Number of foreign nationals in Czechia doubles in just 10 years
The number of foreigners living in the Czech Republic has been steadily increasing since the fall of communism. In the past decade, their number has doubled to the present 1.1 million.
Due to its geographic location in the heart of Europe, low unemployment and rich cultural scene Czechia continues to attract a growing number of foreign residents who settle here long-term or even permanently. In 2014, the Interior Ministry registered 452,000 foreign residents in the country. In the past decade, their number rose by 142 percent to 1.1 million people with permanent or long-term residence permits. Foreigners now make up one tenth of the Czech population. Ten years ago, it was just over four percent.
In addition to Slovaks, many of whom remained in the country after the dissolution of Czechoslovakia at the end of 1992, there is also a large number of Ukrainian refugees who fled the war in their homeland. There are now roughly 388,000 Ukrainians living in Czechia and two thirds of that number say would like to stay in view of the volatile situation in their homeland. Due to the fact that even before the war, Ukrainian employees formed the pillar of the Czech construction industry, the Ukrainian community is now the largest foreign minority in the country.
The Slovak minority is currently the second biggest with more than 120, 000 Slovaks with temporary or permanent residence in the Czech Republic. Due to the country’s communist past a significant number of foreign nationals in Czechia are also people from Vietnam who came here during the communist years and decided to stay. The authorities currently register approximately 69,000 Vietnamese nationals with permanent residence in the country, over 39,000 Russian nationals, over 21,000 Romanians and close to 18,000 Polish nationals.
The number of foreigners from other countries who choose to reside here has also increased due to business ventures and marriages.
A small percentage of the overall number are foreigners with temporary protection status – among them people from Turkey, Russia, Belarus, Thailand, Vietnam and, somewhat surprisingly, the United Kingdom or the United States.
The vast majority of foreign nationals settle in Prague. The reason for this is both the greater number of job opportunities and a wider range of available housing, as well as more opportunities to socialize with their native community.
The 345,000 foreigners now residing in the Czech Republic’s most populous city make up almost 40 percent of all foreigners in the country. Every fourth person in Prague is now a foreign national. Most of these residents hail from Ukraine, Slovakia, Russia and Vietnam. The number of people moving to Prague from Romania, Bulgaria, India, and the Philippines has also been steadily increasing. These foreign residents are a crucial source of labor for the city, preventing a potential shortage of human resources.
In view of the anticipated increase in foreign residents, the city has developed a plan for the integration of foreigners. This plan, regularly updated and overseen by the Department of National Minorities and Foreigners at Prague City Hall, includes an Action Plan for Integration to help foreign nationals overcome socio-cultural and linguistic barriers.
The action plan is implemented by Integration Centre Prague, a non-profit organization established by the city, along with other non-profit organizations.
There are also close to 67, 000 foreign nationals living in Brno, 45,000 in Pilsen and over 20,000 in Liberec. Mladá Boleslav, thanks to the Škoda Auto factory, has attracted 23,000 foreign workers, which is approximately the same number as one would find in Ostrava.
