Czechia

Full name of country: Czech Republic

Region: Europe

Official language: Czech

Population: 10,837,890 (2024 est.)

Nationality: Czech(s) (noun), Czech (adjective)

Land area: 77,247 sq km (29,825 sq miles)

Water area: 1,620 sq km (625 sq miles)

Capital: Prague

National anthem: "Kde domov muj?" (Where is My Home?), by Josef Kajetan Tyl/Frantisek Jan Skroup

National holiday: Czechoslovak Founding Day, October 28 (1918)

Population growth: 0.04% (2024 est.)

Time zone: UTC +1

Flag: The Czech flag features two bands of horizontal stripes, the top one white and the bottom red, and a blue isosceles triangle, the base of which rests on the left perimeter of the flag. The triangle’s point reaches approximately halfway across the flag.

Motto: “Truth Prevails”

Independence: January 1, 1993 (Czechoslovakia split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia); note—although January 1 is the day the Czech Republic came into being, the Czechs commemorate October 28, 1918, the day the former Czechoslovakia declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, as their independence day

Government type: parliamentary republic

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

Legal system: new civil code introduced in 2014, based on former Austro-Hungarian civil codes and socialist theory

The Czech Republic (Česká republika) is located in central Europe, bordered by Germany to the north and west, Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the southeast, and Austria to the southwest. It was founded on January 1, 1993, when the former Czechoslovakia was divided into two separate nations, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. In 2016, the country officially changed its short-form name to Czechia, although its official long-form name remained the Czech Republic.

Although Czechia is one of the youngest nations in Europe, its history and culture date back hundreds of years. Czechs are known for their contributions to art, literature, music, and architecture. Czechia is famous for its beer production and its Bohemian glassware and crystal.

Note: unless otherwise indicated, statistical data in this article is sourced from the CIA World Factbook, as cited in the bibliography.

People and Culture

Population: Czechs are the largest ethnic group in Czechia, accounting for an estimated 57.3 percent of the total population in 2021. Other significant ethnic groups are Moravians (3.4 percent of the population). 39.3 percent of the population is either unspecified or listed as "other."

About 74.6 percent of the population lived in urban areas in 2023. Prague (Praha), the capital, is also the largest city in Czechia, with about 1.323 million inhabitants in 2023. Other major cities include Brno, Ostrava, Pilsen (Plzeň), and Olomouc.

The vast majority of the population (88.4 percent) speaks Czech, which is the official language. Czech is a Slavic language related to Russian and Bulgarian. It has a thirty-four-letter alphabet. Approximately 1.5 percent of the population speaks Slovak (2021 estimates).

Religious practices were suppressed in the former Czechoslovakia by the communist government, which remained in power for over forty years. As a result, 47.8 percent of the Czech population profess no religion. About 7 percent of residents belong to the Roman Catholic Church and approximately 36.1 percent identify with other and unspecified religions (2021 estimates).

Indigenous People: The Czechs are the native people of Czechia, descended from Slavic tribes that arrived in the region around the sixth century CE. These people were concentrated in the historical regions of Bohemia and Moravia. Today, the Czechs comprise the majority population of Czechia.

The Czechs were preceded by the Boii, a Celtic tribe that arrived in what is now Czechia circa 400 BCE, and gave their name to the historical region of Bohemia. Those Celts who remained at the time of the arrival of the Slavs were assimilated into the Slavic population.

Education: Czechia has a high literacy rate, at 99 percent in 2011. Education is compulsory and free for nine years, beginning at the age of six. After completing their basic education, students receive a diploma. Secondary schools, or gymnasiums, are similar to American high schools and prepare students for college. Those who do not plan to attend college may enroll in technical or vocational schools.

Czechia has many universities, of which Charles University in Prague (Univerzita Karlova) is the oldest and most prestigious; founded in 1348, it was the first university established in central Europe. The Academy of Fine Arts in Prague (Akademie výtvarných umění v Praze), the oldest art education institution in Czechia, was founded in 1799.

