Abstract. Poland's voivodships can be divided into three separate income groups when measured in terms of GDPcapita. These divisions, which, to a large extent, were reinforced during economic reform, can be traced back to the years of the partitions and the subsequent period under communist rule. Output per head across these three income group divisions is a direct result of the varying economic structures that have evolved over time and the resulting concentration of industry, whose location in the central, northern, southern and western parts of the country supply abundant labour and sizeable sales markets. As a result, these more industrialised regions (referred to as income groups one and two) are better endowed than their more rural, eastern wall counterparts (income group three) to attract higher levels of foreign investment and thereby stimulate foreign trade and expand output. This paper questions whether a process of catchup can be observed between the eastern voivodships and the remainder of the country.