National name: Ceska Republika

President: Václav Klaus (2003)

Prime Minister: Mirek Topolánek (2006)

Land area: 29,836 sq mi (77,276 sq km); total area: 30,450 sq mi (78,866 sq km)

Population (2006 est.): 10,235,455 (growth rate: –0.1%); birth rate: 9.0/1000; infant mortality rate: 3.9/1000; life expectancy: 76.2; density per sq mi: 337

Capital and largest city (2003 est.): Prague, 1,378,700 (metro. area), 1,169,800 (city proper)

Other large cities: Brno, 376,400; Ostrava, 317,700; Plzen, 164,900; Olomouc, 102,900

Monetary unit: Koruna

Language: Czech

Ethnicity/race: Czech 90.4%, Moravian 3.7%, Slovak 1.9%, other 4% (2001)

Religions: Roman Catholic 27%, Protestant 2%, unaffiliated 59% (2001)

Literacy rate: 100% (1999 est.)

Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2005 est.): $185.7 billion; per capita $18,100. Real growth rate: 4.8%. Inflation: 2%. Unemployment: 9.1%. Arable land: 40%. Agriculture: wheat, potatoes, sugar beets, hops, fruit; pigs, poultry. Labor force: 5.27 million; agriculture 4%, industry 38%, services 58% (2002 est.). Industries: metallurgy, machinery and equipment, motor vehicles, glass, armaments. Natural resources: hard coal, soft coal, kaolin, clay, graphite, timber. Exports: $78.37 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): machinery and transport equipment 52%, chemicals 5%, raw materials and fuel 9% (2003). Imports: $76.59 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): machinery and transport equipment 46%, raw materials and fuels 15%, chemicals 10% (2003). Major trading partners: Germany, Slovakia, Austria, Poland, UK, France, Italy, Netherlands, China, Russia (2004).

Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 3.626 million (2003); mobile cellular: 9,708,700 (2003). Radio broadcast stations: AM 31, FM 304, shortwave 17 (2000). Television broadcast stations: 150 (plus 1,434 repeaters) (2000). . Internet hosts: 295,677 (2004). Internet users: 2.7 million (2003).

Transportation: Railways: total: 9,543 km (2004). Highways: total: 127,204 km; paved: 127,204 km (including 518 km of expressways); unpaved: 0 km (2002). Waterways: 664 km (on Elbe, Vltava, and Oder rivers) (2004). Ports and harbors: Decin, Prague, Usti nad Labem. Airports: 120 (2004 est.).

International disputes: in February 2005, the ICJ refused to rule on the restitution of Liechtenstein's land and property assets in the Czech Republic confiscated in 1945 as German property; individual Sudeten Germans seek restitution for property confiscated in connection with their expulsion after World War II.


 

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