The population of the Czech Republic grew by 9.2 thousand to 10.588 million inhabitants in the first half of the year. The international migration produced the whole population gain. The number of deaths was the highest in the last two decades and exceeded the number of live births by 2.3 thousand. The number of marriages went down in the year-on-year comparison.

According to the preliminary statistical balance, the population of the Czech Republic reached 10 588.1 thousand on 30 June 2017; when it increased by 9.2 thousand from the beginning of the year. The whole increase was caused by the international migration, whose balance amounted to 11.5 thousand. The natural change reduced the population, as the number of deaths was by 2.3 thousand higher than the number of live births.

In the first half of 2017, the preliminary number of live births was 55.5 thousand, just as in the first half of previous year, even though the number of females in the reproductive age was slightly lower this year. The number of live births in 2016 was the highest in the last six years. In the first half of 2017, a total of 28.3 thousand children were born to married women (by 126 less than a year before) and 27.2 thousand children were born to unmarried women (by 197 more). The share of live births outside marriage rose to 49.0%, when it was 48.7% in the same period in 2016. Nearly 49% of children were first-born, 37% children were the second-born and 14% were born in the third or higher-order. The most children were born to women aged 30 and 31; in the case of first born children, the women aged 28 and 29 years prevailed.

According to the preliminary data, a total of 57.8 thousand persons died in the first six months in 2017, by 3.5 thousand more than a year before. The number of deaths was the highest for this period since 1996; the number of deaths in January (12.3 thousand) was the all-time high. The February number of deaths (10.0 thousand) was also markedly higher than the average for the last ten years; on the contrary, the number of deceased people in the second quarter of the year was lower in y-o-y comparison. Both unfavourable epidemiologic situation and age structure of population influenced high numbers of deaths in 2017. A total of 29.1 thousand men and 28.7 thousand women died in the first half of 2017. The average age of man at death was 72.9 years and 79.9 years for woman. There were a total of 138 deaths at the infant age; a total of 25 out of 10,000 live-born children died before reaching 1 year of age.

According to the preliminary data, a total of 18.8 thousand of marriages were entered into by inhabitants of the Czech Republic in the first half of 2017, by 1.1 thousand fewer than in the same period of the previous year. In two thirds of marriages (12.3 thousand) both groom and bride were single at the time of entering marriage. In one eighth of cases (2.7 thousand) the marriage was entered into by divorced man and divorced woman. The most grooms were aged 30, the most brides aged 27.

According to the available data so far, the number of abortions was 17.5 thousand in the months of January to June 2017. Most abortions (9.9 thousand) belonged to the group of induced abortions. The number of spontaneous abortions was 6.8 thousand. The abortions of single women (9.3 thousand) outweighed the number of married women (6.1 thousand) in both kinds of abortions as well as in the group of termination of ectopic pregnancies. Induced abortions were most often performed to single childless women (2.5 thousand) or single women with one live birth (1.6 thousand) or to married women with two children (1.5 thousand).

Due to international migration, the population of the Czech Republic increased by 11.5 thousand since 1 January to 30 June 2017. The balance was by 1.2 thousand higher than in the first half of 2016. A total of 22.6 thousand people immigrated to the Czech Republic from abroad and 11.1 thousand people emigrated from the Czech Republic. The positive migration balance was the highest with citizens of Ukraine (2.6 thousand) and Slovakia (2.1 thousand). The third highest positive net migration was for the citizens of Viet Nam (0.7 thousand). The migration balance of Czechs did not deviate from the recent trend; it was negative (-0.7 thousand).

Responsible manager: Mgr. Robert Šanda, director of Population Statistics Department, tel. +420 274 052 160, e-mail: robert.sanda@czso.cz
Contact person: Michaela Němečková, Demographic Statistics Unit, tel. +420 274 052 184, e-mail: michaela.nemeckova@czso.cz
Data source: Demographic statistics – results of processing statistical reports of Obyv series
Divorces – Information system of the Ministry of the Justice of the CR
Migration data – Information System of Inhabitants Records (Ministry of the Interior of the CR), Alien Information System (Directorate of Alien Police)
Abortions – Institute of Health Information and Statistics of the CR
End of data collection: 16 August 2017
Related publication: 130062-17 Population of the Czech Republic – 1^st half of 2017
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Next News Release: 12 December 2017