Łomża

Łomża is a city in north-eastern Poland on the Narew river about 150km from Warsaw, with about 63,000 inhabitants. It is one of the economic, educational and cultural centres of the Mazovia region, and gives its name to the protected wildlife area of Łomża Landscape Park. What is more, the city is a part of the Green Lungs of Poland, a unique region in Europe.

The economy of Łomża is closely connected to its natural environment, with agriculture and forestry industries at the forefront of the region’s economic development. The largest companies employ less than 1,000 workers, even though a number of firms are listed on Podlasie Top Hundred Entrepreneurs. Among them are the Łomża Brewery, Domel (producer of unleaded windows), Konrad (importer of farm animals) and PEPEES (producer of potato starch).

At the end of 2007, the number of people in regular employment in Łomża was 13,408, including 7,170 women, however, the unemployment rate (as of 2009) was high at 14.1%. The number of businesses registered by the end of 2008 was 6,421 of which 6,280 were in the private sector.

The educational level in Łomża is high, based on national results tables. There is a well-developed network of public and private schools at all levels, including six universities—three of them private—and two schools of art. The city was badly damaged during World War II and its population, especially its Jewish community, decimated, but since then it has experienced decades of rebuilding and population