View source for Powiat

{{Short description|Provincial unit in Poland}}
{{More footnotes needed|date=February 2013}}

[[File:POLSKA powiaty.svg|thumb|Division of Poland into powiats (counties)]]
{{Administrative division of Poland sidebar}}

A '''''powiat''''' ({{IPAc-pl|'|p|o|w|j|a|t|}}; {{plural form|'''''powiaty'''''}}) is the second-level unit of [[local government]] and administration in [[Poland]], equivalent to a [[county]], [[district]] or [[prefecture]] ([[Local administrative unit|LAU-1]] [formerly [[Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics|NUTS-4]]<nowiki>]</nowiki>) in other countries. The term "''powiat''" is most often translated into English as "county" or "district" (sometimes "poviat"). In historical contexts, this may be confusing because the Polish term ''hrabstwo'' (an administrative unit administered/owned by a ''hrabia'' ([[count]]) is also literally translated as "county".

A ''powiat'' is part of a larger unit, the [[Voivodeships of Poland|voivodeship]] ([[Polish language|Polish]] ''województwo'') or [[province]].

A ''powiat'' is usually subdivided into ''[[gmina]]s'' (in English, often referred to as "[[Commune (administrative division)|communes]]" or "[[municipality|municipalities]]").  Major towns and cities, however, function as separate counties in their own right, without subdivision into ''gmina''s. They are termed "[[City with powiat rights|city counties]]" (''powiaty grodzkie'' or, more formally, ''miasta na prawach powiatu'') and have roughly the same status as former [[county borough]]s in the [[UK]].  The other type of ''powiat''s are termed "land counties" (''powiaty ziemskie'').

As of 2018, there were 380 ''powiat''-level entities: 314 land counties, and 66 city counties. For a complete alphabetical listing, see "[[List of Polish counties]]". For tables of counties by voivodeship, see the articles on the individual voivodeships (e.g., [[Greater Poland Voivodeship]]).

==History==
The history of Polish powiats goes back to the second half of the 14th century. They remained the basic unit of territorial organization in Poland, then in the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]], until the latter's [[Partitions of Poland|partitioning]] in 1795.

In the 19th century, the powiats continued to function in the part of Poland that had been incorporated into the [[Russian Empire]] and in the confederated "[[Congress Kingdom of Poland]]"—the equivalent of the Russian ''[[uyezd]]''–and, in the German-governed [[Grand Duchy of Poznań]], as the Polish equivalent of the [[German language|German]] ''[[Districts of Prussia|Kreis]]''.

After Poland [[National Independence Day (Poland)|regained independence in 1918]], the powiats were again the second-level territorial units.

Powiats were abolished in 1975 in favour of a larger number of [[Voivodeships of Poland|voivodeships]] but were reintroduced on 1 January 1999. This reform also created 16 larger voivodeships.

==Functioning==
Legislative power within a powiat is vested in an elected council (''rada powiatu''), while local executive power is vested in an executive board (''zarząd powiatu'') headed by the [[starosta]], elected by the council. The administrative offices headed by the starosta are called the ''starostwo''. However, in city counties these institutions do not exist separately{{spaced ndash}}their powers and functions are exercised by the city council (''rada miasta''), the directly elected [[mayor]] (''burmistrz'' or ''prezydent''), and the city office/town hall (''urząd miasta'').

Sometimes, a powiat has its [[county seat|seat]] outside its territory. For example, [[Poznań County]] (''powiat poznański'') has its offices in [[Poznań]], although Poznań is itself a city county, and is therefore not part of Poznań County.

Powiats have relatively limited powers since many local and regional matters are dealt with either at [[gmina]] or [[Voivodeships of Poland|voivodeship]] level. Some of the main areas in which the powiat authorities have decision-making powers and competences include:

* education at the high-school level (the gminas run primary and middle schools)
* healthcare (at the county level)
* public transport
* maintenance of certain designated roads
* land surveying
* issuing of work permits to foreigners
* vehicle registration (see [[Polish car number plates]]).

== Names and English equivalents ==
The [[Polish language|Polish]] the name of a county, in the administrative sense, consists of the word ''powiat'' followed by a [[masculine gender|masculine-gender]] [[adjective]] (because ''powiat'' is a masculine [[noun]]). In most cases, this is the adjective formed from the name of the town or city where the county has its [[county seat|seat]]. Thus the county with its seat at the town of [[Kutno]] is named ''powiat kutnowski'' ([[Kutno County]]). (In modern Polish both parts of the name are written in [[lower case]]; however, names of powiats in the [[Grand Duchy of Poznań]] were written in [[upper case]].) Suppose the name of the seat comprises a noun followed by an adjective, as in [[Maków Mazowiecki]] ("[[Mazovia]]n Maków"). In that case, the adjective will generally be formed from the noun only (''[[Maków County|powiat makowski]]''). There are also a few counties whose names are derived from the names of two towns (such as ''powiat czarnkowsko-trzcianecki'', [[Czarnków-Trzcianka County]]), from the name of a city and a geographical adjective (''powiat łódzki wschodni'', [[Łódź East County]]), or a mountain range (''powiat tatrzański'', [[Tatra County]]).

There is more than one way to render such names into [[English language|English]]. A common method is to translate the names as "(something County)", as in the examples above. (This system is the standard used in Wikipedia.) Thus in most cases, the English name for a powiat consists of the name of the city or town which is its seat, followed by the word ''County''.

Different counties sometimes have the same name in Polish, since the names of different towns may have the same derived adjective. For example, the counties with their seats at [[Grodzisk Wielkopolski]] and [[Grodzisk Mazowiecki]] are both called ''[[powiat grodziski (disambiguation)|powiat grodziski]]'', and those with seats at [[Brzeg]] and [[Brzesko]] are both called ''[[powiat brzeski (disambiguation)|powiat brzeski]]''. In English, this ambiguity either does not occur ([[Brzeg County]] and [[Brzesko County]]) or can be avoided by using the complete name of the seat ([[Grodzisk Wielkopolski County]] and [[Grodzisk Mazowiecki County]]).

== See also ==
* [[Povit]], equivalent in Ukraine

==References==
* Bankauskaite, V. et al. (2007), ''Patterns of decentralization across European health systems'', in R.B. Saltman, V. Bankauskaite and K. Vrangbæk (ed.), "Decentralization in health care", London: Open University Press/McGraw-Hill.

{{Commons category|Powiats of Poland}}

{{Articles on second-level administrative divisions of European countries}}
{{Polish terms for country subdivisions}}
{{Slavic terms for country subdivisions}}
{{Terms for types of administrative territorial entities}}

[[Category:Counties of Poland| ]]
[[Category:Types of administrative division]]
[[Category:Former subdivisions of Lithuania]]
[[Category:Former administrative divisions of Ukraine]]
[[Category:Former subdivisions of Belarus]]
[[Category:Administrative divisions of Poland]]