Health Care: The Czech health care system is a blend of compulsory universal health care coverage and private care. The government, employers, and their employees contribute to health insurance costs. Some physicians enter into contracts with the insurance system and are reimbursed for their services. Under the communist government, Czechoslovakia had a very good health care system, but the quality was affected somewhat by the shift to a free-market economy.

The life expectancy at birth is 81.8 years for women and 75.6 years for men (2024 estimate). Czechia's HDI value for 2022 is 0.895— which put the country in the Very High human development category—positioning it at 32 out of 193 countries and territories which measures quality-of-life indicators.

Food: Czech cuisine is influenced by foods from neighboring countries, including Hungary, Slovakia, and Germany. Vepřo knedlo zelo, a dish of roasted pork accompanied by potato or bread dumplings and sauerkraut, and sliced beef sirloin are popular dishes. Other commonly served meats include lamb, boiled or stewed beef, roast goose, and duck.

Rich sauces and potatoes or rice are other important parts of the diet. Traditionally, the food is quite heavy. However, in recent years there has been a trend toward lighter fare, especially among younger Czechs.

Fruit- or cheese-filled dumplings, called knedlíky, are sometimes served for dessert. Other popular desserts include thin crepe-like pancakes called palačinka, apple strudel, and tarts.

Czechia is famous for its beer, especially pilsner lagers. Beer is served with most meals. Czechs tend to prefer light beer to sweeter dark beer.

Arts & Entertainment: In addition to its rich cultural past as Czechoslovakia, Czechia is home to a vibrant artistic community. There is a strong literary tradition dating back to the Middle Ages. Much Czech literature, including Czech poetry and Czech short fiction, has had an international presence.

The Czech film industry produces about thirty to forty feature films and twelve hundred documentaries and short films each year. Major film festivals include the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (Mezinárodní filmový festival Karlovy Vary). Film director Miloš Forman, who won Academy Awards for One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) and Amadeus (1984), was born in Czechoslovakia. Czech director Jirí Menzel won the Academy Award for best foreign language film for Closely Watched Trains (1967).

Puppetry and puppet theater have long been a part of Czech culture. Black light theater, in which actors or marionettes appear in fluorescent costumes under ultraviolet lights, has also been popular.

The polka originated in eastern Bohemia in the nineteenth century. Popular modern musical genres include jazz, pop, rock, reggae, and folk. The Prague Spring International Music Festival is held annually between mid-May and early June.

Soccer, ice hockey, volleyball, and tennis are some of the most popular sports in Czechia. International tennis champions Martina Navratilova and Ivan Lendl are of Czech descent. Winter sports, including ice skating, downhill and cross-country skiing, snowboarding, and tobogganing, are also popular among Czechs. Many Czechs belong to a physical education organization called Sokol, which is an important part of their culture. Sokol clubs are also found in the United States and Canada.

Holidays: National holidays include Republic or Establishment Day (January 1), which marks the formation of the Czech Republic in 1993, and Czechoslovak Founding Day (October 28), marking the establishment of Czechoslovakia in 1918.

Freedom and Democracy Day (November 17) commemorates the anti-Nazi protests in 1939 and anti-communist demonstrations in 1989. Other official holidays include Labor Day (May 1) and National Liberation Day (May 8). Religious holidays include Saint Wenceslas Day (September 28), honoring the patron saint of Czechia, and Saints Cyril and Methodius Day (July 5).

Environment and Geography

Topography: Czechia is a landlocked country surrounded by mountains. It consists of two major regions: the Bohemian Highlands in the west and the Moravian Lowlands to the east. The highlands account for two-thirds of the country's area.

The highlands are bordered by hills, valleys, and low mountains. The lowlands have large flat areas that are more suitable for farming. Silesia, a small section in northeastern Moravia, was once part of Poland and is regarded as a separate region from a historical and cultural perspective.

Mount Snezka, the highest point in Czechia at 1,602 meters (5,256 feet) above sea level, is located in northern Bohemia. It is part of the Krkonose Mountains, which separate Czechia from Poland. Limestone formations called karst are found in central Bohemia. Sandstone formations are found in eastern Bohemia, including the Hruba Skala, with rocks as tall as 365 meters (1,200 feet).

