##ciekawa_strona##
Compare Czech Republic (2006) - European Union (2008)
Compare Czech Republic (2006) z European Union (2008)
| Czech Republic (2006) | European Union (2008) | |
 |  | |
| Administrative divisions | 13 regions (kraje, singular - kraj) and 1 capital city* (hlavni mesto); Jihocesky Kraj, Jihomoravsky Kraj, Karlovarsky Kraj, Kralovehradecky Kraj, Liberecky Kraj, Moravskoslezsky Kraj, Olomoucky Kraj, Pardubicky Kraj, Plzensky Kraj, Praha (Prague)*, Stredocesky Kraj, Ustecky Kraj, Vysocina, Zlinsky Kraj | - |
| Age structure | 0-14 years: 14.4% (male 755,098/female 714,703)
15-64 years: 71.2% (male 3,656,021/female 3,629,036) 65 years and over: 14.5% (male 576,264/female 904,333) (2006 est.) |
0-14 years: 15.72% (male 37,208,905/female 35,254,445)
15-64 years: 67.16% (male 155,807,769/female 153,690,235) 65 years and over: 17.11% (male 32,592,595/female 46,273,197) (2007 est.) |
| Agriculture - products | wheat, potatoes, sugar beets, hops, fruit; pigs, poultry | wheat, barley, oilseeds, sugar beets, wine, grapes; dairy products, cattle, sheep, pigs, poultry; fish |
| Airports | 121 (2006) | 3,393 (2006) |
| Airports - with paved runways | total: 46
over 3,047 m: 2 2,438 to 3,047 m: 10 1,524 to 2,437 m: 13 914 to 1,523 m: 2 under 914 m: 19 (2006) |
2,020 (2006) |
| Airports - with unpaved runways | total: 75
1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 914 to 1,523 m: 25 under 914 m: 49 (2006) |
1,373 (2006) |
| Area | total: 78,866 sq km
land: 77,276 sq km water: 1,590 sq km |
total: 4,324,782 sq km |
| Area - comparative | slightly smaller than South Carolina | less than one-half the size of the US |
| Background | Following the First World War, the closely related Czechs and Slovaks of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire merged to form Czechoslovakia. During the interwar years, the new country's leaders were frequently preoccupied with meeting the demands of other ethnic minorities within the republic, most notably the Sudeten Germans and the Ruthenians (Ukrainians). After World War II, a truncated Czechoslovakia fell within the Soviet sphere of influence. In 1968, an invasion by Warsaw Pact troops ended the efforts of the country's leaders to liberalize Communist party rule and create "socialism with a human face." Anti-Soviet demonstrations the following year ushered in a period of harsh repression. With the collapse of Soviet authority in 1989, Czechoslovakia regained its freedom through a peaceful "Velvet Revolution." On 1 January 1993, the country underwent a "velvet divorce" into its two national components, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The Czech Republic joined NATO in 1999 and the European Union in 2004. | Following the two devastating World Wars of the first half of the 20th century, a number of European leaders in the late 1940s became convinced that the only way to establish a lasting peace was to unite the two chief belligerent nations - France and Germany - both economically and politically. In 1950, the French Foreign Minister Robert SCHUMAN proposed an eventual union of all Europe, the first step of which would be the integration of the coal and steel industries of Western Europe. The following year the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was set up when six members, Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands, signed the Treaty of Paris.
