Background: After the Second World War, Czechoslovakia fell into the Soviet sphere of influence. In 1968, the invasion of the Warsaw Pact troops stopped the efforts of the country’s leadership to weaken the role of the party and build “socialism with a human face.” The following year’s anti-Soviet demonstrations sparked severe repression. After the collapse of Soviet power in 1989, the country regained its freedom in a peaceful “Velvet Revolution”. On January 1, 1993, the country experienced a “velvet divorce” into two national components, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The Czech Republic, now a member of NATO, is moving towards integration into the world market – a process that is fraught with both great opportunities and risks. See areacodesexplorer.com to know more about Czech Republic History.
Geography
Location: Central Europe, southeast of Germany.
Geographic coordinates: 49° 45′ N. 15° 30′ E
Reference map: Europe.
Area: total: 78,866 km2; land surface area: 77,276 km2; water surface area: 1,590 km2
Comparative area: slightly smaller than the state of South Carolina.
Land borders: total: 1,881 km; with neighboring states: with Austria 362 km, with Germany 646 km, with Poland 658 km, with Slovakia 215 km.
Coastline: 0 km (landlocked).
Maritime claims: none (landlocked).
Climate: temperate; cool summer; cold, cloudy and wet winters.
Relief: in the west of the country Bohemia – plains, hills and plateaus, surrounded by low mountains; in the east, Moravia is a hilly region.
Maximum and minimum heights: lowest point: Laba River 115 m; highest point: Mount Sniezka 1,602 m.
Natural resources: anthracite, bituminous coal, kaolin, clay, graphite, timber.
Land use: arable land: 41%; cultivated land: 2%; pastures: 11%; forests and plantations: 34%; others: 12% (1993 est.).
Irrigated land: 240 km2 (1993 est.).
Natural Hazards: floods. Current environmental issues air and water pollution in northwestern Bohemia and northern Moravia around Ostrava is a health hazard; acid rain is detrimental to forests.
Current environmental issues:
International agreements on environmental protection: contributor: Air Pollution, Air Pollution – Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution – Sulfur 1985, Air Pollution – Sulfur 1994, Air Pollution – Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Change, Hazardous Waste, Maritime Law, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands; signed but not ratified: Air Pollution – Persistent Organic Pollutants, Antarctica – Protocol on Environmental Protection, Kyoto Protocol.
Note to the section “Geography”: has no access to the sea; strategic location on the oldest and most important transport routes in Europe; The Moravian Gate is a traditional military corridor between the North European Plain and the Danube in Central Europe.
Population
Population: 10,264,212 (July 2001 est.).
Age structure: under 14: 16.09% (male 847,219; female 804,731); 15 to 64 years old: 69.99% (male 3,592,984; female 3,590,802); over 65: 13.92% (male 547,538; female 878,938) (2001 est.).
Population growth: -0.07% (2001 est.).
Birth rate: 9.11 newborns / 1000 people. (2001 est.).
Mortality: 10.81 deaths / 1000 people. (2001 est.).
Migration: 0.96 people /1000 people (2001 est.).
Sex ratio: at birth: 1.06 male/female; under 15: 1.05 male/female; from 15 to 64 years old: 1 male/female; over 65: 0.63 male/female; for the general population: 0.95 male/female (2001 est.);
Child mortality: 5.55 deaths/1000 live births (2001 est.).
Life expectancy: for the general population: 74.73 years; men: 71.23 years; women: 78.43 years (2001 est.).
General birth rate: 1.18 children/wives. (2001 est.).
Proportion of adults infected with HIV: 0.04% (1999 est.).
Number of people infected with HIV: 2,200 (1999 est.).
AIDS deaths: less than 100 (1999 est.).
Nationality: noun: Czech; adjective: Czech.
Ethnic groups: Czechs 81.2%, Moravians 13.2%, Slovaks 3.1%, Poles 0.6%, Germans 0.5%, Silesians 0.4%, Roma 0.3%, Hungarians 0, 2%, others 0.5% (March 1991).
Believers: atheists 39.8%, Catholics 39.2%, Protestants 4.6%, Orthodox 3%, others 13.4%.
Language(s): Czech.
Literacy: definition: no data; for the general population: 99.9% (1999 est.). men: no data; women: no data.
Politics
Common long form: Czech Republic;
conventional short form: Czech Republic; local long form: Ceska Republika; local short form: Ceska Republika
State structure: parliamentary democracy.
Capital: Prague.
Administrative divisions: 13 regions (kraj) and 1 metropolitan city (hlavni mesto)*: Brno, Budějovice, Jihlava, Karlovy Vary, Hradec Kralove, Liberec, Olomouc, Ost-Rava, Pardubice, Pilsen, Prague*, Central Bohemia, Ustytska, Zlinska.