The Jeseniky Mountains are the highest mountain range in Moravia. Moravia is separated from Slovakia by the Bile Kapaty (White Carpathian) Mountains.

There are over two thousand limestone caves in Czechia. Although the country has no active volcanoes, volcanic rock formations deep below the surface heat water to form hot springs. These natural hot springs are found throughout the country but are most plentiful in western Bohemia. Karlovy Vary, or Karlsbad, is one of the many spa towns that have been built around the springs.

The Vltava River is the country's longest, at 431 kilometers (268 miles). The Vltava is a tributary of the Labe or Elbe River system, and passes through Prague. The Morava River passes through Moravia and flows into the Danube River. The Odra (Oder) flows northward to the Baltic Sea. Czechia has over 450 natural lakes and 21,800 artificial lakes and ponds. Many of the artificial lakes were created for fish farming.

Natural Resources: Major natural resources are lignite (brown coal), anthracite (hard coal), graphite, clay, kaolin, timber, and natural gas. Metal ores include silver, iron, lead, uranium, and zinc.

Due to its dependence on low-grade brown coal for heating and generating electrical power, Czechia has experienced significant environmental problems, such as air pollution and acid rain, particularly in parts of northwest Bohemia and northern Moravia. However, efforts are being made to reduce pollution.

Plants and Animals: Approximately one-third of Czechia's area is covered by forests (2018 estimate), despite widespread deforestation for logging. Beech, spruce, and oak trees grow at higher elevations, while maple and ash are found in the lowlands. Common softwood conifers include pine and fir trees.

Typical wildlife includes wolves, lynxes, foxes, chamois, wild boars, otters, minks, brown bears, marten, and marmots. Badgers and hares are found in the lowlands. Birds commonly spotted in Czechia include owls, eagles, falcons, vultures, ducks, wild geese, and pheasants.

Climate: Czechia has a temperate climate and experiences four seasons, with July being the hottest month and January the coldest. Summers tend to be cool, with average temperatures of about 20 degrees Celsius (68 degrees Fahrenheit). Winters are cold and humid, with temperatures averaging around –5 degrees Celsius (23 degrees Fahrenheit).

Fog can develop in the lowlands during the winter. Precipitation varies depending on altitude, with higher elevations receiving an average of approximately 150 centimeters (60 inches) per year, compared with 46 to 76 centimeters (18 to 30 inches) in low-lying areas.

Ongoing climate change has also meant that Czechia, like other countries, has been experiencing an overall warming climate.

Economy

The economy of Czechia has fared better than those of most former members of the Eastern Bloc, but it still lags far behind those of its Western European neighbors. Czechia's gross domestic product (GDP, current US$) was estimated at US$519.007 billion in 2023, or US$47,700 per capita. Czechia has been a member of the European Union (EU) since 2004.

The unemployment rate was about 2.59 percent in 2023, among the lowest in the EU.

Industry: While a significant amount of the workforce is employed by the industrial sector, the majority is employed in the service sector, which includes banking, health care, and tourism.

Czechia manufactures a variety of products, ranging from military equipment and ordnance to precision microscopes and tractors. Major industries include motor vehicles, metallurgy, machinery, glass, and armaments. Brewing is also a major industry.

After the Velvet Revolution that led to the fall of communism in 1989, the economy of Czechoslovakia began to undergo a transformation to a market-driven free-enterprise economy. Businesses, factories, and farms were previously owned by the government were privatized, and some enterprises were acquired by foreign investors. Škoda, an auto manufacturer, is a major exporter and employs thousands of workers. Many major American and international firms operate in Czechia.

Germany is Czechia's major export partner, with others including Slovakia, Poland, and France. The country's main import partners include Germany, China, Poland, and Slovakia.

Agriculture: Agriculture accounted for 54.8 percent of the land in Czechia in 2018. Important crops include barley and hops (for the country's brewing industry), as well as sugar beets, wheat, and potatoes.

