Czech Republic

B

Political Divisions

The country is divided into 14 regions, including the separate capital district of Prague. They are Carlsbad, Central Bohemia, Hradec Králové, Liberec, Moravia-Silesia, Olomouc, Pardubice, Plzen, Prague, South Bohemia, South Moravia, Ústí nad Labem, Vysocina, and Zlín.

C

Principal Cities

The capital city and administrative district of Prague has a population of 1,169,106 (2003 estimate). It is placed more or less centrally in the country, and is the nexus of most major transport routes. The historic centre of Prague, built between the 11th and 18th centuries, was declared a World Heritage Site in 1992. The second-largest city, Brno, population 376,172 (2003 estimate), in southern Moravia, has a long tradition of cultural importance. Other major Czech cities and their populations include Ostrava, 316,744 (2003 estimate), Plzeň, 165,259 (2003 estimate), Olomouc, 102,607 (2003 estimate), Liberec, 99,102 (2003 estimate), and Hradec Králové, 97,155 (2003 estimate).

D

Religion

Most Czechs (65 per cent) practise some form of Christianity, and about 43 per cent are Roman Catholics. Other major denominations include Protestantism and Eastern Orthodox Christianity. There is still a small Jewish community centred on Prague.

E

Language

The Czech Republic’s official language is Czech, which is closely related to Slovak (both use the Roman rather than the Cyrillic alphabet) and belongs to the Western Slavic sub-group of the Indo-European language family. Czech is spoken by almost all of the population. Carpathian Romani, an Indo-Iranian language, is a mother tongue for a minority group. Smaller minorities exist that speak Standard German, Polish, Bavarian, Lower Silesian, or Sinte Romani as a mother tongue.

F

Education

Education in the Czech Republic is compulsory for children of ages 6 to 16. Although secondary education, during which students receive more specialized training, is optional, a majority of Czech students opt to study beyond elementary school. In 2000, 630,680 primary pupils attended some 4,889 primary schools, and 1,004,130 secondary pupils attended some 1,726 secondary and vocational schools. The republic has many institutes of higher learning: among them are Charles University in Prague, which was founded in 1348 by Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV and is one of the oldest and most famous universities in Europe; Palacký University (1566) in Olomouc; and Masaryk University (formerly J. E. Purkynè University, 1919) in Brno. Tuition fees for university students were introduced in 1995. In 2001–2002 there were 284,485 students in higher education.