The ECSC was so successful that within a few years the decision was made to integrate other parts of the countries' economies. In 1957, the Treaties of Rome created the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom), and the six member states undertook to eliminate trade barriers among themselves by forming a common market. In 1967, the institutions of all three communities were formally merged into the European Community (EC), creating a single Commission, a single Council of Ministers, and the European Parliament. Members of the European Parliament were initially selected by national parliaments, but in 1979 the first direct elections were undertaken and they have been held every five years since. In 1973, the first enlargement of the EC took place with the addition of Denmark, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. The 1980s saw further membership expansion with Greece joining in 1981 and Spain and Portugal in 1986. The 1992 Treaty of Maastricht laid the basis for further forms of cooperation in foreign and defense policy, in judicial and internal affairs, and in the creation of an economic and monetary union - including a common currency. This further integration created the European Union (EU). In 1995, Austria, Finland, and Sweden joined the EU, raising the membership total to 15. A new currency, the euro, was launched in world money markets on 1 January 1999; it became the unit of exchange for all of the EU states except the United Kingdom, Sweden, and Denmark. In 2002, citizens of the 12 euro-area countries began using the euro banknotes and coins. Ten new countries joined the EU in 2004 - Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia - and in 2007 Bulgaria and Romania joined, bringing the current membership to 27. In order to ensure that the EU can continue to function efficiently with an expanded membership, the Treaty of Nice (in force as of 1 February 2003) set forth rules streamlining the size and procedures of EU institutions. An effort to establish an EU constitution, begun in October 2004, failed to attain unanimous ratification. A new effort, undertaken in June 2007, calls for the creation of an Intergovernmental Conference to form a political agreement, known as the Reform Treaty, which is to serve as a constitution. Unlike the constitution, however, the Reform Treaty would amend existing treaties rather than replace them. |
| Birth rate | 9.02 births/1,000 population (2006 est.) | 10 births/1,000 population (2007 est.) |
| Budget | revenues: $48.16 billion
expenditures: $53.04 billion; including capital expenditures of $NA (2005 est.) |
- |
| Capital | name: Prague
geographic coordinates: 40 55 N, 21 00 E time difference: UTC+1 (6 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time) daylight saving time: +1hr, begins last Sunday in March; ends last Sunday in October |
name: Brussels (Belgium), Strasbourg (France), Luxembourg
geographic coordinates: 50 50 N, 4 20 E time difference: UTC+1 (6 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time) daylight saving time: +1hr, begins last Sunday in March; ends last Sunday in October note: the Council of the European Union meets in Brussels, Belgium, the European Parliament meets in Brussels and Strasbourg, France, and the Court of Justice of the European Communities meets in Luxembourg |
| Climate | temperate; cool summers; cold, cloudy, humid winters | cold temperate; potentially subarctic in the north to temperate; mild wet winters; hot dry summers in the south |
| Coastline | 0 km (landlocked) | 65,992.9 km |
| Constitution | ratified 16 December 1992, effective 1 January 1993 | based on a series of treaties: the Treaty of Paris, which set up the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) in 1951; the Treaties of Rome, which set up the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) in 1957; the Single European Act in 1986; the Treaty on European Union (Maastricht) in 1992; the Treaty of Amsterdam in 1997; and the Treaty of Nice in 2003; note - a new draft Constitutional Treaty, signed on 29 October 2004 in Rome, gave member states two years for ratification either by parliamentary vote or national referendum before it was scheduled to take effect on 1 November 2006; defeat in French and Dutch referenda in May-June 2005 dealt a severe setback to the ratification process; in June 2007, the European Council agreed on a clear and concise mandate for an Intergovernmental Conference to form a political agreement and put it into legal form; this agreement, known as the Reform Treaty, is to serve as a constitution and will be presented to the European Council in October 2007, in order to begin the ratification process |
