The NUTS classification was formally introduced in Poland on 26 November 2005 when the Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation on the establishment of a common classification of territorial units for statistics (NUTS) by reason of the accession of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia to the European Union^[1] entered in force. However, in accordance with agreements between Eurostat and Statistics Poland, the NUTS classification has been used since Poland joined the European Union on 1 May 2004. This introduced classification corresponded to the three regional levels in the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistical Purposes (NTS), which has been in force at that time in Poland. 6 units of the non-administrative NUTS level 1 (regions – regiony), 16 units of the administrative NUTS level 2 (voivodships – województwa) and 45 units of the non-administrative NUTS level 3 (subregions – podregiony) were then introduced.

During the next three revisions, the NUTS classification of Poland at levels NUTS 1 and NUTS 2 was not changed. However, at the same time the NUTS level 3 was modified twice: in the NUTS 2006 revision (in force since 1 January 2008)^[2] the number of subregions was increased from 45 to 66 (new subregions were introduced in 14 voivodships), and in the NUTS 2013 revision (in force since 1 January 2015)^[3] the number of subregions was increased to 72 (new subregions were introduced in 4 voivodships: Kujawsko-Pomorskie, Małopolskie, Mazowieckie, and Pomorskie. In addition, subregions boundaries in two voivodships – Opolskie and Zachodniopomorskie – were changed). Changes at all NUTS levels (one new unit was introduced at each level) occurred as a result of the NUTS 2016 revision^[4]. In the next NUTS 2021 (2019) revision no changes by NUTS units were introduced in Poland.

There are 97 NUTS units in Poland since 1 January 2018:

• NUTS 1 – macroregions (grouping voivodships) – 7 units
• NUTS 2 – regions (voivodships or parts of a voivodship) – 17 units
• NUTS 3 – subregions (grouping powiats) – 73 units

In addition, the NUTS Regulation requires that NUTS level 3 shall be subdivided into local administrative units (LAU). From 2017, in agreement with Eurostat, each Member State has indicated one level of units to be treated as LAUs. In Poland, municipalities were indicated as local administrative units.
Eurostat provides information on LAU, together with a list in all Member States, on its website: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/nuts/local-administrative-units.