Szczecin Województwo

an administrative and territorial unit in northwestern Poland, located near the Baltic Sea. Area, 10,000 sq km. Population, 854,000 (1976), including more than 70 percent urban dwellers.

Szczecin Województwo, the administrative center of which is the city of Szczecin, is an industrial and port region with a heavy agricultural sector. Approximately 100,000 persons are employed in industry (1974), three-fifths of whom are concentrated in Szczecin, the województwo’s chief industrial center and port. The region produces ships, locomotives, various machines, cast-iron goods, and chemicals, mainly phosphate and other fertilizers and sulfuric acid. Food-processing enterprises produce sugar and fish, and wood products are manufactured. Industrial centers in addition to Szczecin include the cities of Police, Świnoujście Międzyzdroje, and Stargard.

More than one-fourth of the region’s territory is covered with forest, predominantly pine and beech; 40 percent of the land is cultivated, and an additional 10 percent is used for growing hay. Crops include wheat, sugar beets, barley, rye, potatoes, and rape. Meat and dairy cattle are raised, as well as swine. Fishing is also important.

In 1976 the freight turnover of the seaports, Szczecin and Świnoujście Międzyzdroje, was 24.3 million tons. Coal is exported, while iron ore, phosphates, and grain are imported. Shipping is important along the Odra River and on the Stettin Lagoon, an inlet of the Baltic Sea.