The Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistical Purposes (NTS) is introduced in Poland as a ordered list of names of territorial units and their territorial symbols organized into different levels of territorial division of the country and two additional statistical levels (grouping smaller units of territorial division). The NTS nomenclature is used in the process of collecting statistical data, storage, processing and analysis of collected data as well as publication and dissemination of statistical information in territorial breakdown. The nomenclature was introduced, in the first version, by Regulation of the Council of Ministers of 13 July 2000[1] and entered into force on 8 August 2000.
The NTS nomenclature was developed on the basis of the Classification of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS) used in the European Union, and the Polish National Official Register of the Territorial Division of the Country (TERYT). The NTS nomenclature is based on the three-tier division of the country into voivodships, powiats and gminas on the basis of which two additional non-administrative levels were established, i.e. regions and subregions.
The NTS nomenclature divides Poland into hierarchically related territorial units of five levels – three of them have been defined as regional levels, while following two as local levels. Each unit of the lower level is included only in one unit of higher level. However, a particular territorial unit may be classified at several NTS levels.
Regional levels consist:
- NTS 1 level – regions (groups of voivodships)
- NTS 2 level – voivodships
- NTS 3 level – subregions (groups of powiats)
Local levels consist:
- NTS 4 level – powiats (including cities with powiat status)
- NTS 5 level – gminas (and in addition: urban parts of urban-rural gminas, rural parts of urban-rural gminas, quarters of Warszawa, representations of Kraków, Łódź, Poznań, and Wrocław)