Dependent territories:
Independence: from January 1, 1993 (Czechoslovakia was divided into the Czech and Slovak Republics).
National holiday: Founding of the Republic, 28 October (1918).
Constitution: ratified December 16, 1992; entered into force on January 1, 1993.
Legal system: civil law system based on the Austro-Hungarian code; the compulsory jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice is not recognized; the code of laws was changed to comply with the requirements of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), for which it was necessary to finally eliminate traces of the Marxist-Leninist theory of law from it.
Suffrage: from the age of 18, universal.
chief of state: President Vaclav HAVEL (since 2 February 1993);
head of the government: Prime Minister Milos ZEMAN (since 17 July 1998); Deputy Prime Ministers Vladimir SPIDLA (since July 17, 1998), Pavel RYCHETSKY (since July 17, 1998), Jan KAVAN (since December 8, 1999) ;
government: cabinet appointed by the president on the advice of the prime minister; elections: the president is elected by parliament for 5 years; elections last held 20 January 1998 (next to be held January 2003); the prime minister is appointed by the president; election results: Vaclav GAVEL re-elected president; Václav HAVEL collected 47 out of 81 votes in the Senate and 99 out of 200 votes in the Chamber of Deputies (second round of voting).
Legislature: the bicameral parliament consists of the Senate (81 seats; members are elected by popular vote for 6 years; elections of a third of the senators take place every two years) and the Chamber of Deputies (Poslanecka Snemovna) (200 seats; members are elected by popular vote for 4 years); elections: Senate – last held 12-19 November 2000 (next to be held November 2002); Chamber of Deputies – last held 19-20 June 1998 (next to be held June 2002); election results: Senate, distribution of votes between parties: NA; distribution of seats among parties: KDU-CSL 28, ODS 22, CSSD 15, ODA 7, US 4, KSCM 3, independents 2; Chamber of Deputies, distribution of votes between parties: CSSD 32.3%, ODS 27.7%, KSCM 11%, KDU-CSL 9.0%, US 8.6%; distribution of seats among parties: CSSD 74, ODS 63, KDU-CSL 20, US 19, KCSM24.
Judicial branch: Supreme Court; Constitutional Court; chairmen and their deputies are appointed by the president for 10 years.
Political parties and leaders: Christian Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People’s Party (KDU-CSL) (Jan KASAL, chairman); Civic Democratic Alliance (ODA) (Daniel KROUPA, Chairman); Civic Democratic Party (ODS) (Vaclav KLAUS, chairman); Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSCM) (Miroslav GREBENICEK, chairman); Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSC) (Miroslav STEPAN, chairman); Czech National Social Party (CSNS) (Jan SULA, chairman); Czech Social Democratic Party (CSSD) (Milos Zeman, chairman); Democratic Union (DEU) (Ratibor MAJZLIK, chairman); Freedom Union (US) (Karel KUEHNL, chairman); Coalition of Four (Cyril SVOBODA), chairman) (includes KDU-CSL, US, ODA, DEU); Republicans Miroslav SLADEKA (RMS) (Miroslav SLA-DEK [Miroslav SLADEK]).
Political influence groups and their leaders: Czech-Moravian Confederation of Trade Unions (Richard FALBR).
Participation in international organizations: ACCT (observer), Australia Group, BIS, CCC, CE, CEI, CERN, EAPC, EBRD, ECE, EU (applicant), FAO, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IEA, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Inmarsat, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, MONUC, NATO, NEA, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, OPCW, OSCE, PCA, PFP, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNMEE, UNMIBH, UNMIK, UNMOP, UNMOT, UNOMIG, UPU, WCL, WEU (associate), WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO, ZC.
Diplomatic representation in the USA: Head of Mission: Ambassador Alexander VONDRA (Alex-sandr VONDRA); office: 3900 Spring of Freedom Street NW, Washington, DC 20008;,,–,”..: “,”?-~~^;,. t phone: [1] (202) 274-9100; fax: [1] (202) 966-8540; consulates general: Los Angeles and New York
US Diplomatic Mission: Chief of Mission: Ambassador Vacant, Chargé d’Affaires Steven J. COFFEY, Embassy: Trziste 15, 11801 Prague 1, Mailing Address: Embassy Address; Phone: [420] ( 2) 5753-0663 fax: [420] (2) 5753-0583
Description of the flag: two equal horizontal stripes of white (top) and red with a blue isosceles triangle, the base of which is the left side of the flag (almost repeats the flag of the former Czechoslovakia).
