Gmina

Division of Poland into gminy

The gmina (Polish pronunciation [ˈɡmina], plural gminy [ˈɡminɨ], from German Gemeinde meaning commune) is the principal unit of the administrative division of Poland, similar to a municipality. As of January 1, 2019, there were 2477 communes throughout the country, encompassing 940 cities and over 43,000 villages.

The gmina has been the basic unit of territorial division in Poland since 1974, when it replaced the smaller gromada (cluster). There are three types of gminy:

1. 302 urban gmina (Template:Lang-pl) consisting of just one city or town,
2. 638 mixed urban-rural gmina (Template:Lang-pl) consisting of a town and surrounding villages and countryside; and
3. 1537 rural gmina (Template:Lang-pl) consisting only of villages and countryside (occasionally of just one village).

Some rural gminy have their seat in a town which is outside the gmina's division. For example, the rural Gmina Augustów is administered from the town of Augustów, but does not include the town, as Augustów is an urban type gmina in its own right.

The legislative and controlling body of each gmina is the elected municipal council (rada gminy), or in a town: rada miasta (town assembly). Executive power is held by the directly elected mayor of the municipality, called wójt in rural gminy, burmistrz in most urban and urban-rural gminy, or prezydent in towns with more than 400,000 inhabitants and some others which traditionally use the title. A gmina may create auxiliary units (jednostki pomocnicze), which play a subordinate administrative role. In rural areas these are called sołectwa, in towns they may be dzielnice or osiedla and in an urban-rural gmina, the town itself may be designated as an auxiliary unit. The only gmina which is statutorily obliged to have auxiliary units is Warsaw, which is divided since 2002 into 18 boroughs of a status similar to the urban gminas, although they are not considered as separate division units. For a complete listing of all the gminy in Poland, see List of Polish gminas.

Three or more gminas make up a higher level unit called powiat. Each and every powiat has the seat in a city or town, which can be an urban gmina or be a part of an urban-rural one. However, several urban gminas that are the major Polish cities and towns (including all voivodeship seats) have the special status of urban powiats (miasto na prawach powiatu, powiat grodzki), and as of 2020 there are 66 of them. Such town or city is a separate single-gmina powiat and even if it is the seat of a regular one, it does not belong to it administratively. In the urban powiats, the roles of the powiat organs are fulfilled by the ones of the urban gmina it is made of.

Types of administrative tasks and objectives

Each gmina carries out two types of tasks: its own tasks and commissioned ones. Own tasks are public tasks exercised by self-government, which serve to satisfy the needs of the community. The tasks can be twofold:

• compulsory – where the municipality cannot decline to carry out the tasks, and must set up a budget to carry them out in order to provide the inhabitants with the basic public benefits
• optional – where the municipality can carry them out in accordance with available budgetary means, set out only to specific local needs (on the gmina's own responsibility and budget).

Own objectives

Own high objectives include matters such as spatial harmony, real estate management, environmental protection and nature conservation, water management, country roads, public streets, bridges, squares and traffic systems, water supply systems and source, the sewage system, removal of urban waste, water treatment, maintenance of cleanliness and order, sanitary facilities, dumps and council waste, supply of electric and thermal energy and gas, public transport, health care, welfare, care homes, subsidised housing, public education, cultural facilities including public libraries and other cultural institutions, historic monuments conservation and protection, the sports facilities and tourism including recreational grounds and devices, marketplaces and covered markets, green spaces and public parks, communal graveyards, public order and safety, fire and flood protection with equipment maintenance and storage, maintaining objects and devices of the public utility and administrative buildings, pro-family policy including social support for pregnant women, medical and legal care, supporting and popularising the self-government initiatives and cooperation within the commune including with non-governmental organizations, interaction with regional communities from other countries, etc.

Commissioned tasks

Commissioned tasks cover the remaining public tasks resulting from legitimate needs of the state, commissioned by central government for the units of local government to implement. The tasks are handed over on the basis of statutory by-laws, charters and regulations, or by way of agreements between the self-government units and central-government administration.

Overall number of gminy by type

Number of gminy by voivodeship
Voivodeship	LS	KP	LBL	LBS	ŁD	LP	MS	OP	SK	PD	PM	SL	ŚWK	WM	GP	WP	Poland
Urban gminy	36	17	20	9	18	15	35	3	16	13	25	49	5	16	19	11	307
Urban-rural gminy	55	35	22	33	25	43	50	32	31	24	17	22	26	33	90	52	588
Rural gminy	78	92	171	41	134	124	229	36	113	81	81	96	71	67	117	51	1,584
Total gminy	169	144	213	83	177	182	314	71	160	118	123	167	102	116	226	114	2,479
of which: rural gminy with their seat outside the gmina	14	13	17	5	15	9	15	0	12	12	13	0	1	15	11	8	160

Abbreviations used for voivodeships:
LS: Lower Silesian Voivodeship, KP: Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, LBL: Lublin Voivodeship, LBS: Lubusz Voivodeship,
ŁD: Łódź Voivodeship, LP: Lesser Poland Voivodeship, MS: Masovian Voivodeship, OP: Opole Voivodeship,
SK: Subcarpathian Voivodeship, PD: Podlaskie Voivodeship, PM: Pomeranian Voivodeship, SL: Silesian Voivodeship,
ŚWK: Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, WM: Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, GP: Greater Poland Voivodeship, WP: West Pomeranian Voivodeship.

Largest and smallest gminy

LARGEST	Population (2006 estimate)	Land area in km²	Population density per km²
Urban	Warsaw (1,697,596)	Warsaw (517.22)	Świętochłowice (4,156.80)
Rural	Gmina Chełmiec (24,344)	Gmina Wałcz (574.89)	Gmina Buczkowice (542.70)
Urban-rural	Gmina Piaseczno (61,525)	Gmina Pisz (633.69)	Gmina Wołomin (801.69)
Town in urban-rural gmina	Gmina Nysa: Nysa (47,545)	Gmina Szczytna: Szczytna (80.38)	Gmina Swarzędz: Swarzędz (3,469.23)
Rural part of urban-rural gmina	Gmina Wieliczka: rural part (28,864)	Gmina Pisz: rural part (623.61)	Gmina Świątniki Górne: rural part (407.86)
SMALLEST	Population (2006 estimate)	Land area in km²	Population density per km²
Urban	Krynica Morska (1,364)	Górowo Iławeckie (3.32)	Krynica Morska (11.74)
Rural	Gmina Cisna (1,663)	Gmina Jejkowice (7.59)	Gmina Lutowiska (4.63)
Urban-rural	Gmina Nowe Warpno (1,559)	Gmina Świątniki Górne (20.35)	Gmina Nowe Warpno (7.88)
Town in urban-rural gmina	Gmina Wyśmierzyce: Wyśmierzyce (892)	Gmina Stawiszyn: Stawiszyn (0.99)	Gmina Suraż: Suraż (28.94)
Rural part of urban-rural gmina	Gmina Nowe Warpno: rural part (363)	Gmina Suchedniów: rural part (15.54)	Gmina Nowe Warpno: rural part (2.09)

References

• Official report from the Central Statistical Office of Poland dated January 1, 2006, (pages 49–151, in Polish)