One in Four Newborns in Prague Lack Czech Citizenship, Study Shows
In 2025, 9.3% of babies born in Czechia were foreign citizens, rising to about 25% of births in Prague, according to the Czech Statistical Office.
New data from the Czech Statistical Office reveal that 7,249 babies born in 2025 held foreign citizenship, representing 9.3% of all births in Czechia, a sharp rise from 3.3% in 2016. The country recorded about 77,600 births last year, the lowest total since records began in 1785, indicating a declining native birth rate. In Prague, foreign-citizen newborns accounted for 23% of deliveries, up from 11% a decade earlier, while the Moravian-Silesian region saw only 3.2%.
Ukrainian children made up roughly 58% of foreign-born infants, a surge linked to the displacement crisis, with smaller numbers of Slovak and Vietnamese newborns. The foreign population overall grew from 496,400 in 2016 to 1.13 million in 2025, now about 10% of the country. Under Interior Ministry rules, a child gains Czech citizenship if at least one parent is Czech, meaning many families remain legally mixed. Experts note that the shift will affect schools and public services as more children grow up in multilingual, cross-border households.
Why it matters
The rise in foreign-citizen newborns signals demographic change and future demands on Czech education and social services.
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