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Czech Republic (Prague) 39
DEMOGRAFIE
1996 - VOLUME 38, NUMBER 4
Population development in the Czech Republic in 1995 (From annual report of the Czech Statistical Office) (Populacni vyvoj v Ceské republice v roce 1995) (p. 233-247)
In 1995 the number of the Czech Republic population decreased by 11.8 thousand. The Czech Republic entered a period of population decline caused by a sharp drop in the number of births. 1995 was the first year - for more than two centuries of statistical recording of the number of births - during which less than 100,000 children were born on the territory of the Czech Republic. 9.3 live births per 1,000 inhabitants and a total fertility rate of 1.278 were the lowest numbers ever registered in the Czech Republic. Due to natural movement, 21.8 thousand inhabitants have gone and even the profit balance of foreign migration has not succeeded in balancing out this decline. Low birth rates contributed to an acceleration in population ageing. Even the number of marriages has significantly declined. After 1990, the population climate in the Czech Republic has essentially changed and trends closer to Western European population behaviour prevailed. Some favourable aspects include an increase in life expectancy as well as a further decline in infant and post-neonatal mortality. Also, migration flows have changed, the population numbers in large towns have slightly decreased (including Prague) while the population numbers in suburbs has increased. At the end of 1995, the Czech Republic had 10,321,344 inhabitants of which 5,016,515 were males and 5,304,829 females. (CZECH REPUBLIC, POPULATION SITUATION)
98.39.6 - Czech - Vladimir POLASEK
Suicides in the Czech Republic (Sebevrazdy v Ceské republice) (p. 248-261)
The Czech Republic belongs to the groupo of countries with a high suicide level. In the post-war period, the number of suicides declined until 1951 and then, increased to its maximum level in 1970. In the following years, there appears a significant trend up to - as yet, the lowest number - in 1995. The decline is almost 40%. The number of female suicides is lower than for males and the proportion of total female suicides decreases more rapidly than that of males. Hanging remains the most frequent method of suicide. Further methods differ according to sex and experience certain changes over time. The basic seasonal suicide tendencies have been observed in individual months - during winter, people commit suicide the least often, while rates are at their highest in the spring and at the beginning of summer. With regard to days of the week, Mondays are the blackest days while Saturdays see the least suicides being committed. The fact that the last day of the year - 31st December with a very low number of suicides and, on the contrary, the beginning of the New Year - 1st January with a high number of suicides - contains in itself a certain specificity. The level of suicides in Moravia is lower. (CZECH REPUBLIC, SUICIDE)
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