Czech Republic

"Czechia" redirects here. Not to be confused with Chechnya. For other uses, see Czechia (disambiguation) and Czech Republic (disambiguation).

Czech Republic
Česká republika (Czech)
Motto: 
Pravda vítězí (Czech)
"Truth prevails"
Anthem: 
Kde domov můj (Czech)
"Where My Home Is"
Location of the Czech Republic (dark green)

– in Europe (green & dark gray)
– in the European Union (green)  –  [Legend]

Capital
and largest city
Prague
50°05′N 14°28′E / 50.083°N 14.467°E / 50.083; 14.467
Official languageCzech[1]
Ethnic groups
(2021)[4]
Religion
(2021)[5]
  • 56.9% no religion
  • 1.2% other
  • 30.1% unanswered
Demonym(s)Czech
GovernmentUnitary parliamentary republic
• President
Petr Pavel
Petr Fiala
LegislatureParliament
• Upper house
Senate
• Lower house
Chamber of Deputies
Establishment
c. 870
1198
28 October 1918
1 January 1993
Area
• Total
78,871 km2 (30,452 sq mi)[6] (115th)
• Water (%)
2.16 (as of 2022)[6]
Population
• 2024 estimate
Neutral increase 10,900,555[7] (85th)
• 2021 census
Neutral increase 10,524,167[4]
• Density
133/km2 (344.5/sq mi) (91st)
GDP (PPP)2024 estimate
• Total
Increase $619.881 billion[8] (46th)
• Per capita
Increase $56,686[8] (38th)
GDP (nominal)2024 estimate
• Total
Decrease $342.992 billion[8] (47th)
• Per capita
Decrease $31,365[8] (38th)
Gini (2023)Positive decrease 24.4[9]
low inequality
HDI (2022)Increase 0.895[10]
very high (32nd)
CurrencyCzech koruna (CZK)
Time zoneUTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)
UTC+2 (CEST)
Date formatd. m. yyyy
Drives onright
Calling code+420[a]
ISO 3166 codeCZ
Internet TLD.cz[b]

The Czech Republic,[c][12] also known as Czechia,[d][13] and historically known as Bohemia,[14] is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast.[15] The Czech Republic has a hilly landscape that covers an area of 78,871 square kilometers (30,452 sq mi) with a mostly temperate continental and oceanic climate. The capital and largest city is Prague; other major cities and urban areas include Brno, Ostrava, Plzeň and Liberec.

The Duchy of Bohemia was founded in the late 9th century under Great Moravia. It was formally recognized as an Imperial Estate of the Holy Roman Empire in 1002 and became a kingdom in 1198.[16][17] Following the Battle of Mohács in 1526, all of the Lands of the Bohemian Crown were gradually integrated into the Habsburg monarchy. Nearly a hundred years later, the Protestant Bohemian Revolt led to the Thirty Years' War. After the Battle of White Mountain, the Habsburgs consolidated their rule. With the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the Crown lands became part of the Austrian Empire.

In the 19th century, the Czech lands became more industrialized; further, in 1918, most of the country became part of the First Czechoslovak Republic following the collapse of Austria-Hungary after World War I.[18] Czechoslovakia was the only country in Central and Eastern Europe to remain a parliamentary democracy during the entirety of the interwar period.[19] After the Munich Agreement in 1938, Nazi Germany systematically took control over the Czech lands. Czechoslovakia was restored in 1945 and three years later became an Eastern Bloc communist state following a coup d'état in 1948. Attempts to liberalize the government and economy were suppressed by a Soviet-led invasion of the country during the Prague Spring in 1968. In November 1989, the Velvet Revolution ended communist rule in the country and restored democracy. On 31 December 1992, Czechoslovakia was peacefully dissolved, with its constituent states becoming the independent states of the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

The Czech Republic is a unitary parliamentary republic and developed country with an advanced, high-income social market economy. It is a welfare state with a European social model, universal health care and free-tuition university education. It ranks 32nd in the Human Development Index. The Czech Republic is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the European Union, the OECD, the OSCE, the Council of Europe and the Visegrád Group.

