The data on education have taken from the database of the Institute of Information on Education – a departmental workplace for education statistics under the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the CR.

They refer to all types of schools except for special schools for which a separate table is presented and schools established at institutional and protective care facilities. The teachers (actual persons) at all types of schools are internal teachers, including heads and deputy heads.

Secondary technical schools include performing arts schools, too. Since the school year 1998/99, secondary integrated schools--establishments where pupils are taught subjects of both secondary technical and vocational schools--have not been measured individually. For this reason, part of the integrated schools, whose nature corresponds to secondary technical schools (vocational schools), is included in the number of secondary technical schools (secondary vocational schools).

Special education includes three stages of the educational system: pre-primary, primary and secondary education. The pre-primary education is provided in special kindergartens, compulsory education is provided at special basic, remedial and auxiliary schools or in the preparatory stage. Special secondary schools include grammar schools, secondary technical schools, secondary vocational schools, vocational schools and practical schools.

ISCED – the International Standard Classification of Education was compiled and issued by UNESCO as early as 1976 to be used as a tool appropriate for collecting processing and disseminating education statistics in individual countries and on an international scale. The last revision of the classification was made in 1997. The classification uses 7 levels of education (0 to 6), which can be broken further to A to C.

CULTURE AND SPORTS

Data on cultural establishments and sports facilities are measured in the individual administrative regions and districts and kept in the database of statistics on municipalities and towns. Data on historic buildings (Table 9-21.) are taken over from the National Information and Consulting Centre for Culture established by the Ministry of Culture of the CR. The shown data refer to all facilities, irrespective of their founder.

The cinema is a cultural establishment, whose principal activity is to show films for public at least once a week. A cinema with multiple film-showing halls is taken for one cinema. The indicator theatre is also related to one building. Theatre buildings and halls used as tour stages only are not counted in.

Data on public libraries include data on libraries of all types, i.e., district and local people’s libraries along with other libraries employing professionals.

Amphitheatres are multi-purpose outdoor facilities intended to give theatrical and film performances, entertainment shows and other cultural and social events in the summer time. Open-air cinemas are included in the indicator, too.

Lidos are facilities established by river courses and reservoirs, which have an operator. Where there are more lidos established in one area, each of them is considered a separate facility.

Historic buildings include castles, palaces and other historical monuments accessible to visitors for admission.

HEALTH

Selected data on health (the numbers of physicians and professional health personnel with secondary education, and the numbers number of health establishments) are taken over from the Institute of Health Information and Statistics of the Czech Republic (UZIS). The data cover both state and non-state sector.

Bed-strength in hospitals and its use, which are derived from the six-month departmental questionnaire L(MZ)1-02, contains selected indicators on the use of bed-strength, on physicians and professional health personnel with secondary education, and on workload of the personnel, as well as information on the movement of hospitalised patients.

Data on incapacity for work due to disease or injury are processed by the CZSO. The reporting duty is imposed on all businesses which fulfil duties concerning sickness insurance independently, and district social security administrations which submit aggregates for entities that do not settle sickness insurance claims on their own.

Average percentage of incapacity for work is calculated as the ratio of the number of calendar days of incapacity for work due to disease or injury to the average number of the sickness insured, multiplied by the number of calendar days in a year.

SOCIAL SECURITY

The social security scheme includes pension insurance, sickness insurance, state social support benefits, and social care.

The pension insurance scheme takes care of citizens in the case of old age, invalidity or loss of breadwinner. Provided within this programme as of 1 January 1996 (Act No. 155/1995 Coll., on Social Security) are old-age, disability (full and partial), widows’, widowers’, and orphans’ pensions. According to the Act, wives’ pensions, pensions for long-term service, social pensions, pensions granted before 1 January 1957 are provided in as either invalidity or old-age pensions. The tables relating to pension insurance do not include data concerning the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Justice of the CR.

In 1995, Act No. 118/1995 Coll. was passed to amend some laws in connection with the adoption of the State Social Support Act. Separated out of the health insurance scheme were some benefits of non-insurance nature (child-birth grant, child benefit, parental benefit, death grant) to be transferred to state social care support benefits. The state social support benefits are paid either according to the income in relation to subsistence level (child benefit, social benefit, housing contribution, transport contribution (which was terminated in June 2004)) or independently of the income (child-birth grant, death grant, parental contribution, providing-for benefit, and foster care benefits which include a benefit to cover child’s needs, foster’s remuneration, benefit for taking child into care, and motor vehicle). Starting from 1 July 1997, heat and rent contributions had been paid by 30 June 2000 and 31 December 2000, respectively, as regulated by Social Contribution Act No. 75/1997 Coll. In June 2004, an ad hoc extraordinary child benefit of CZK 2 000 was paid pursuant to Act No. 237/1994 Coll., in connection with changes in VAT.

The sickness insurance system of benefits includes four benefits, namely sickness benefit, family member care benefit, maternity benefit, and pregnancy and maternity compensation benefit. These benefits are fully provided to employed persons, members of producer cooperatives, and cooperative farmers. Self-employed persons do not receive the family member care benefit or the maternity and pregnancy compensation benefit. Job applicants receive neither the family member care benefit, nor the maternity and pregnancy compensation benefit, nor the sickness benefit.

Social care is provided by the state to help citizens who find themselves in adverse life conditions and cannot get over them without society’s help. Social care services and benefits include care for family and children, citizens with reduced capacity for work, senior citizens, severely handicapped citizens, citizens needing special assistance, and socially non-adapted citizens.

The Czech Statistical Service uses outputs from the information systems run by the Czech Social Security Administration (information on sickness insurance benefits, pensions actually paid, pension insurance benefits, average monthly level of newly granted pensions – all except for data for the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Justice of the CR) and by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs of the CR (information on expenditure on social care services, social care establishments and beds in these establishments, retirement homes, community care services, and social security benefits).

The figures on the number and capacity of social care establishments are based on the actual deployment of the establishments and detached workplaces thereof.