According to the recent ranking by Mercer Human Resource Consulting, Prague is the 50th most expensive city in the world. Last year, it was the 28th expensive city in the world. The 10 most expensive cities in the world are:

1. Moscow

2. Seoul

3. Tokyo

4. Hong Kong

5. London

6. Osaka

7. Geneva

8. Copenhagen

9. Zurich

10. Oslo & New York

New traffic law taking effect in July will prohibit driving after drinking more than two beers (about 0.8 permille of alcohol in the blood). The aim of this law is to lower the rate of car accidents.

Central banks in Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary are expected to raise interest rates this year to lower inflation. The average inflation rates in these countries are about 2.9 percent, compared with average 2.5 percent in the EU. According to various estimations of Bloomberg economists, the Czech Republic’s two-week repurchase rate is expected to rise from 2% to 2.25%-2.5% by the end of 2006.

The minimum wage in Czech Republic is about to rise from CZK 7,570 now to CZK 7,955 next month due to the recent governmental decision. The aim of this decision is to encourage people to seek a job instead of receiving unemployment insurance. The subsistence level in Czech Republic is CZK 4,420 monthly per adult in a one-person household.

Read more about Czech Labor Market.

Taxes changes are expected in Czech Republic. The flat income tax is supposed to rise to 16-18 percent, and VAT is about to rise as well. The VAT rise will possibly cause correspondingly raises of variety of goods and service prices, including water, heat and medicines.

According to the Local Development Ministry, the rents on price-regulated flats are about to grow by 19.2 percent a year on average between 2007 and 2010, especially in the more popular areas. For instance, the rent for a first category 70-mr2 apartment in Prague 1 is supposed to rise from CZK 2,600 this year to CZK 3,380 next year (about 30% grow). In some cities, such as Karlovy Vary, rents are supposed to grow by more than 30 percent. On the other hand, in some regions, such as the Ustecky region in northern Bohemia the rise is supposed to be slower, about 4% a year. As for purchase prices, the average price for large three-bedroom apartment in the suburbs of Prague is about CZK 2.2 million, compared with the CZK 1.9 - 2 million - the value at the of these apartments at the end of 2005.

DTZ, the international consultancy company for real estates, claims that the following emerging markets: Bulgaria, Romania, Poland, Czech Republic and Hungary became the most attractive real estate hotspots. The forecast is, that Russia and Ukraine will join in the near future to the attractive hotspots European list

Last year, a government investigator had published a research supporting the claims of Gypsy (Roma) women, who accused Czech doctors of coercive sterilization during the Soviet era. In that period, Gypsy (Roma) sterilization was a national policy, aimed to diminish poverty and extend family planning among Gypsies (Romanies). This practice was part of the eugenics policy, which was widely accepted in Europe and the United States in the 19th - 20th centuries. In 1979, the human rights group Charter 77 announced this policy to be a sort of genocide.

The sterilization was often applied on women after number of births. The women were told that they are about to go through an urgent necessary operation, and gave formal confirmation to sterilization without understanding, that the operation will prevent them from giving birth again. Most of them assumed that sterilization is a kind of body cleansing.

The Health Ministry of Czech Republic acknowledges the problem, but refuse to take responsibility. The Roma (Gypsy) activists say, that the practice of Gypsy involuntary sterilization, which began during the Soviet era, still continues.

Czech Republic is widely known for its famous beer. The local breweries produce more than 470 kinds of beer, including brand names such as Pilsner Urquell and Budweiser Budvar. Czech is considered to be among the biggest beer enthusiasts in the world, with an average of 50-liter of beer consumed per person every year. However, the recent poll reveals that while 40% of the Czech population is regular beer drinkers, more than 50% of Czechs hardly drink any beer at all. Older men dominate the “regular drinkers” category.

Czech population must overcome the process of continuous grow. By March 2006, it has reached 10,259,017 inhabitants. The biggest population rise was due to the wave of immigration to the country, mostly from Ukraine, Slovakia and Vietnam. The total number of immigrants to the Czech Republic is estimated to be about 65,000 a year.