EN
The aim of the research was to assess the decentralisation of the economic activity of the State. Analysis of the general activity of territorial governments in Poland during the years 2003-2009 provided the base for that assessment. In practical terms two methods of economic activity are employed: indirect and direct. In the towns possessing the status of counties and in urban municipalities the indirect method dominates. In counties and rural municipalities the direct methods dominate. Employment of different methods leads to systemically different paths of development of the territorial governments in Poland. The need for organisational changes that might correct that unfavourable trend exists. One of the methods for achievement ofthat goal would involve combining rural counties with rural and urban-rural municipalities in a single organisational structure based on the example of the towns possessing the status of counties.