Overview
Czechia is an advanced Central-European country with a population of approximately 10.9 million and an area of 78.9 thousand km2. It borders Germany in the west, Poland in the north, Slovakia in the east, and Austria in the south. The country has a long industrial tradition and a decentralized administration including 14 regions and over 6 000 municipalities. The capital city is Prague, which is also one of the administrative regions. Most citizens live in cities; about 74 %. Czechia is a parliamentary, democratic, legal state with a political system based on free competition of political parties and movements. The head of state is a president of the republic; the supreme and only legislative body is the bicameral Parliament of the Czech Republic; the Government of the Czech Republic is at the top of executive power.
The population is linguistically homogenous; the official language is Czech. National minorities are not numerous. Religious faith is traditionally low, just over 10 % of the population claim allegiance to the biggest Roman Catholic Church. Only a small proportion of the population live under the poverty threshold compared to other countries. The country also shows a relatively low inequality between the richest and the poorest citizens, and a relatively equal distribution of wealth across the population. The unemployment rate is low on a long-term basis and below the average of developed countries.
The country has a long tradition of having high educational status in the broadest strata of the population; more than 94 % of adults aged 25–64 years have achieved at least upper secondary education (2023). The education system is characterized by a relatively high autonomy of schools at all educational levels.
Sources: Eurostat Database Websites, Websites of the Czech Statistical Office