Population change - year 2015

According to the preliminary statistical balance the population of the Czech Republic increased by 15.6 thousand in 2015 to the end-population of 10 553.8 thousand. Population growth resulted from positive migration balance of 16.0 thousand persons, which was reduced due to the natural change by 0.4 thousand. Compare to the population stock on 31 December 2014, there were more people aged 65 and higher (by 52.0 thousand) and children under 15 (by 22.7 thousand) in the Czech population a year later. The average age of inhabitant grew by 0.2 to 41.9 years.

The number of live births increased slightly, by 0.9 thousand to 110.8 thousand in 2015. And the rise is expected also for the total fertility rate: according to the preliminary estimation it went up from 1.53 in 2014 to 1.57 in 2015. The mean age of women at childbirth is estimated to be 30.0 years in 2015. Only single women made up the increase in the number of live born children. The share of live births outside marriage was 47.8% in 2015, while it was 46.7% a year before.

During the year 2015, according to the preliminary data, there were 111.2 thousand of deaths. The number of deaths over 110,000 was last registered in 2003. The great year-on-year increase by 5.5 thousand was mainly a result of the mortality in the first quarter of the year when the number of deaths went up by 4.9 thousand. According to the preliminary estimates, the life expectancy at birth should not be higher in 2015 than in 2014. In 2014, it increased by 0.6 to 75.8 years for males and 81.7 years for females. The number of deaths of children aged under one year was 272 in 2015, by 9 higher than in the previous year. This means that 25 infants out of 10,000 live births died before reaching 1 year.

The number of marriages in 2015 was by 2.6 thousand higher than in 2014. A total of 48.2 thousand couples entered into the marriage and it was the most in the last seven years. There were more marriages of single people as well as marriages of divorced or widowed. A total of 36.9 thousand men and 37.0 thousand women entered into their first marriage. The highest number of marriages was held in August (8.8 thousand) and June (8.4 thousand).

The Czech courts issued 26.1 thousand decisions about divorces in 2015. It was by 0.7 thousand fewer than a year ago. In 44% cases, the petitioner of divorce was a woman. Joint petitions made up 30% of petitions and in 24% of divorces, the petitioner was a man. One fifth of men and women divorced for the second or higher time. More than a half of divorces (57.5%) terminated marriages with minors. A total of 23.2 thousand children were affected. The highest number of divorced marriages occurred after 6 years of marriage duration. According to the preliminary data, the total divorce rate stagnated at the level a little below 47%. The mean duration of marriage at divorce was 13.0 years.

According to the preliminary data, the number of abortions was by 1.2 thousand lower in y-o-y comparison when a total of 35.7 thousand of abortions were registered. The decrease resulted from the lower number of induced abortions (20.4 thousand). The number of spontaneous abortions (14.1 thousand) and the number of terminations of ectopic pregnancy (1.3 thousand) were slightly higher. The spontaneous abortions comprised 39% of the total abortions already. Induced abortions were mostly performed to single childless women (5.1 thousand) and married women with two live born children (3.6 thousand).

The net migration increased the number of inhabitants of the Czech Republic by 16.0 thousand in 2015. A total of 34.9 thousand people immigrated to the CR from abroad. It was by 6.7 thousand fewer than a year before. The immigrants were mostly the citizens of Slovakia, Ukraine and the Czech Republic. On the contrary, the number of emigrants from the CR was 18.9 thousand, by 1.0 thousand less in y-o-y comparison. The citizens of the Czech Republic, Ukraine and Russia dominated in the emigration flow. In 2015 (as in 2014) the highest migration balance was registered with citizens of Slovakia (5.2 thousand) and Ukraine (2.2 thousand). The third highest net migration belonged to the citizens of Romania (1.2 thousand) in 2015.

Next News Release: 13 June 2016

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