| Country name | conventional long form: Czech Republic
conventional short form: Czech Republic local long form: Ceska Republika local short form: Cesko |
- |
| Death rate | 10.59 deaths/1,000 population (2006 est.) | 10 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.) |
| Debt - external | $49.14 billion (2005 est.) | - |
| Diplomatic representation from the US | chief of mission: Ambassador Richard W. GRABER
embassy: Trziste 15, 11801 Prague 1 mailing address: use embassy street address telephone: [420] 257 022 000 FAX: [420] 257 022 809 |
chief of mission: Ambassador C. Boyden GRAY
embassy: 13 Zinnerstraat/Rue Zinner, B-1000 Brussels mailing address: same as above telephone: [32] (2) 508-2222 FAX: [32] (2) 512-5720 |
| Diplomatic representation in the US | chief of mission: Ambassador Petr KOLAR
chancery: 3900 Spring of Freedom Street NW, Washington, DC 20008 telephone: [1] (202) 274-9100 FAX: [1] (202) 966-8540 consulate(s) general: Chicago, Los Angeles, New York |
chief of mission: Ambassador John BRUTON
chancery: 2300 M Street, NW, Washington, DC 20037 telephone: [1] (202) 862-9500 FAX: [1] (202) 429-1766 |
| Disputes - international | 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 from Czechoslovakia after World War II; Austrian anti-nuclear activists have revived blockades of the Czech-Austrian border to protest operation of the Temelin nuclear power plant in the Czech Republic | as a political union, the EU has no border disputes with neighboring countries, but Estonia has no land boundary agreements with Russia, Slovenia disputes its land and maritime boundaries with Croatia, and Spain has territorial and maritime disputes with Morocco and with the UK over Gibraltar; the EU has set up a Schengen area - consisting of 22 EU member states that have signed the convention implementing the Schengen agreements or "acquis" (1985 and 1990) on the free movement of persons and the harmonization of border controls in Europe; these agreements became incorporated into EU law with the implementation of the 1997 Treaty of Amsterdam on 1 May 1999; in addition, non-EU states Iceland and Norway (as part of the Nordic Union) have been included in the Schengen area since 1996 (full members in 2001), bringing the total current membership to 24; the UK (since 2000) and Ireland (since 2002) take part in only some aspects of the Schengen area, especially with respect to police and criminal matters; nine of the 12 new member states that joined the EU in 2004 joined Schengen on 21 December 2007; of the three remaining EU states, Cyprus is expected to join by 2009, while Romania and Bulgaria continue to enhance their border security systems |
| Economic aid - recipient | $2.8 billion in committed EU structural adjustment and cohesion funds (2004-06) | - |
| Economy - overview | The Czech Republic is one of the most stable and prosperous of the post-Communist states of Central and Eastern Europe. Growth in 2000-05 was supported by exports to the EU, primarily to Germany, and a strong recovery of foreign and domestic investment. Domestic demand is playing an ever more important role in underpinning growth as interest rates drop and the availability of credit cards and mortgages increases. The current account deficit has declined to around 3% of GDP as demand for Czech products in the European Union has increased. Inflation is under control. Recent accession to the EU gives further impetus and direction to structural reform. In early 2004 the government passed increases in the Value Added Tax (VAT) and tightened eligibility for social benefits with the intention to bring the public finance gap down to 4% of GDP by 2006, but more difficult pension and healthcare reforms will have to wait until after the next elections. Privatization of the state-owned telecommunications firm Cesky Telecom took place in 2005. Intensified restructuring among large enterprises, improvements in the financial sector, and effective use of available EU funds should strengthen output