Prague has more and more inhabitants. The capital is attractive especially for the young population and foreigners
Contemporary cities persist with many challenges to respond to. One of the key ones is population growth, the result of which is demands on public infrastructure or deteriorating housing availability. According to the IPR study, the increase in the number of inhabitants also applies to Prague, in the context of other European cities, the population development here in recent years is even above average.
“In this area, Prague still does not reach a global city such as Paris, London or other wealthier German and northern cities, yet the population growth in Prague is one of the most dynamic of all the cities of the former Eastern Bloc and higher than in many Western European cities,” says IPR director Ondřej Boháč .
Even though the number of Prague’s inhabitants is currently growing in the long term, it is not a matter of course. Prague experienced a decline in population, for example, in the 1990s. On the contrary, the most dynamic growth of the population of Prague was in the years 2003 to 2009 and 2014 to 2019, i.e. during the period of strong economic growth.
The population development of Prague is strongly influenced not only by economic development and the creation of new job opportunities, but also by housing construction and the overall quality of life. The dynamics of population growth also go hand in hand with the social structure of the inhabitants of large cities. Compared to the rest of the country, Prague has a higher proportion of people with university education or a lower unemployment rate.
Thanks to the attractiveness of the city, which is primarily a result of new and well-paid job opportunities and a quality urban environment, Prague attracts new, especially young residents from the Czech Republic and abroad. It can even be stated that without foreigners, the population of Prague would stagnate or decline. Despite the large increase in foreigners in recent years, the value of the share of foreign residents in the total population in Prague is still only slightly above average in a European comparison.
It is still lower than in Western European capitals such as Zurich, Vienna, Munich or London, where the share of foreigners is up to twice as high. Prague is clearly the most attractive city for foreign immigrants compared to other metropolises and smaller cities of the former Eastern Bloc.
“The increase in population automatically means higher financial demands on the city. It is necessary to ensure public transport, parking spaces, enough apartments, doctors and nurseries. It turns out that around 1.6 million people live permanently in Prague, and if we include residents of the Central Bohemian Region who commute to Prague every day for work, there are even 1.8 million people. However, there are only 1.3 million permanent residents here, so even though infrastructure costs are logically increasing, Prague is still losing out on tax revenues,” adds Boháč.
The study Population development and social structure of the inhabitants of Prague in the context of European cities was prepared by the IPR City Analysis Office, which won the international Special Achievement in GIS award for the ÚAP Data Portal this July. It is an award for innovative or otherwise significant deployment of geoinformation technologies.
The full study is available HERE.
source:
Institute of Planning and Development m of Prague