Białystok County () is a unit of territorial administration and local government (

powiat A ''powiat'' (; ) is the second-level unit of local government and administration in Poland, equivalent to a county, district or prefecture (Local administrative unit, LAU-1 ormerly Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics, NUTS-4 ...

) in

Podlaskie Voivodeship Podlaskie Voivodeship ( ) is a Voivodeships of Poland, voivodeship in northeastern Poland. The name of the voivodeship refers to the historical region of Podlachia (in Polish, ''Podlasie''), and significant part of its territory corresponds to th ...

, north-eastern

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, on the border with

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

. It was created on 1 January 1999 as a result of the

Polish local government reforms The administrative division of Poland since 1999 has been based on three levels of subdivision. The territory of Poland is divided into ''voivodeships'' (provinces); these are further divided into ''powiats'' (counties or districts), and these i ...

passed in 1998. Its administrative seat is the city of

Białystok Białystok is the largest city in northeastern Poland and the capital of the Podlaskie Voivodeship. It is the List of cities and towns in Poland, tenth-largest city in Poland, second in terms of population density, and thirteenth in area. Biał ...

, although the city is not part of the county (it constitutes a separate city county). The county contains nine towns: Łapy, south-west of Białystok, Czarna Białostocka, north of Białystok, Wasilków, north of Białystok, Choroszcz, west of Białystok, Supraśl, north-east of Białystok, Michałowo, east of Białystok, Zabłudów, south-east of Białystok, Tykocin, west of Białystok, and Suraż, south-west of Białystok. The county covers an area of , making it the largest county in Poland (ahead of Olsztyn County). As of 2019 its total population is 148,745, out of which the population of Łapy is 15,609, that of Czarna Białostocka is 9,318, that of Wasilków is 11,527, that of Choroszcz is 5,890, that of Supraśl is 4,605, that of Michałowo is 3,026, that of Zabłudów is 2,462, that of Tykocin is 1,973, that of Suraż is 988, and the rural population is 93,347.

Neighbouring counties

Apart from the city of

, Białystok County is bordered by

Hajnówka County __NOTOC__ Hajnówka County () is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Podlaskie Voivodeship, north-eastern Poland, on the border with Belarus. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local g ...

and

Bielsk County Bielsk County () is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Podlaskie Voivodeship, north-eastern Poland. It came into being on 1 January 1999, as a result of the Polish local government reforms passed in 1998. Its a ...

to the south,

Wysokie Mazowieckie County __NOTOC__ Wysokie Mazowieckie County () is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Podlaskie Voivodeship, north-eastern Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local government reforms ...

Zambrów County __NOTOC__ Zambrów County () is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Podlaskie Voivodeship, north-eastern Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local government reforms passed in 1 ...

and

Łomża County __NOTOC__ Łomża County () is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Podlaskie Voivodeship, north-eastern Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local government reforms passed in 19 ...

to the west, Mońki County to the north-west, and

Sokółka County __NOTOC__ Sokółka County () is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Podlaskie Voivodeship, north-eastern Poland, on the border with Belarus. It was created on 1 January 1999 as a result of the Polish local govern ...

to the north-east. It also borders

to the east.

Administrative division

The county is subdivided into 15

gmina The gmina (Polish: , plural ''gminy'' ) is the basic unit of the administrative division of Poland, similar to a municipality. , there were 2,479 gminy throughout the country, encompassing over 43,000 villages. 940 gminy include cities and tow ...

s (nine urban-rural and six rural). These are listed in the following table, in descending order of population.

Notable residents

* Konstanty Kalinowski (known in Belarus as Kastuś Kalinoŭski)(1838, Mostowlany – 1864), writer, journalist, lawyer and revolutionary * Aliaksei Karpiuk (1920, Straszewo – 1992), Belarusian writer and public figureБыкаў угаворваў яго стаць вар’ятам. 10 фактаў пра пісьменьніка Аляксея Карпюка
( Bykaǔ was persuading him to become insane. 10 facts about the writer Aliaksei Karpiuk (in Belarusian)

References

Land counties of Podlaskie Voivodeship {{Białystok-geo-stub