Gmina

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Administrative divisions
of Poland

Voivodeships
Counties (list)
Communes (list)

Commune or municipality (Polish: gmina, plural: gminy) is the principal unit (lowest level) of territorial division in Poland. As of 2004 there were 2,478 communes. The word gmina is derived from the German word Gemeinde, meaning "commune" or "community".

Since 1990, when it replaced the smaller gromada, the commune has been the basic unit of administrative division. There are three types of commune in Poland:

municipal commune (municipality, urban commune) (gmina miejska) - consists of one city
mixed commune (gmina miejsko-wiejska) - consists of a city and surrounding villages
rural commune (gmina wiejska) - consists only of villages

The legislative and controlling body of each commune is the commune council (rada gminy). The executive power is held by the head of the commune: wójt (head of the rural commune), mayor (burmistrz, head of the mixed and municipal communes) or president (prezydent, head of municipal communes with more than 100,000 inhabitants).