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  What is the population in Prague like  ?

As of December 31, 1997 Prague had 1,200,455 inhabitants of whom 633,093 (52.7 %) were women. Like in 1996 the population of Prague decreased again in 1997 this time by 4,498. Thus, Prague was not able to replace the net loss resulting from natural deaths by migration for a fifth consecutive year. Due to an unfavourable age structure of the population the average age in Prague was 40.3 years (men 38.4, women 42.0).
In 1997 the number of live newborns in Prague was 8,962, an increase of 125 (1.4 %) compared to 1996. The birth rate (number of live newborns per 1,000 inhabitants) thus showed a slight increase to 7.5 (as opposed to 7.3 in 1996).

Like in previous years migration to Prague showed a decline. The number of people who moved to Prague exceeded the number of those who moved out of Prague by 618 only (a drop of 153 people - 19.8 % - compared to 1996). The migration rate is just +0.5 per 1,000 inhabitants of Prague (+0.6 in 1996). The reasons are, inter alia, the housing shortage in Prague as well as the fact that wealthier population segments tend to move to the new housing estates in the suburbs of Prague. The lower natural loss and the stagnant migration gain have both contributed to a reduction of the overall decline of Prague’s population; for each 1,000 inhabitants there was a loss of 3.7 people in 1997 (4.0 in 1996).

Last year the number of marriages in Prague increased again, this time to 7,165, i.e. 696 (10.8 %) more than in 1996. The number of divorces was stagnating at 4,112 which is 16 (0.4 %) more than the year before. As there was a fairly significant rise of marriages the divorce rate showed a slight improvement - for each 100 marriages there were 57.4 divorces in 1997 (63.3 in 1996).

The favourable abortion trend continued in 1997. The total number of abortions was 6,330 - a decline of 554 (8 %) compared to 1996. The abortion rate (number of abortions per a hundred newborns) logically dropped 77.8 to 70.6 as a result of a fairly significant increase of the number of newborns.

Movement of Population in Municipal Districts

Although the number of population in Prague decreased in 1997, the number of permanent residents dropped in just 20 of the 57 municipal parts. The number of births exceeded that of deaths in only thirteen municipal districts; on the other hand, however, 41 districts showed a positive migration balance.

The largest municipal district is Prague 4 the population of which (138,841) is 726 times greater than the number of people living in the smallest municipal part Nedvizí (191). In absolute terms the highest increases of population were shown by the following districts of Prague: Prague 14 (692 people), Prague 13 (619 people), Újezd (155 people), Oepy (120 people), Újezd nad Lesy (94 people), Libuš (77 people), and Petrovice (77 people).

On the other hand the highest declines of population were registered in the following parts of the city: Prague 4 (-1,039 people), Prague 10 (-920 people), Prague 2 (-872 people), Prague 1 (-686 people), Prague 8 (-685 people), Prague 3 (-622 people), and Prague 6 (-494 people). A common feature typical for all inner city districts (Prague 1 to Prague 10) is a decline of population due to natural exchange and except for Prague 5, Prague 6, and Prague 10, also to migration. The process of depopulation of the inner city has continued. Thus, for example, the total loss in Prague 1, Prague 2, and Prague 3 was 2,583 people (i.e. 1.5 % of their total population) in 1996 and the number of permanent residents in the city center dropped by a further 2,180 people (1.3 %) in 1997. As of December 31, 1997 the number of people living in the center was 168,986, i.e. 17,000 less than in the March 1991 census (186,930).

In 1997 some municipal districts rose above or dropped below interesting benchmarks: the population of Prague 2 dropped below 55,000 while that of Libuš and Bichovice exceeded 7,000 and 1,500 people, respectively.

As a rule, the fastest-growing municipal parts in terms of population are the smaller ones. In 1997 the former were represented by the two districts - Újezd (+13 %) and Lipence (+3.4 %). The fastest-diminishing part of Prague was Prague 1 (-1.8 %), followed by Prague 2 (-1.6 %), and Troja (-1.4 %).