The authorities of the Czech capital decided to take a closer look at foreigners living in the city
As reported by the portal Vinegret.cz, one of the co-authors of the project, Jana Leontyeva, a sociologist from the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, spoke about this at a special press conference. “The study is unique and is being conducted for the first time. The questionnaire is very detailed – we are trying to find out as many details as possible about foreigners. Many areas of their lives remain unknown to others,” she said.
Since 2014, the magistrate has also had a special department that deals with issues of national minorities. “The main goal of these measures is for Prague to be a capital for everyone, so that migrants feel at home, and the owners of this home know that it belongs to them. The diverse variety of residents can make the city better,” the head of the Prague Integration Center, Anca Kovrigova, told Týden newspaper.
The study began in September last year and will last until August 2017. The results are planned to be published in the fall. Currently, the authors have yet to interview Vietnamese and migrants from EU member states. Only this spring, 1,091 foreigners from non-EU countries filled out a questionnaire of 78 questions. Notably, half of the staff conducting the interviews “in the field” were also foreigners.
According to sociologists, respondents were selected according to certain age and ethnic criteria in proportion to their representation in Prague. The authors ask respondents to talk about their area of residence, length of stay, work specifics, marital status, housing, level of education, as well as difficulties in adaptation, communication with native Praguers, and so on.
“The average age of respondents is about 38 years, the ratio of men and women is approximately equal. About 50% of respondents are permanent residents. The average time of residence in the Czech Republic is more than 7 years,” added Jana Leontyeva.
Recall that currently the share of foreigners among the residents of Prague (1.3 million people) is 15%. This is almost a third of all migrants living in the Czech Republic.