Here are 10 interesting facts about the Czech Republic. How many of these did you know?
10 Interesting Facts About Czech Republic
The Czech Republic has the highest beer consumption per capita in the world.
According, to several sources, among them World Population Review or the The Daily Telegraph, the Czech Republic has had the largest beer consumption rate per capita for years. The Czech Association of Breweries and Maltsters reported in 2021 that Czechs drank 129 liters of beer per capita a year (on average) which is, by the way, a significant drop since 2009.
Read also:
- Typical Czech Beverages
- Czech Beer – History and Interesting Facts
- Unusual Beer in Prague – Gose, Lambic, Berliner Weisse…
- Best Beerhouses in Prague
Sirens roar on first Wednesdays of the month
Every first Wednesday of the month, you will hear the emergency sirens roar as tests are performed regularly. You will hear a short announcement in several languages before, so you know it’s a test.
Picking mushrooms is like a national sport…
Every autumn the Czech forests are crowded. People are willing to wake up hours before dusk to be the first to arrive to the best spots to collect some of the tenths of edible mushrooms in the country. “Professionals” don’t disclose their favorite locations and there are dozens of forums and webpages where people share their mushroom-hunting experience, help each other determine the type of mushroom they found and share interactive maps of most placed where mushrooms grow the best. Although the main season is autumn, edible mushrooms can be found almost all-year round, in fact, some types grow only in spring or summer.
…and so is baking Christmas cookies
There are dozens of delicious Czech Christmas cookies and many families compete in who makes the most types each year. You can find a lot o recipes in English right here.
The Czech Republic has the lowest unemployment rate in the EU
According to Statista, the unemployment rate in the Czech Republic was 2,7 in June of 2024, making it the EU country with the lowest unemployment rate. Czechia’s unemployment rate has been consistently one of the lowest in the EU and often the lowest, see, for example, EUROSTAT data from 2019.
It’s one of the safest countries
The Global Peace Index ranks the Czech Republic regularly as one of the safest countries in the world. According to GPI 2024, it’s the 12th safest country in the world and the 6th safest of the EU member countries.
Public Transport works really well
Czech Republic has a wide network of public transport. Cities are connected by buses and trains and towns and cities use buses, trams and omnibuses. Especially in larger cities like Prague or Brno, you can catch the buses and trams very often (in the most frequented places every few minutes), the public transport is very punctual and works also at night.
Two types of universities
First, let me tell you that the Czech law calls universities vysoké školy which literally means high schools but, of course, we mean higher education institutions. The law distinguishes them on only by founder (public, private, state) but mainly “university-type” and “non-university-type” schools. While university-type school may carry out all types of study programmes in which students can achieve all the titles from Bc. through prof., and related research, development and innovation, artistic or other creative activities, can be structured into faculties and can use the word “university” in their name”, the non-university type schools cannot be called universities, cannot have faculties and are allowed to carry out only Bc. study programmes, rarely also Master degree programmes. This distinction, however, doesn’t find much use as all of the public and state schools are, in fact, universities (although some don’t have the word univerzita in their name) and only a very small minority of the public schools are and so, one could say that distinguishing between public, state and private schools makes more sense, at least in informal conversations.
Czechs are big on dogs
Czechs are a nation of dog lovers, there are approximately 2 million dogs owned in the country and seeing stray dogs is highly unusual.
Read also: Czech Dog Breeds
Many items on the UNESCO list
Czech Republic has many UNESCO World Heritage Sites, such as the Holy Trinity Column in Olomouc, Telč square, Český Krumlov, Chateau complex in Litomyšl, Villa Tugendhat in Brno and several sites in Prague. It also has several items on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list like the handmade glass production, puppetry, King’s ride, Blueprint and more.