Poland

Midway between Berlin and Warsaw and an important trade center since the Middle Ages, Poznań is the economic and administrative center of Poland’s Wielkopolska region. With a population of 1.4 million, it is the fifth-largest metropolitan area in Poland. An economic powerhouse with the second-biggest local economy after Warsaw, Poznań has the highest GDP per capita and the lowest level of unemployment of any city in Poland.

Szczecin, situated at the mouth of the Oder River on the Szczecin Lagoon, is an important economic and cultural hub in Northwest Poland. With a population of about 407,000—and a broader metropolitan population of 690,000—it is an important node for domestic and international trade and transit.

Upper Silesia, located in the south of Poland bordering the Czech Republic and Slovakia, is the most industrialized and urbanized of Poland’s 16 provinces. The 70-plus cities in the region have a total population of approximately 4.8 million people.

Katowice, the economic, industrial, cultural and administrative capital of Upper Silesia, has a population of about 310,000. Important industries in Upper Silesia include coal mining, iron and steel production, power plants and chemicals. Several auto companies have manufacturing operations in the region.

With a population of about 1.7 million, Warsaw is the dynamic, sprawling capital of Poland—a nation of 38 million that is rapidly integrating into the global economy.  Measured by purchasing power parity, Poland has grown into the world’s 25th-largest economy.

Warsaw is Poland’s political, financial, cultural and commercial capital. Thanks to rising consumption and a growing volume of trade—spurred by Poland’s membership in the European Union—Warsaw is an important regional and international center for distribution and logistics.

Central Poland is anchored by Łódź Province. Łódź is catching up with the national average as its GDP is growing quickly, but is currently below the nation’s average.

The economic center of Northern Poland is the Tri-City area, comprised of Gdansk, Gdynia and Sopot. The three cities, set on Poland’s Baltic Sea coast, represent an expanding consumer market with a population of more than 1 million people.

Home to several universities, Northern Poland is a prosperous, highly educated and highly connected region. Gdansk is a center for business process outsourcing.

With a population of 631,000, Wroclaw is the fourth-largest city in Poland and the capital of the province of Lower Silesia. The broader metropolitan area has more than 1 million people, about one-third of the total population of Lower Silesia.