Czerwionka-Leszczyny


Czerwionka-Leszczyny is a town in Silesia in southern Poland, on the Bierawka River, located on Silesian Highlands, about 50 km north of the Silesian Beskids. It is an outer suburb of Upper Silesian Metropolis, with a population of over 3 million, and a suburb of Rybnik, both making Silesian metropolitan area with a population of 4,676,983 people.

History

It is situated in the Silesian Voivodeship since its formation in 1999, previously in Katowice Voivodeship, and before then, of the Autonomous Silesian Voivodeship. The town of Czerwionka-Leszczyny was created in 1962 by merging former "urban-type settlements" of Czerwionka and Leszczyny and the village of Czuchów. In 1975, the name was changed to Leszczyny due to political reasons. In 1977, Dębieńsko was annexed. On November 26, 1991 the non-communist Polish government decided to change the name back to Czerwionka-Leszczyny, which happened on January 1 the following year.

Demographics

Czerwionka-Leszczyny's population peaked in 1998 with 30,343 inhabitants. Since then, the number of residents has declined. According to the 2002 National Census, Czerwionka-Leszczyny's population was 28,941, while the 2011 National Census showed a population of 28,626. Nevertheless, the whole commune population increased to 41,929 in 2011. As for 2002 in the whole commune, 34,147 inhabitants declared Polish nationality, 6,274 Silesian nationality, 126 were Germans and 555 declared other nationality or refused to declare any nationality. In 2010 natural change in the town was +56 and net migration was -77.

Economy

Since 1898, the town's main employer was "Dębieńsko" Coal Mine, which was closed up in 2000. This caused a huge unemployment rate and poverty. As for 2010, there were 1,209 inhabitants unemployed, 3,829 working in nearby cities and commutes and 3,254 working in the town.

Twin towns – sister cities

See twin towns of Gmina Czerwionka-Leszczyny.