Census shows population rise in Prague

Prague, Jan 23 (CTK) - A total of 1,272,690 inhabitants live in the Czech capital of Prague, which has been the highest figure in history, according to preliminary data from the 2011 census carried out by the Czech Statistical Office (CSU), Prague census manager Eva Vojtova told reporters yesterday.

During the 2001 census, Prague had some 1.17 million inhabitants.

Foreigners make up 14 percent of the Prague population and they have contributed to its rise most of all.

One in seven Prague inhabitants does not come from the Czech Republic. Most of the foreigners living in Prague are Ukrainians, Russians and Slovaks, Vojtova said.

Out of the total number of foreigners in the Czech Republic, two-fifths live in Prague.

Moreover, the Prague population is the oldest of all regions in the Czech Republic.

Though the total number of Prague inhabitants has increased by 9 percent since the previous census, the number of children has risen only by 3.5 percent.

Prague is ageing. It has the lowest share of children in the country, while the number of Prague inhabitants aged over 65 years has considerably increased since the previous census in 2001.

"There are 77 children under 15 years per 100 senior citizens over 64 in Prague," Vojtova noted.

The number of single and divorced Praguers has also increased. The share of people living in matrimony is decreasing.

Singles are the largest group of men. Over 44 percent of men living in Prague are single. Ten years ago 32 percent of women in Prague were single, last year it was 36 percent.

The population in Prague is also the most educated in the country. Almost a quarter of adults in Prague are university graduates and 34.5 percent are secondary school graduates.

Praguers were not much willing to speak about their religious faith and conviction. Almost 46 percent of them did not answer this question.

A total of 136,816 Prague inhabitants confessed a religious faith, while three-fifths of them were Roman Catholics.

Almost 29 percent of Praguers did not reveal their ethnicity in the census. Most of those who filled in their nationality, were Czech nationals, followed by Slovaks.

According to the census's preliminary results, there were some 90,000 inhabited houses in the capital, which is about 10 percent more than in 2001.

Prague has the highest number of residential houses of all regions.

Ten years ago, almost 11 percent of residential houses belonged to the city and state, now it is under 6 percent. Some 11 percent of houses are owned by the community of inhabitants.

In 2011, there were 496,911 inhabited flats. The structure of flats has changed, too. While in 2001 the highest number of flats were rented (47.2 percent), now the highest share of them or 37 percent are owned by their residents and 28.5 percent are rented, Vojtova said.

Most flats or 82 percent are equipped with central heating or a single-storey heating system. Wood and coal are used as fuel only in 1 percent of flats in Prague compared to 16 percent in the whole Czech Republic.