growth. | Internally, the EU is attempting to lower trade barriers, adopt a common currency, and move toward convergence of living standards. Internationally, the EU aims to bolster Europe's trade position and its political and economic power. Because of the great differences in per capita income among member states (from $7,000 to $69,000) and historic national animosities, the EU faces difficulties in devising and enforcing common policies. For example, since 2003 Germany and France have flouted the member states' treaty obligation to prevent their national budgets from running more than a 3% deficit. In 2004 and 2007, the EU admitted 10 and two countries, respectively, that are, in general, less advanced technologically and economically than the other 15. Eleven established EU member states introduced the euro as their common currency on 1 January 1999 (Greece did so two years later), but the UK, Sweden, and Denmark chose not to participate. Of the 12 most recent member states, only Slovenia (1 January 2007) and Cyprus and Malta (1 January 2008) have adopted the euro; the remaining nine are legally required to adopt the currency upon meeting EU's fiscal and monetary convergence criteria. |
| Electricity - consumption | 57.12 billion kWh (2004) | 2.81 trillion kWh (2004 est.) |
| Electricity - exports | 25.49 billion kWh (2004) | NA |
| Electricity - imports | 9.776 billion kWh (2004) | NA |
| Electricity - production | 84.33 billion kWh (2004) | 3.007 trillion kWh (2004 est.) |
| Elevation extremes | lowest point: Elbe River 115 m
highest point: Snezka 1,602 m |
lowest point: Lammefjord, Denmark -7 m; Zuidplaspolder, Netherlands -7 m
highest point: Mont Blanc 4,807 m; note - situated on the border between France and Italy |
| 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; efforts to bring industry up to EU code should improve domestic pollution | NA |
| Environment - international agreements | party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air Pollution-Sulfur 85, Air Pollution-Sulfur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements |
party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Tropical Timber 82, Tropical Timber 94
signed but not ratified: Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds |
| Ethnic groups | Czech 90.4%, Moravian 3.7%, Slovak 1.9%, other 4% (2001 census) | - |
| Exchange rates | koruny per US dollar - 23.957 (2005), 25.7 (2004), 28.209 (2003), 32.739 (2002), 38.035 (2001) | euros per US dollar - 0.7345 (2007), 0.7964 (2006), 0.8041 (2005), 0.8054 (2004), 0.886 (2003) |
| Executive branch | chief of state: President Vaclav KLAUS (since 7 March 2003)
note: the Czech Republic's first president Vaclav HAVEL stepped down from office on 2 February 2003 having served exactly 10 years; parliament finally elected a successor on 28 February 2003 after two inconclusive elections in January 2003 head of government: Prime Minister Mirek TOPOLANEK (since 4 September 2006), Deputy Prime Minister Petr NECAS (since 4 September 2006) cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the president on the recommendation of the prime minister elections: president elected by Parliament for a five-year term (eligible for a second term); last successful election held 28 February 2003 (after earlier elections held 15 and 24 January 2003 were inconclusive; next election to be held January 2008); prime minister appointed by the president election results: Vaclav KLAUS elected president on 28 February 2003; Vaclav KLAUS 142 votes, Jan SOKOL 124 votes (third round; combined votes of both chambers of parliament) |
chief of union: President of the European Commission Jose Manuel DURAO BARROSO (since 22 November 2004)
cabinet: European Commission (composed of 27 members, one from each member country; each commissioner responsible for one or more policy areas) elections: the president of the European Commission is designated by member governments and is confirmed by the European Parliament; working from member state recommendations, the Commission president then assembles a "college" of Commission members; the European Parliament confirms the entire Commission for a five-year term; the last confirmation process was held 18 November 2004 (next to be held in 2009) election results: European Parliament approved the European Commission by an approval vote of 449 to 149 with 82 abstentions note: the European Council brings together heads of state and government and the president of the European Commission and meets at least four times a year; its aim is to provide the impetus for the major political issues relating to European integration and to issue general policy guidelines |