Livestock such as cattle, poultry, pigs, and sheep are raised by farmers. Fruit crops include apples, plums, pears, cherries, strawberries, and currants.

Tourism: Czechia is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Europe. Following a disruption in tourism caused by the COVID-19 pandemic that began in 2020, the Czech Statistical Office reported that there were an estimated 19.5 million tourist arrivals in 2022.

Czechia has a multitude of castles, cathedrals, museums, and other historic buildings. Prague is the top tourist destination, followed by the spa resort towns of Karlovy Vary (Carlsbad), Mariánské Lázně, and Františkovy Lázně in western Bohemia.

Some of the top tourist attractions in Prague are the Charles Bridge (Karlův most), Prague Castle (Pražský hrad), and the Old Town Square (Staroměstské náměstí), with its astronomical clock. Other attractions include Saint Barbara's Church in Kutná Hora, the sandstone labyrinths in Kokořín, and the Cathedral of Saint Bartholomew in Pilsen.

Government

Czechia is a parliamentary republic with three branches of government. The executive branch is made up of the president, the prime minister, and the cabinet. The president is elected to a five-year term by absolute majority popular vote (in two rounds if needed) and serves as the chief of state. The president appoints the prime minister, who is the head of government, and the cabinet, on the prime minister's recommendation.

The bicameral Parliament consists of a two-hundred-member Chamber of Deputies (Poslanecká sněmovna) and an eighty-one-member Senate (Senát). Members of the Senate are elected to six-year terms by popular vote. Members of the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house, are elected to four-year terms via proportional representation vote.

The country's highest court is the Supreme Court (Nejvyšší soud). Judges are appointed to the Supreme Court by the president after being proposed by the Chamber of Deputies, and serve unlimited terms. There is no death penalty in Czechia.

Czechia is divided into thirteen administrative regions (kraje) plus the capital city, Prague. District bureaus have the right to levy local taxes, supervise the building and maintenance of roads, and administer the school system and public health and utilities.

Interesting Facts

• The playwright Václav Havel opposed the communist regime in Czechoslovakia for years; later he became the Czechoslovakia's first democratically elected president, in 1989, and then the first president of the Czech Republic.
• The Saint Vitus Cathedral in Prague, the largest church in Czechia, took nearly six hundred years to complete.
• The English word "robot" is derived from the word Czech word robota, meaning "labor"; it was first used in its modern meaning by Czech writer Karel Čapek, in his 1920 play R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots).
• Prague has been described as the "defenestration capital of the world," as it has been the site of several historical events that involved throwing people out of windows. Two such events were significant enough to be dubbed the Defenestrations of Prague: first, in 1419, a group of radical Hussites threw a judge, a burgomaster (chief magistrate), and several town council members out the windows of Prague's New Town Hall; and in 1618, a crowd of Protestant nobles threw two Catholic regents and their secretary from the windows of a council room in Prague Castle. The second Defenestration of Prague was one of the precipitating factors of the Thirty Years' War.A Czech team competed in the International Surfing Association's World Surfing Games for the first time in 2023.

Bibliography

"Czech Republic Country Profile." BBC News, 11 Dec. 2023, www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-17220018. Accessed 16 Jan. 2025.

"Czechia." European Union, european-union.europa.eu/principles-countries-history/country-profiles/czechia‗en. Accessed 25 Oct. 2023.

"Czechia." The World Bank, 2024, data.worldbank.org/country/czechia. Accessed 16 Jan. 2025.

"Czechia." The World Factbook, Central Intelligence Agency, 2 Jan. 2025, www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/czechia/. Accessed 16 Jan. 2025.

Human Development Report 2021/2022. United Nations Development Programme, 13 Mar. 2024, hdr.undp.org/system/files/documents/global-report-document/hdr2021-22pdf‗1.pdf. Accessed 16 Jan. 2025.

"Tourism—4. Quarter of 2022." Czech Statistical Office, 2 Sept. 2023, www.czso.cz/csu/czso/ari/tourism-4-quarter-of-2022. Accessed 25 Oct. 2023.