The number of foreigners in the Czech Republic has reached a historic maximum
As Vinegret.cz notes, a detailed report on migration for 2017 will be published only in winter, but for now the Czech Statistical Office has presented a report for the previous period – 2016.
According to the report, as of December 31, 2016, there were 493,441 foreigners in the Czech Republic. Of these, 54.8% had permanent residence (trvalý pobyt), 26% had temporary residence of an EU citizen (přechodný pobyt občanů EU), and 16% had long-term residence (Dlouhodobý pobyt).
The share of foreigners in the total population of the Czech Republic was 4.5%. Compared to other European countries, this is low. The highest figure is in Luxembourg – 48%, the lowest in Poland (0.3%), while in Germany it is 10%.
Among all migrants in the Czech Republic, the largest group were Ukrainians – 109,850 people (22%). They were followed by Slovaks – 107,251 (22%), Vietnamese – 58,025 (12%), Russians – 35,759 (7%), and Germans – 21,216 people (4%). Together they accounted for about 77% of all foreigners living in the country.
The most numerous age group of foreigners is 30 to 39 years old. Most migrants lived in Prague – 184,264 people. In 2016, 5,536 foreigners obtained Czech citizenship.
Special attention was paid by experts of the Czech Statistical Office to migrants from so-called third countries (non-EU). Their share was 58.8% of the total number of foreigners living in the Czech Republic. The most common reasons for staying in the country were: work and business (41.8%), family reunification (27.7%), study (21.6%), humanitarian and other reasons (8.9%).