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Czech Republic is located in the Central Europe, southeast of Germany. It's a landlocked country, it borders with Poland to the north, Germany to the northwest and southwest, Austria to the south, and Slovakia to the east.
The Czech has diverse landscape. Bohemia to the west consists of a basin, drained by the Elbe and the Vltava rivers, and surrounded by typical low mountains like the Krkonose range of the Sudetes. The highest point in the country, Snezka at 1,602 m and the lowest points is the Elbe River at 115 m. Moravia, the eastern part of the country has hilly terrain. It is drained chiefly by the Morava river, but it also consists the source of the Oder River. Water from the Czech Republic flows to three different seas the North Sea, Baltic Sea and Black Sea.
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| Climate |
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The Czech Republic has a continental, temperate climate with moderately hot summers and cold, cloudy winters, by and large with snow. Summers are mostly rainy. The temperature difference between summers and winters is comparatively high due to its landlocked geographical position. Within the Czech Republic, temperatures contrast significantly depending on the elevation. At higher altitudes the temperatures decreases and precipitation increases. Another important factor is the distribution of the mountains. Therefore the climate is quite diversified.
January is the coldest month followed by February and December, with snow in the mountains and sometimes in the chief cities and lowlands. The temperature increases rapidly during March, April and May and particularly during April the temperature and weather tends to differ extensively during the day. Spring is also characterized by high water levels in the rivers due to melting snow followed by floods at times.
July is the warmest month of the year, followed by August and June. Typically, the summer temperatures are about 20 °C higher than during winter. Summer is also characterized by rain and storms. Autumn begins in September, which is moderately warm, but in a great deal drier. Temperatures usually fall back under 15° or 10°C in October. By the end of November, temperature is around the freezing point.
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| People |
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The total population of Czech Republic is estimated to be 10,220,911. Majority of the population is Czechs with 94.2%, Moravian consists 3.7%, Slovak 1.9% and other ethnic groups comprises 4% which includes the Poles, Vietnamese, Germans and the Gypsies.
26.8% of the inhabitants are Roman Catholic and only 2.1% are Protestants, 3.3% follow other religious belief, 8.8% follow unspecified beliefs and majority of 59% follow unaffiliated religious belief.
Czech is the language used by the majority of 94.9%, Slovak spoken by 2%, other languages 2.3% and unidentified languages by 0.8%. |
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| Government |
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Czech Republic operates under the political framework of parliamentary democracy. The president is the chief of the state and prime minister the head of the government. The Cabinet is appointed by the president on the recommendation of the prime minister. The president is elected by Parliament for a five-year term and is eligible for a second term.
Czech Republic is divided into 13 regions and 1 capital city. The regions are Jihocesky Kraj, Jihomoravsky Kraj, Karlovarsky Kraj, Kralovehradecky Kraj, Liberecky Kraj, Moravskoslezsky Kraj, Olomoucky Kraj, Pardubicky Kraj, Plzensky Kraj, , Stredocesky Kraj, Ustecky Kraj, Vysocina, Zlinsky Kraj and Praha known as Prague the capital city.
Capital: Prague
Independence: 1 January 1993
President: Vaclav Klaus
Prime Minister: Mirek Topolanek |
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| Economy |
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The Czech Republic is one of the most stable and prosperous of the post-Communist states of Central and Eastern Europe. Growth in 2000-07 was supported by exports to the EU, chiefly to Germany, and a strong recuperation of foreign and domestic investment. Domestic demand plays an important role in reinforcement growth as the availability of credit cards and mortgages increases. Increasing inflation from elevated food and energy prices are a risk to balanced economic growth. Intensified streamlining among large enterprises, improvements in the financial sector, and successful use of available EU funds should reinforce output growth.
58.3% of the labour force is concentrated in the service industry, 37.6% in the industrial sector and mere 2.4% is in agricultural sector. The chief agricultural produce is wheat, potatoes, sugar beets, hops, fruit, pigs and poultry. And the key industrial produce and services are metallurgy, machinery and equipment, motor vehicles, glass and armaments.
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