The Masovian Voivodeship, also known as the Mazovia Province (województwo mazowieckie ) is a voivodeship (province) in east-central Poland, with its capital located in the city of Warsaw, which also serves as the capital of the country. The voivodeship has an area of 35579 km2 and, as of 2019, a population of 5,411,446, making it the largest and most populated voivodeship of Poland. Its principal cities are Warsaw (1.783 million) in the centre of the Warsaw metropolitan area, Radom (212,230) in the south, P?ock (119,709) in the west, Siedlce (77,990) in the east, and Ostro??ka (52,071) in the north.
The province was created on 1 January 1999, out of the former voivodeships of Warsaw, P?ock, Ciechanów, Ostro??ka, Siedlce and Radom, pursuant to the Polish local government reforms adopted in 1998. The province's name recalls the traditional name of the region, Mazovia, with which it is roughly coterminous. However, southern part of the voivodeship, with Radom, historically belongs to Lesser Poland, while ?om?a and its surroundings, even though historically part of Mazovia, now is part of Podlaskie Voivodeship.
It is bordered by six other voivodeships: Warmian-Masurian to the north, Podlaskie to the north-east, Lublin to the south-east, ?wi?tokrzyskie to the south, ?ód? to the south-west, and Kuyavian-Pomeranian to the north-west.
Mazovian Voivodeship is the centre of science, research, education, industry and infrastructure in the country. It currently has the lowest unemployment rate in Poland and is classified as a very high income province. Moreover, it is popular among holidaymakers due to the number of historical monuments and greenery; forests cover over 20% of the voivodeship's area, where pines and oaks predominate in the regional landscape. Additionally, the Kampinos National Park located within Masovia is a UNESCO-designated biosphere reserve.
Masovian Voivodeship is divided into 42 counties, including 5 city counties and 37 land counties. These are subdivided into 314 gminas (municipilaties), which include 85 urban gminas.
* The counties, shown on the numbered map, are described in the table below.