| Exports | 26,670 bbl/day (2001) | 6.971 million bbl/day (2001) |
| Exports - commodities | machinery and transport equipment 52%, chemicals 5%, raw materials and fuel 9% (2003) | machinery, motor vehicles, aircraft, plastics, pharmaceuticals and other chemicals, fuels, iron and steel, nonferrous metals, wood pulp and paper products, textiles, meat, dairy products, fish, alcoholic beverages. |
| Exports - partners | Germany 33.5%, Slovakia 8.7%, Austria 5.5%, Poland 5.5%, France 5.3%, UK 4.6%, Italy 4.3% (2005) | US 23.3%, Switzerland 7.6%, Russia 5.2%, China 4.8% (2006) |
| Fiscal year | calendar year | NA |
| Flag description | two equal horizontal bands of white (top) and red with a blue isosceles triangle based on the hoist side (identical to the flag of the former Czechoslovakia) | on a blue field, 12 five-pointed gold stars arranged in a circle, representing the union of the peoples of Europe; the number of stars is fixed |
| GDP - composition by sector | agriculture: 3.4%
industry: 39.3% services: 57.3% (2004 est.) |
agriculture: 2%
industry: 27.1% services: 70.7% (2006 est.) |
| GDP - real growth rate | 6.1% (2005 est.) | 3% (2007 est.) |
| Geographic coordinates | 49 45 N, 15 30 E | - |
| 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 | - |
| Heliports | 2 (2006) | 100 (2007) |
| Household income or consumption by percentage share | lowest 10%: 4.3%
highest 10%: 22.4% (1996) |
lowest 10%: 2.8%
highest 10%: 25.2% (2001 est.) |
| Illicit drugs | transshipment point for Southwest Asian heroin and minor transit point for Latin American cocaine to Western Europe; producer of synthetic drugs for local and regional markets; susceptible to money laundering related to drug trafficking, organized crime | - |
| Imports | 182,000 bbl/day (2004) | 17.76 million bbl/day (2001) |
| Imports - commodities | machinery and transport equipment 46%, raw materials and fuels 15%, chemicals 10% (2003) | machinery, vehicles, aircraft, plastics, crude oil, chemicals, textiles, metals, foodstuffs, clothing |
| Imports - partners | Germany 30%, Russia 5.7%, Slovakia 5.4%, China 5.1%, Poland 5%, Italy 4.8%, France 4.5%, Netherlands 4% (2005) | US 13.8%, China 13.4%, Russia 8.2%, Japan 6.2% (2006) |
| Independence | 1 January 1993 (Czechoslovakia split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia) | 7 February 1992 (Maastricht Treaty signed establishing the EU); 1 November 1993 (Maastricht Treaty entered into force) |
| Industrial production growth rate | 5.7% (2005) | 2.6% (2006 est.) |
| Industries | metallurgy, machinery and equipment, motor vehicles, glass, armaments | among the world's largest and most technologically advanced, the European Union industrial base includes: ferrous and non-ferrous metal production and processing, metal products, petroleum, coal, cement, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, aerospace, rail transportation equipment, passenger and commercial vehicles, construction equipment, industrial equipment, shipbuilding, electrical power equipment, machine tools and automated manufacturing systems, electronics and telecommunications equipment, fishing, food and beverage processing, furniture, paper, textiles, tourism |
| Infant mortality rate | total: 3.89 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 4.24 deaths/1,000 live births female: 3.52 deaths/1,000 live births (2006 est.) |
total: 4.8 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 5.3 deaths/1,000 live births female: 4.3 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.) |
| Inflation rate (consumer prices) | 1.9% (2005 est.) | 1.8% (2006 est.) |
| International organization participation | ACCT (observer), Australia Group, BIS, BSEC (observer), CE, CEI, CERN, EAPC, EBRD, EIB, ESA (cooperating state), EU (new member), FAO, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICCt (signatory), ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IEA, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITU, MIGA, MONUC, NAM (guest), NATO, NEA, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, OIF (observer), OPCW, OSCE, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNITAR, UNMEE, UNMIL, UNOMIG, UPU, WCL, WCO, WEU (associate), WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTO, ZC | European Union: ARF (dialogue member), ASEAN (dialogue member), IDA, OAS (observer), UN (observer)
