Ethnic Groups
The majority of the 10.5 million inhabitants of the Czech Republic are ethnically and linguistically Czech (95%). Other ethnic groups include Germans, Roma, Poles and Hungarians. Historical minorities like those of Germans and Poles are declining due to assimilation. The Roma community is growing, while there is also a growing Vietnamese community. Other ethnic communities like Greeks, Turks, Italians and Yugoslavs are found in its capital city, Prague. Since the dissolution of Czechoslovakia, Slovaks staying in the Czech Republic have comprised roughly 3% of the population.
There are different groups of national and ethnic minorities in the Czech Republic. The so-called old minorities usually live mostly in particular areas (e.g. Poles in the Zaolzie region, Germans in the Hultschiner region) while the new minorities are scattered among the majority population (generally in the larger towns). While some of the minorities have the whole social structure of the Czech society (Poles, Slovaks, Greeks), other represent only some of the social groups (i.e. Russian newcomers of middle class, or Ukrainians and Romanis who generally represent the underclass).
Read more about this topic: Demographics Of The Czech Republic
Famous quotes containing the words ethnic and/or groups:
“Caprice, independence and rebellion, which are opposed to the social order, are essential to the good health of an ethnic group. We shall measure the good health of this group by the number of its delinquents. Nothing is more immobilizing than the spirit of deference.”
—Jean Dubuffet (1901–1985)
“Writers and politicians are natural rivals. Both groups try to make the world in their own images; they fight for the same territory.”
—Salman Rushdie (b. 1947)