Powiat

A powiat (pronounced ; Polish plural powiaty) is the second-level unit of local government and administration in Poland, equivalent to a county, district or prefecture (LAU-1, formerly NUTS-4) in other countries. The term powiat is most often translated into English as a "county", although other terms are also sometimes used. It is arguably preferred to leave such national labels for levels of government untranslated to avoid the false suggestion of resemblance to e.g. the UK structure of government (Bankauskaite et al. 2007).

A powiat is part of a larger unit or province called a voivodeship (Polish województwo). In turn a powiat is usually subdivided into gminas (sometimes called municipalities or communes). However the more important towns and cities function as separate counties in their own right, with no subdivision into gminas. These are called city counties (Polish powiaty grodzkie, or more formally miasta na prawach powiatu, meaning "towns with the rights of a powiat") and have roughly the same status as former county boroughs in the UK. The other, true powiats are called land counties (Polish powiaty ziemskie).

As of 2008, there are 379 powiat-level entities in Poland: 314 land counties and 65 city counties. For a complete alphabetical listing, see List of counties in Poland. For tables of counties by voivodeship, see the articles on the individual voivodeships (Greater Poland Voivodeship etc.).