Prague, April 18 (CTK) – Over one-half of Czechs still consider people from different countries a problem for the Czech Republic, but the number fell by 6 percent to the current 58 percent as against the past year, according to a poll conducted by the CVVM polling institute in March and released on Wednesday.
Most often, Czechs associate foreigners with a long-term stay in the Czech Republic with rampant crime and spread of diseases.
However, the number of Czechs saying foreigners inflate joblessness has diminished.
The view that foreigners with a long-term stay in the Czech Republic cause the growth in crime is shared by two-thirds of those polled, like a year ago.
The number of those claiming that foreigners pose a health risk to the Czech Republic did not change either and it is shared by 62 percent.
Less than one half of Czechs believe that foreigners threaten their way of life and cause a growing unemployment.
More Czechs disagree than agree with the view that foreigners contribute to the solution to the population ageing, the development of economy and enrichment of Czech culture. Roughly one-fifth of Czechs expressed agreement in this respect.
As against last March, 5 percent fewer Czechs believe that foreigners increase unemployment. In this case, the lowest value was recorded since the beginning of the measurement in 2009, the CVVM said.
The poll showed that the number of those disagreeing with the idea that foreigners contribute to the development of economy decreased by 4 percent.
The poll also asked the question whether foreigners pose a problem in the place of residence. This time, too, Czechs expressed more positive views than before. Only 26 percent of them see foreigners as a problem in their place of residence, while 47 percent do not.
Almost one-quarter said no foreigners lived near them.
The poll was conducted on a sample of 1,000 Czechs over 15 in the first half of March.
