t point: Snezka 1,602 m

Natural resources: hard coal, soft coal, kaolin, clay, graphite

Land use:
arable land: NA%
permanent crops: NA%
meadows and pastures: NA%
forest and woodland: NA%
other: NA%

Irrigated land: NA sq km

Environment:
current issues: air and water pollution in areas of northwest
Bohemia and in northern Moravia around Ostrava present health risks;
acid rain damaging forests
natural hazards: NA
international agreements: party to - Air Pollution, Air
Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Antarctic
Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Endangered Species,
Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Nuclear Test Ban,
Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands; signed, but not
ratified - Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Antarctic-Environmental
Protocol, Law of the Sea

Geographic note: landlocked; strategically located astride some of
oldest and most significant land routes in Europe; Moravian Gate is
a traditional military corridor between the North European Plain and
the Danube in central Europe

People
------

Population: 10,321,120 (July 1996 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 18% (male 965,861; female 918,745)
15-64 years: 68% (male 3,519,753; female 3,524,913)
65 years and over: 14% (male 526,841; female 865,007) (July 1996
est.)

Population growth rate: -0.03% (1996 est.)

Birth rate: 10.39 births/1,000 population (1996 est.)

Death rate: 10.89 deaths/1,000 population (1996 est.)

Net migration rate: 0.24 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1996 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.61 male(s)/female
all ages: 0.94 male(s)/female (1996 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 8.4 deaths/1,000 live births (1996 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 73.76 years
male: 70.08 years
female: 77.65 years (1996 est.)

Total fertility rate: 1.38 children born/woman (1996 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Czech(s)
adjective: Czech
note: 300,000 Slovaks declared themselves Czech citizens in 1994

Ethnic divisions: Czech 94.4%, Slovak 3%, Polish 0.6%, German
0.5%, Gypsy 0.3%, Hungarian 0.2%, other 1%

Religions: atheist 39.8%, Roman Catholic 39.2%, Protestant 4.6%,
Orthodox 3%, other 13.4%

Languages: Czech, Slovak

Literacy: age NA and over can read and write (est.)
total population: 99%