European Community: Australian Group, CBSS, CERN, FAO, EBRD, G-10, NAM (observer), NSG (observer), OECD, UNRWA, WCO, WTO, ZC (observer) European Central Bank: BIS European Investment Bank: EBRD, WADB (nonregional member) |
| Irrigated land | 240 sq km (2003) | 168,050 sq km (2003 est.) |
| Judicial branch | Supreme Court; Constitutional Court; chairman and deputy chairmen are appointed by the president for a 10-year term | Court of Justice of the European Communities (ensures that the treaties are interpreted and applied uniformly throughout the EU; resolve constitutional issues among the EU institutions) - 27 justices (one from each member state) appointed for a six-year term; note - for the sake of efficiency, the court can sit with 13 justices known as the "Grand Chamber"; Court of First Instance - 27 justices appointed for a six-year term |
| Labor force | 5.27 million (2005 est.) | 222.4 million (2006 est.) |
| Labor force - by occupation | agriculture: 4.1%
industry: 37.6% services: 58.3% (2003) |
agriculture: 4.4%
industry: 27.1% services: 67.1% note: the remainder is in miscellaneous public and private sector industries and services (2002 est.) |
| Land boundaries | total: 2,290.2 km
border countries: Austria 466.3 km, Germany 810.3 km, Poland 761.8 km, Slovakia 251.8 km |
total: 12,440.8 km
border countries: Albania 282 km, Andorra 120.3 km, Belarus 1,050 km, Croatia 999 km, Holy See 3.2 km, Liechtenstein 34.9 km, Macedonia 394 km, Moldova 450 km, Monaco 4.4 km, Norway 2,348 km, Russia 2,257 km, San Marino 39 km, Serbia 945 km, Switzerland 1,811 km, Turkey 446 km, Ukraine 1,257 km note: data for European Continent only |
| Land use | arable land: 38.82%
permanent crops: 3% other: 58.18% (2005) |
arable land: NA%
permanent crops: NA% other: NA% |
| Languages | Czech | Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, Gaelic, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovene, Spanish, Swedish
note: only official languages are listed; German, the major language of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, is the most widely spoken mother tongue - over 19% of the EU population; English is the most widely spoken language - about 49% of the EU population is conversant with it (2007) |
| Legal system | civil law system based on Austro-Hungarian codes; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction; legal code modified to bring it in line with Organization on Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) obligations and to expunge Marxist-Leninist legal theory | comparable to the legal systems of member states; first supranational law system |
| Legislative branch | bicameral Parliament or Parlament consists of the Senate or Senat (81 seats; members are elected by popular vote to serve six-year terms; one-third elected every two years) and the Chamber of Deputies or Poslanecka Snemovna (200 seats; members are elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms)
elections: Senate - last held in two rounds 20-21 and 27-28 October 2006 (next to be held October 2008); Chamber of Deputies - last held 2-3 June 2006 (next to be held by June 2010) election results: Senate - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - ODS 41, CSSD 12, KDU-CSL 10, others 15, independents 2; Chamber of Deputies - percent of vote by party - ODS 35.4%, CSSD 32.3%, KSCM 12.8%, KDU-CSL 7.2%, Greens 6.3%, other 6%; seats by party - ODS 81, CSSD 74, KSCM 26, KDU-CSL 13, Greens 6 |
two legislative bodies consists of the Council of the European Union (27 member-state ministers having 345 votes; the number of votes is roughly proportional to member-states' population; note - the Council is the main decision-making body of the EU) and the European Parliament (785 seats, as of 1 January 2007; seats allocated among member states by proportion to population; members elected by direct universal suffrage for a five-year term)