  1. ^ "Czech language". Czech Republic – Official website. Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic. Archived from the original on 6 November 2011. Retrieved 14 November 2011.
  2. ^ Citizens belonging to minorities, which traditionally and on a long-term basis live within the territory of the Czech Republic, enjoy the right to use their language in communication with authorities and in courts of law (for the list of recognized minorities see National Minorities Policy of the Government of the Czech Republic Archived 7 June 2012 at the Wayback Machine, Belarusian and Vietnamese since 4 July 2013, see Česko má nové oficiální národnostní menšiny. Vietnamce a Bělorusy Archived 8 July 2013 at the Wayback Machine). Article 25 of the Czech Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms ensures the right of the national and ethnic minorities to education and communication with the authorities in their own language. Act No. 500/2004 Coll. (The Administrative Rule) in its paragraph 16 (4) (Procedural Language) ensures that a citizen of the Czech Republic who belongs to a national or an ethnic minority, which traditionally and on a long-term basis lives within the territory of the Czech Republic, has the right to address an administrative agency and proceed before it in the language of the minority. If the administrative agency has no employee with knowledge of the language, the agency is bound to obtain a translator at the agency's own expense. According to Act No. 273/2001 (Concerning the Rights of Members of Minorities) paragraph 9 (The right to use language of a national minority in dealing with authorities and in front of the courts of law) the same also applies to members of national minorities in the courts of law.
  3. ^ The Slovak language may be considered an official language in the Czech Republic under certain circumstances, as defined by several laws – e.g. law 500/2004, 337/1992. Source: http://portal.gov.cz Archived 10 April 2005 at the Wayback Machine. Cited: "Například Správní řád (zákon č. 500/2004 Sb.) stanovuje: "V řízení se jedná a písemnosti se vyhotovují v českém jazyce. Účastníci řízení mohou jednat a písemnosti mohou být předkládány i v jazyce slovenském ..." (§ 16, odstavec 1). Zákon o správě daní a poplatků (337/1992 Sb.) "Úřední jazyk: Před správcem daně se jedná v jazyce českém nebo slovenském. Veškerá písemná podání se předkládají v češtině nebo slovenštině ..." (§ 3, odstavec 1). http://portal.gov.cz
  4. ^ a b "Národnost". Census 2021 (in Czech). Czech Statistical Office. Archived from the original on 15 January 2022. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
  5. ^ "Náboženská víra". Census 2021 (in Czech). Czech Statistical Office. Archived from the original on 22 January 2022. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
  6. ^ a b "Land use (as at 31 December)". Public database. Czech Statistical Office. Retrieved 11 May 2023.
  7. ^ "Population of cohesion regions, regions and districts of the Czech Republic, 1 January 2024". Czech Statistical Office. 17 May 2024.
  8. ^ a b c d "World Economic Outlook Database, October 2024 Edition. (Czechia)". www.imf.org. International Monetary Fund. 22 October 2024. Retrieved 9 November 2024.
  9. ^ "Gini coefficient of equivalised disposable income – EU-SILC survey". ec.europa.eu. Eurostat. Retrieved 4 May 2024.
  10. ^ "Human Development Report 2023/24" (PDF). United Nations Development Programme. 13 March 2024. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
  11. ^ "Oxford English Dictionary". Archived from the original on 11 January 2008. Retrieved 13 September 2014.
  12. ^ "Publications Office — Interinstitutional style guide — 7.1. Countries — 7.1.1. Designations and abbreviations to use". Publications Office. Archived from the original on 12 April 2023. Retrieved 8 October 2024.
  13. ^ "the Czech Republic". The United Nations Terminology Database. Archived from the original on 16 June 2023. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
  14. ^ Šitler, Jiří (12 July 2016). "From Bohemia to Czechia". Czech Radio. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
  15. ^ "Information about the Czech Republic". Czech Foreign Ministry. Archived from the original on 3 April 2016. Retrieved 25 March 2016.
  16. ^ Mlsna, Petr; Šlehofer, F.; Urban, D. (2010). "The Path of Czech Constitutionality" (PDF). 1st edition (in Czech and English). Praha: Úřad Vlády České Republiky (The Office of the Government of the Czech Republic). pp. 10–11. Archived (PDF) from the original on 16 January 2013. Retrieved 31 October 2012.
  17. ^ Čumlivski, Denko (2012). "800 let Zlaté buly sicilské" (in Czech). National Archives of the Czech Republic (Národní Archiv České Republiky). Archived from the original on 28 November 2012. Retrieved 31 October 2012.
  18. ^ Dijk, Ruud van; Gray, William Glenn; Savranskaya, Svetlana; Suri, Jeremi; Zhai, Qiang (2013). Encyclopedia of the Cold War. Routledge. p. 76. ISBN 978-1135923112. Archived from the original on 22 November 2018. Retrieved 13 December 2017.
  19. ^ Timothy Garton Ash The Uses of Adversity Granta Books, 1991 ISBN 0-14-014038-7 p. 60


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