In the past decade, the number of foreign nationals with residence permits in the Czech Republic has increased by more than 142%.
By the end of 2024, the Ministry of the Interior registered nearly 1.1 million foreigners. In comparison, in 2014, there were about 452,000. The main increase came from migration from Ukraine, noted demographer Tomáš Fiala from the University of Economics in Prague. Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian refugees arrived in the Czech Republic after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, although Ukrainians had already been working in the country before that.
At the end of last year, authorities registered 389,000 refugees with temporary protection, many of whom were not only Ukrainian citizens. Additionally, around 201,000 people from various countries, including Turkey, Russia, Belarus, Thailand, Vietnam, and even the UK and the USA, held temporary or permanent residence permits in the Czech Republic.
The largest group of foreign nationals consists of Ukrainians, followed by Slovaks, among whom more than 120,000 have residence permits. According to Fiala, the accuracy of data may be lower for citizens of Schengen Area countries, as they are not required to register, although they do so voluntarily.
Prague continues to be the leader in the number of foreigners. By the end of last year, more than 354,000 foreigners lived in the capital. Brno, Plzeň, Liberec, and Mladá Boleslav also attract many migrants, partly due to large factories such as Škoda Auto.
According to the latest data from the Czech Statistical Office, 98,500 immigrants came to the Czech Republic in the first three quarters of 2024, which is 14,200 fewer than the previous year. At the same time, 83,500 people emigrated.