elections: last held 10-13 June 2004 (next to be held June 2009) election results: percent of vote - NA; seats by party - EPP-ED 268, PES 202, ALDE 88, Greens/EFA 42, EUL/NGL 41, IND/DEM 36, UEN 27, independents 28; note - seats by party as of 1 December 2007 - EPP-ED 275, PES 217, ALDE 104, UEN 44, Greens/EFA 42, EUL/NGL 41, IND/DEM 24, independents 34, 4 unaccounted for |
| Life expectancy at birth | total population: 76.22 years
male: 72.94 years female: 79.69 years (2006 est.) |
total population: 78.7 years
male: 75.6 years female: 82 years (2007 est.) |
| Literacy | definition: NA
total population: 99% male: 99% female: 99% (2003 est.) |
- |
| Location | Central Europe, southeast of Germany | Europe between the North Atlantic Ocean in the west and Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine to the east |
| Map references | Europe | Europe |
| Maritime claims | none (landlocked) | NA |
| Merchant marine | registered in other countries: 1 (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 1) (2006) | - |
| Military - note | - | In November 2004, the EU heads of government signed a "Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe" that offers possibilities for increased defense and security cooperation. If ratified, this treaty will give operational effect to the European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP), approved in the 2000 Nice Treaty. Despite limits of cooperation for some EU members, development of a EU military planning unit is likely to continue. The planning unit will support the EU Rapid Reaction Force, which EU ministers have said will deploy 2 "battle groups" in January 2007. France, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Italy continue to press for wider coordination. The 5-nation Eurocorps - created in 1992 by France, Germany, Belgium, Spain, and Luxembourg - has already deployed troops and police on peacekeeping missions to Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo and assumed command of the ISAF in Afghanistan in August 2004. Eurocorps directly commands the 5,000-man Franco-German Brigade, the Multinational Command Support Brigade, and EUFOR, which took over from SFOR in Bosnia in December 2004. Individual EU nations made commitments to provide 67,100 troops following the December 1999 EU summit in Helsinki. Some 56,000 troops from EU member states were actually deployed on various international operations in 2003. In August 2004, the new European Defense Agency, tasked with promoting cooperative European defense capabilities, began operations. In November 2004, the EU Council of Ministers formally committed to creating 13 1,500-man battle groups by the end of 2007, to respond to international crises on a rotating basis. Twenty-two of the EU's 25 nations have agreed to supply troops. France, Italy, and the UK formed the first of 3 battle groups in 2005. In May 2005, Norway, Sweden and Finland agreed to establish one of the battle groups, possibly to include Estonia forces. The remaining 9 groups are to be formed in 2007. A rapid-reaction naval EU Maritime Task Group was stood up in March 2007. (2005) |
| Military branches | Army of the Czech Republic (ACR): Joint Forces Command (includes air forces), Support and Training Forces Command (2006) | - |
| Military expenditures - dollar figure | $2.17 billion (2004) | - |
| Military expenditures - percent of GDP | 1.81% FY05 | - |
| National holiday | Czech Founding Day, 28 October (1918) | Europe Day 9 May (1950); note - a Union-wide holiday, the day that Robert SCHUMAN proposed the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community to achieve an organized Europe |
| Nationality | noun: Czech(s)
adjective: Czech |
- |
| Natural hazards | flooding | flooding along coasts; avalanches in mountainous area; earthquakes in the south; volcanic eruptions in Italy; periodic droughts in Spain; ice floes in the Baltic |
| Natural resources | hard coal, soft coal, kaolin, clay, graphite, timber | iron ore, natural gas, petroleum, coal, copper, lead, zinc, bauxite, uranium, potash, salt, hydropower, arable land, timber, fish |
| Net migration rate | 0.97 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2006 est.) | 1.6 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.) |
| Pipelines | gas 7,010 km; oil 547 km; refined products 94 km (2006) | - |
