Basic Facts

General

Country name:   conventional long form: Czech Republic local long form: Ceska Republika

Data code:  CZ

Government type: parliamentary democracy

Capital: Prague

Statehood:   1 January 1993 (after the separation of Czechoslovakia into the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic)

Geography Location:   Central Europe, southeast of Germany

Geographic coordinates:   49 45 N, 15 30 E

Continent:   Europe

Area: total:  78,703 sq km/30,387 sq miles 

Land boundaries:   total: 1,881 km/1,168 miles-  border countries: Austria 362 km/225 miles, Germany 646 km/401 miles, Poland 658 km/408 miles, Slovakia 215 km/134 miles 

Climate: temperate; cooler summers; cold, cloudy, humid winters

Terrain:   Bohemia in the west consists of rolling plains, hills, and plateaus surrounded by low mountains; Moravia in the east consists of very hilly country

Elevation extremes:   lowest point: Elbe River 115 m/345 feet,  highest point: Snezka 1,602 m/4,800 feet 

Natural resources:   hard coal, soft coal, kaolin, clay, graphite

Land use:   arable land: 41%, permanent crops: 2%, permanent pastures: 11% , forests and woodland: 34% other: 12% (1993 est.)

Irrigated land:   240 sq km/93 sq miles (1993 est.)

Natural hazards:   flooding

Environment—current issues:  air and water pollution in areas of northwest Bohemia and in northern Moravia around Ostrava present health risks; acid rain damaging forests

Geography—note:   landlocked; strategically located astride some of oldest and most significant land routes in Europe; Moravian Gate is a traditional military corridor between the North European Plain and the Danube in central Europe

 

People

Population: 10,280,513 (July 1999 est.)

Density:  approximately 130 per square km/338 per square mile

Age structure:   0-14 years: 17% (male 888,292; female 845,662) 15-64 years: 69% (male 3,569,677; female 3,558,844) 65 years and over: 14% (male 545,305; female 872,733) (1999 est.)

Population growth rate:   -0.01% (1999 est.)

Birth rate:   9.84 births/1,000 population (1999 est.)

Death rate:   10.86 deaths/1,000 population (1999 est.) Net migration rate: 0.91 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1999 est.)

Infant mortality rate:   6.67 deaths/1,000 live births (1999 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:   total population: 74.35 years male: 71.01 years female: 77.88 years (1999 est.)

Total fertility rate:   1.28 children born/woman (1999 est.)

Nationality:   noun: Czech(s) adjective: Czech note: 300,000 Slovaks declared themselves Czech citizens in 1994

Ethnic groups:   Czech 94.4%, Slovak 3%, Polish 0.6%, German 0.5%, Gypsy/Roman 0.3%, Hungarian 0.2%, other 1%

Religions:   atheist 39.8%, Roman Catholic 39.2%, Protestant 4.6%, Orthodox 3%, other 13.4%

Languages:   Czech, Slovak

Legal system:   civil law system based on Austro-Hungarian codes

Suffrage:   18 years of age; universal

Government

Executive branch:
chief of state:   President Vaclav Klaus since 2003
cabinet:   Cabinet appointed by the president on the recommendation of the prime minister
elections:   president elected by Parliament for a five-year term; election last held March 2003; prime minister appointed by the president - Stanislav Gross (2004)

Legislative branch:   bicameral Parliament or Parlament consists of the Senate or Senat
(81 seats; members are elected by popular vote to serve staggered two-, four-, and six-year terms) and the Chamber of Deputies or Snemovna Poslancu (200 seats; members are elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms)

Judicial branch: Supreme Court, chairman and deputy chairmen are appointed by the president for life; Constitutional Court, chairman and deputy chairmen are appointed by the president for life

Flag description: two equal horizontal bands of white (top) and red with a blue isosceles triangle based on the hoist side (almost identical to the flag of the former Czechoslovakia) Czech Flag