A country where life is good..
Year after year, the Czech Republic remains in the top 25 of countries where it is good to live, out of 163 countries examined for this ranking by the NGO Social Progress Imperative. Urban development, access to education, leisure facilities and cultural centers are elements highlighted by the Czech Republic which, combined with a rather comfortable GDP per capita, despite a mixed picture on this side, motivate this flattering ranking. Beautiful cities, a modest cost of living (with the exception of housing in Prague) and beautiful natural areas must be highlighted, but unfortunately they do not hide the challenges that the country has to face in terms of pollution, improvement of sanitary structures and access to health care, or even the reception of immigrant populations in order to be a perfect student. But in the meantime, from a tourist point of view, the results are more than encouraging!
... but where the population is getting poorer!
Unfortunately, this is not the case for many Czechs, who since the end of the 2000s have had to face increasing poverty and harsher living conditions. This, combined with financial scandals and elite corruption, has led to a loss of interest in elections, which only accentuates the rift between the population and the elite and the wealth gap. Turning now to the scourges that plague the cities and the country, the emergence of homeless people is a relatively recent phenomenon and is becoming increasingly alarming. The corresponding social structures, such as the Salvation Army, can only barely meet the needs of a very impoverished part of the population. The two years of the pandemic did not help the problem, as the state was not able to support the Czechs financially for a long time or in a significant way. Many jobs have been lost and the economy has been slow to recover.
Traditions that are still alive and well, such as the Taneční..
Among the most lively and unifying traditions, especially among young people, is the Taneční. These are dance classes attended by almost all 15-16 year olds. Anyone who doesn't go is considered... weird! You learn everything you need to know not to look ridiculous in society, from dance steps (polka, waltz, cha-cha-cha, rumba, etc.) to good manners. Young people will know that you don't chew gum while dancing, that you ask your mother if you can ask her daughter to dance, that you take her back to her table, etc. Even the dress code is affected, those who wear white sports socks with dark suits are entitled to a cold shower after two classes. So if, towards the end of the afternoon and the beginning of the evening, you see young people dressed in a mixture of suits and a heavy down jacket or worse, do not be surprised. And then, it is true that the boys must be able to run away discreetly. Strangely enough, the more the classes progress and the more the girls have trouble finding their partners. Maybe we should take a look at the neighboring hospodas?
Dressing up
If you are planning to go out in Prague or elsewhere in the country, whether to the theater, to a church concert or even to a restaurant, remember to bring "proper" attire with you. You don't have to take your tailcoat out of mothballs, of course, but a jacket and pants or skirt are often required and will get you better looks than Bermuda shorts and flip-flops. Czechs dress to go out, and you'll really be mistaken for a tourist if you arrive at a concert in jeans. As citizens of a country with a cultural tradition, Czechs have always loved to go out, even during the country's darkest hours. Since the Velvet Revolution, Prague has been in a frenzy of concerts, operas and ballets. People go out early, even very early! An opera show starts at 7pm, jazz clubs open at 9pm, and people often have dinner before that. So be careful and make reservations, specifying the time if you want to have dinner after the show, because some restaurants are sometimes a bit slow to serve after 9pm. Young people however remain faithful to the call of the night bars and discotheques, whose prices remain very affordable compared to France, and where the dress codes are much lighter.
Cultured Czechs
You will quickly realize this when you visit Prague. The density of museums, art galleries, literary cafés, etc., shows that the Czechs have a particular attraction for culture. The reason for this is simple: from a very young age, Czech schoolchildren are open to art, with art classes held at least once or twice a week, depending on the level. From the time they start school at six years old, Czechs form their artistic conscience. At the end of what corresponds to our middle school, at the age of fifteen, students must choose between the classical (high school, called gymnasium in the Czech Republic) or vocational school, which lasts four years. Entrance to university is based on an entrance exam and is completely free of charge, although many private schools are beginning to appear, especially in the capital and the country's secondary cities. Generally speaking, the level of education in the Czech Republic is among the best in the former Eastern Bloc countries: the University of Prague is one of the oldest and most prestigious in the world.
A tolerant society
The Czech Republic expressed its tolerance towards the LGBT community very early on. Is this due to a total absence of religious opposition on the subject in a country that is mostly atheist, or is it due to a greater openness of mind than elsewhere? In any case, very soon after the fall of the Wall, Prague saw a flowering of gay-friendly establishments. In the 2000s, hotels, clubs and meeting places displaying the rainbow flag were concentrated in the Vinohrady district. This is not only a manna to attract the gay tourist population, since 2006 the Czech Republic has voted a law allowing the union, or at least a type of pacs, between people of the same sex. This is a unique case in the countries of the former Eastern bloc. Since the communist period, in the early 1960s, homosexual relations were no longer punishable by fines or prison sentences. This tolerance also extended to sex work, as prostitution was decriminalized particularly early for a European country, which greatly contributed to shaping the country's image. Of course, and as in all countries, this tolerance is more important in the capital, where a now ritual Gay Pride is held every year in the first half of August, than in the countryside, which is more attached to traditions. Nevertheless, if you can attract a slightly astonished or reproving look by displaying your sexual orientation, you will very rarely feel hostility. Generally speaking, behind this façade of tolerance, which is very commendable, there is always an element of individual judgment that is slow to evolve. For example, 36% of the LGBT community, according to a survey conducted in the mid-2000s, said that they had been discriminated against in one way or another. That was ten years ago, and fortunately the situation has continued to evolve in the right direction, keeping the Czech Republic in the top rank of the most open countries to sexual minorities.
And the women?
The wind of freedom that swept through the country after the fall of the Wall blew a little less strongly in the direction of women. Until the early 2000s, Czech society remained very patriarchal, with women more often than not confined to childcare and housework. However, things have changed in the last twenty years. At the time, the average age of marriage was 22, today it is almost 30. These statistics are misleading, since marriage has completely gone out of fashion in the Czech Republic, in favor of common-law unions, but they do reflect a certain trend. Women spend their younger years studying and launching their careers rather than taking care of the household, and there are more and more women entrepreneurs: one of them was mayor of Prague for four years between 2014 and 2018. Most recently, with the development of the crisis, more and more women are working at all to contribute to the financial needs of the couple or family. In short, the picture of the situation of women in the Czech Republic is not idyllic, but it tends to evolve from year to year, in the right direction.
New family relationships
In recent history, the family has been of great importance in the lives of Czechs. The family was indeed one of the few places where it was still possible to express oneself freely before 1989, provided one did not have a brother working in the political police or a sister-in-law in counter-espionage. Family reunions were therefore very frequent and were the first to suffer from the revolution. The opening up of the country to the outside world and its subsequent accession to the European Community led to many people going abroad for work or study. Although the family remains (according to surveys) the number one refuge value, the number of deaths currently outnumbers the number of births. Abortion, which was legal and often encouraged because of the difficult living conditions during the communist period, has been paid for since 1992. Although the government is trying to moderate abortions through a broad campaign for contraception, the number of abortions far exceeds the number of births: 180 abortions for every 100 births. The proportion of women who marry while pregnant is over 40 percent.