| Political parties and leaders | Christian Democratic Union-Czechoslovak People's Party or KDU-CSL [Jan KASAL, chairman]; Civic Democratic Alliance or ODA [Jirina NOVAKOVA, chairwoman]; Civic Democratic Party or ODS [Mirek TOPOLANEK, chairman]; Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia or KSCM [Vojtech FILIP, chairman]; Czech Social Democratic Party or CSSD [Jiri PAROUBEK, chairman]; Freedom Union-Democratic Union or US-DEU [Jan HADRAVA, chairman]; Green Party [Martin BURSIK, chairman]; Independent Democrats (NEZDEM) [Vladimir ZELEZNY, chairman]; Party of Open Society (SOS) [Pavel NOVACEK, chairman]; Path of Change [Jiri LOBKOWITZ, chairman]; SNK-European Democrats or SNK-ED [Jana HYBASKOVA, chairman] | Confederal Group of the European United Left-Nordic Green Left or EUL/NGL [Francis WURTZ]; European People's Party-European Democrats or EPP-ED [Joseph DAUL]; Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe or ALDE [Graham R. WATSON]; Group of Greens/European Free Alliance or Greens/EFA [Monica FRASSONI and Daniel Marc COHN-BENDIT]; Identity, Tradition, Sovereignty Group or ITS [Bruno GOLLNISCH]; Independence/Democracy Group or IND/DEM [Jens-Peter BONDE and Nigel FARAGE]; Socialist Group in the European Parliament or PES [Martin SCHULZ]; Union for Europe of the Nations Group or UEN [Brian CROWLEY and Cristiana MUSCARDINI] |
| Political pressure groups and leaders | Czech-Moravian Confederation of Trade Unions or CMKOS [Milan STECH] | - |
| Population | 10,235,455 (July 2006 est.) | 490,426,060 (July 2007 est.) |
| Population below poverty line | At risk of poverty after social transfers: 8% | see individual country listings |
| Population growth rate | -0.06% (2006 est.) | 0.16% (2007 est.) |
| Radio broadcast stations | AM 31, FM 304, shortwave 17 (2000) | AM 930, FM 13,655, shortwave 71 (1998); note - sum of individual country radio broadcast stations; there is also a European-wide station (Euroradio) |
| Railways | total: 9,572 km
standard gauge: 9,473 km 1.435-m gauge (2,951 km electrified) narrow gauge: 99 km 0.760-m gauge (2005) |
total: 236,656 km
broad gauge: 28,240 km standard gauge: 200,532 km narrow gauge: 7,861 km other: 23 km (2006) |
| Religions | Roman Catholic 26.8%, Protestant 2.1%, other 3.3%, unspecified 8.8%, unaffiliated 59% (2001 census) | Roman Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, Muslim, Jewish |
| Sex ratio | at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.06 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.01 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.64 male(s)/female total population: 0.95 male(s)/female (2006 est.) |
at birth: NA
under 15 years: 1.06 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.01 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.69 male(s)/female total population: 0.96 male(s)/female (2007 est.) |
| Suffrage | 18 years of age; universal | 18 years of age; universal |
| Telephone system | general assessment: privatization and modernization of the Czech telecommunication system got a late start but is advancing steadily; growth in the use of mobile cellular telephones is particularly vigorous
domestic: 86% of exchanges now digital; existing copper subscriber systems now being enhanced with Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) equipment to accommodate Internet and other digital signals; trunk systems include fiber-optic cable and microwave radio relay international: country code - 420; satellite earth stations - 2 Intersputnik (Atlantic and Indian Ocean regions), 1 Intelsat, 1 Eutelsat, 1 Inmarsat, 1 Globalstar |
note - see individual country entries of member states |
| Telephones - main lines in use | 3,217,300 (2005) | 238 million (2005) |
| Telephones - mobile cellular | 11.776 million (2005) | 466 million (2005) |
| Television broadcast stations | 150 (plus 1,434 repeaters) (2000) | 2,700 (1995); note - sum of individual country television broadcast stations excluding repeaters; there is also a European-wide station (Eurovision) |
| 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 | fairly flat along the Baltic and Atlantic coast; mountainous in the central and southern areas |
| Total fertility rate | 1.21 children born/woman (2006 est.) | 1.5 children born/woman (2007 est.) |
| Unemployment rate | 7.9% (2005) | 8.5% (2006 est.) |
| Waterways | 664 km (principally on Elbe as well as Vltava and Oder rivers) (2005) | 52,332 km (2006) |
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