Prague, Feb 15 (CTK) – The number of foreigners, coming mainly from EU countries, again rose in the Czech Republic in the past two years and there were 467,600 of them in the country at the end of 2015, compared with 451,900 in 2014, Daniel Chytil, from the Czech Statistical Office (CSU), said on Monday.
“Until 2008, before the economic crisis erupted, the number of foreigners in the Czech Republic was increasing. In 2008-09, it stagnated and in the following years it was decreasing. The upward trend was resumed in 2014,” Chytil said.
Foreigners now form 4.5 percent of the country’s population of 10.5 million.
The number crossed the 4 percent level in 2008 and it has not changed much since then. The European average is 6.7 percent.
Foreigners from the EU countries do not need a residence permit. They do not even need to register on arrival and to check out when leaving the country.
People from non-EU countries need a residence permit.
Most foreigners staying in the Czech Republic have a permanent residence permit. They form two thirds of all foreigners.
“Foreigners tend to stay in this country. They have a long-term residence or permanent residence permit. They are no drifters, which is good news,” Chytil said.
Foreigners with a permanent residence permit are eligible to participating in elections and to have health insurance and receive welfare benefits, Chytil said.
Three quarters of the foreigners living in the Czech Republic are citizens of six countries, the most of whom are Ukrainians (23 percent).
They are followed by Slovaks (20 percent), Vietnamese (13 percent), Russians (8 percent) and Germans and Poles (4 percent each), Chytil said.
He said the situation has been about the same for many years.
Thirty-seven percent of foreigners live in Prague.
