The Czech population grew by almost 40,000 last year to an estimated 10,649,800 people. According to the Czech Statistical Office, as in recent years, most of the increase stemmed from immigration.

A record 58,148 people moved to the Czech Republic from abroad in 2018 while 19,519 left the country. Ukraine and neighbouring Slovakia were the biggest source countries, followed by Romania and Bulgaria.

The data also show a rise in the number of marriages to an 11-year high. Last year, 114,036 children were born in the country, down by 369 compared to 2017. Of these, 48.5 percent were born out of wedlock.

The population of Prague increased by 14,119 people to almost 1.31 million last year. Of the 40,503 people who moved to the Czech capital in 2018, more than half came from another part of the country. The rest were foreigners, especially Ukrainians, Russians and Slovaks.