The population of the Czech Republic grew by almost 22,000 last year, reaching 10,515,669 people. The increase was influenced by migration from abroad. The Czech Statistical Office (CSO) announced that the number of deaths last year was the highest since the Second World War.
“There were 28.1 thousand more deaths than live births. It was the deepest natural population decline in the history of the Czech Republic since its foundation in 1918,” said Terezie Štyglerová, head of the Czech Statistical Office’s demographic statistics department.
Almost 112,000 children were born in the Czech Republic last year. Statisticians pointed out that the lower number of women of reproductive age has increased fertility, with 1.83 children per woman, the highest number since 1992.
Last year, the death toll was 140,000, the highest since the end of the Second World War. The statisticians said that compared to the 2015–2019 average, the number of deaths was up by a full one-quarter as the significant year-on-year increase occurred for the second year in a row,” the statisticians said, pointing to developments in 2020. The developments are closely related to the COVID-19 epidemic.
According to preliminary results, “the life expectancy at birth has further decreased to 74.1 years for men and 80.5 years for women in 2021. Thus, it has already declined by 2.2 and 1.6 years, respectively, in the past two years with the COVID-19 pandemic, “the CSO said.
Due to foreign migration, 50,000 people have been added to the country. Over 69 thousand people moved in, and over 19 thousand people left. People from Ukraine, Russia, and Slovakia often move to the Czech Republic.