(Miasto/City of) Katowice

Katowice /ˌkætəˈviːtsə/ (Polish: [katɔˈvit͡sɛ] ( listen); German: Kattowitz, Silesian: Katowicy, officially Miasto Katowice - City of Katowice). Katowice is a city of 307,233 in southwestern Poland, and the center of the Silesian Metropolis, a territorial entity operating on the principle of metropolitan municipality with a combined population of 2 million.[1]

Katowice is a center of science, culture, industry, business, trade, and transportation in Upper Silesia and southern Poland, and the main city in the Upper Silesian Industrial Region. Katowice lies within an urban zone, with a population of 2,746,460 according to Eurostat,[2] and also part of the wider Silesian metropolitan area, with a population of 5,294,000 according to the European Spatial Planning Observation Network.[3] Today, Katowice is a rapidly growing city and emerging metropolis.[4] It is the 16th most economically powerful city by GDP in the European Union with an output amounting to $114.5 billion.[5]

Katowice has been the capital of the Silesian Voivodeship since its formation in 1999. Previously it was the capital of the Katowice Voivodeship, the autonomous Silesian Voivodeship in Poland, and the Province of Upper Silesia in Germany.