Czech Republic Quick Facts

Author: Dominik Lukeš Posted: July 30th, 2007

The basic statistics and facts about Czech geography, population and politics.

Czech Flag

9 - 16 centuries
Czech Kingdom

1600s - 1918
part of Habsburg Empire

Geography Quick Facts

Name:	Czech Republic (Česká republika)
Regions:	Bohemia (Čechy), Moravia
Area:	78,864 sq km (30,450 sq miles)
Bordering countries:	Austria, Germany, Poland, Slovakia
Capital:	Praha (Prague) - 1,214,000 inhabitants
Major Cities:	Brno - 388,000 Ostrava - 327,000 Plzeň - 173,000

Politics Quick Facts

Government type:	parliamentary democracy
President:	Václav Havel (no party)
Prime Minister:	Miloš Zeman (ČSSD)
Chairman of Parliament:	Václav Klaus (ODS)
Leading Party:	ČSSD (Social Democratic Party) 32%
Leading Opposition Party:	ODS (Civic Democratic Party) 27%

1918 - 1938 Independent state - Czechoslovakia

1938 - 1945 Czech and Moravian Protectorate

1948 - 1989 Czechoslovak Socialist Republic governed by Communist Party

1989 uprising initiated by student demonstrations topples communist regime

Demographic Quick Facts

Population:	10,000,000 people
Language:	Czech
Nationalities:	Czech (94%), Slovak (2%), Romany/Gypsy (2-3%), Polish (0.6%), German (0.5%)
Religion:	atheist (40%), Roman Catholic (40%), Protestant (5%), other (16%)
Life Expectancy:	male 70.4 years female 77.3 years

Economy Quick Facts

GDP:	US$27,500 million
Currency:	Czech Crown (Kč) (app. US$1 = 30 Kč)
Major Industries	fuels, ferrous metallurgy, machinery and equipment, motor vehicles, glass, textile, chemicals, armaments
Agriculture:	grains, potatoes, sugar beets, hops, fruit, hogs, cattle, poultry, forest products