Upper_Silesian_metropolitan_area
Upper Silesian metropolitan area
Place
The Upper Silesian metropolitan area[2] (also known as Silesian metropolitan area[2]) is a polycentric metropolitan area in southern Poland and northeastern Czech Republic, centered on the cities of Katowice and Ostrava, and has around 5 million inhabitants. Geographically, it is located mainly in Upper Silesia, with small parts of the area also in the historical regions of Moravia and Lesser Poland. Administratively, it is located in the three administrative units (NUTS-2 class): mainly Silesian Voivodeship and a small western part of Lesser Poland Voivodeship in Poland, and also a small eastern part of Moravian-Silesian Region in the Czech Republic. The metropolitan area lies within the Upper Silesian Coal Basin and is sometimes called by different names, e.g. Upper Silesian urban-industrial agglomeration.[3] The Upper Silesian metropolitan area (5.3 million people), together with nearby Kraków metropolitan area[4][5] (1.3 million[2][6][7][8][9] people) and Częstochowa metropolitan area[4] (0.4 million[2][6][7] people), create a greater Kraków-Katowice-Ostrava metropolitan region covering 7 million people.