Prague (Praha) city (state capital), population - - Pictures
The city of Prague had a population of 1,193,270 in 1999. The city's population has declined since the end of Communism. The increased costs of raising children in a market economy and new career and travel opportunities available to young people have led to a drop in the birthrate. Government restrictions on migration into Prague were abolished after 1989. However, difficulties in finding housing and the higher cost of living have limited in-migration. Approximately 68,000 foreigners have residence permits to live in Prague.
The majority of Prague's residents are Czech. In earlier centuries, many Germans lived in the city. The ruling Premyslid dynasty of Prague encouraged German migration to Bohemia in medieval times. When Prague became the capital of the newly created Czechoslovak Republic in 1918, approximately 35 percent of the city's inhabitants were German-speakers. Many of these were members of Prague's large Jewish community, which dated to the 10th century. Nearly all of the city's Jews perished in the Holocaust. After World War II, most other German-speakers in Prague were among the approximately 3 million Germans expelled from the country. Most Czechs are nominally Catholic. Czech culture has also been shaped by a strong Protestant influence dating from the times of Huss, the Czech religious reformer burned at the stake as a heretic in 1415.
