The population of the Czech Republic increased by 310,800 in 2022, reaching 10.8 million, primarily due to the arrival of people from war-torn Ukraine, according to the Czech Statistical Office. The number of marriages returned to pre-pandemic levels, and life expectancy at birth equaled that of 2018, surpassing it for women.
In 2022, the development of the population was significantly influenced by an unprecedented level of foreign immigration, with nearly 330,000 individuals coming from Ukraine following the outbreak of the war conflict.
“As of December 31, 2022, the registered population in our country reached 10.828 million, the highest number since the end of World War II,” said Jan Cieslar, a spokesperson for the Czech Statistical Office.
The natural change of the Czech population saw a decline as the number of deaths exceeded the number of births by 18,900.
The structure of incoming individuals from abroad, in terms of gender and age, significantly differed from previous years and affected the overall composition of the Czech population. Most of the arrivals from Ukraine were women of childbearing age, leading to a year-on-year decrease in the proportion of the senior population (65 years and older) by 0.2 percentage points to 20.4%, while the representation of the child population (0-14 years) and the working-age population (15-64 years) slightly increased.
More Marriages, Fewer Divorces
“The migration wave from Ukraine has slowed down the aging of the country’s population,” added Cieslar. The average age of the Czech Republic’s population, steadily increasing since the early 1980s, decreased by two-tenths a year to 42.6 years in 2022. It has increased by 1.3 years over the past decade.
In 2022, they also witnessed a rise in the number of marriages, with 54,800 unions being formed, representing an eight percent increase compared to the previous year. Most notably, 60.4% of men and 70.2% of women, the highest since 2008, entered into their first marriage before age 50, with men marrying on average at 32.5 years old and women at 30.3 years old.
The declining trend in divorces continued from the previous decade. In 2022, 19,800 divorces were registered, a six percent decrease compared to last year, and the overall divorce rate decreased by nearly 38% of marriages.
Live births experienced a significant year-on-year decline of 10,500 to 101,300 children. The total fertility rate decreased to 1.62 children per woman of reproductive age. Despite the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on mortality conditions in 2022, the number of deaths surpassing 120,000 individuals was the lowest among the pandemic years from 2020 to 2022.
Life expectancy at birth increased by 2.1 years for men compared to 2021, reaching 76.1 years, and by 1.5 years for women, reaching 82.0 years.