-8088-004-7.
^Konopczyński, Władysław (1948).Chronologia sejmów polskich 1493–1793 (in Polish). Kraków:Polska Akademia Umiejętności. pp. 132–140.
^Koter, Marek (2016). "Historyczno-geograficzne podstawy oraz proces kształtowania się regionu łódzkiego". In Marszał, Tomasz (ed.).Miasto–region–gospodarka w badaniach geograficznych (in Polish). Łódź: WydawnictwoUniwersytetu Łódzkiego. pp. 144, 146.ISBN978-83-8088-004-7.
^Studnicka-Mariańczyk, Karolina (2018). "Zakład Karny w Sieradzu w okresie okupacji hitlerowskiej 1939–1945".Zeszyty Historyczne (in Polish).17:188–190.
^Koter, Marek (2016). "Historyczno-geograficzne podstawy oraz proces kształtowania się regionu łódzkiego". In Marszał, Tomasz (ed.).Miasto–region–gospodarka w badaniach geograficznych (in Polish). Łódź: WydawnictwoUniwersytetu Łódzkiego. pp. 134–135.ISBN978-83-8088-004-7.
^Feduszka, Jacek (2009). "Szkoci i Anglicy w Zamościu w XVI-XVIII wieku".Czasy Nowożytne (in Polish). Vol. 22. Zarząd Główny Polskiego Towarzystwa Historycznego. p. 53.ISSN1428-8982.
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