Sustainable development of provinces in Poland in the years 2005–2016

In Poland, the need to implement regional policy by local government units in accordance with sustainable development principles results directly from the rules of law. Taking into account specific environmental and economic conditions in individual regions, local authorities, having the right to give preference to different aspects of socio-economic development when creating regional strategies of regional development, are obliged to implement the concept of sustainable development in those strategies. The aim of the article is to specify the degree of changes in the level of sustainable development in individual provinces in Poland in the years 2005–2016 in general and in the area of social, economic, environmental as well as institutional and political order.