How Developed is the Czech Republic? (country, people, living, German)

[asubram3]

I was doing an online quiz that ranked countries based on their Human Development Index, and noticed that the Czech Republic is now ranked higher than countries such as UK, Greece, and every other former Iron Curtain country. This led me to wondering how much progress they had made since 1989. I have also read that they used to be a well-developed country before WWII, and that Germany invaded them for their advanced industries as much as anything else.

Is the Czech Republic now on par with Western Europe? Or maybe in 10 years? Are there factors that help them progress faster than other former Iron Curtain countries?

[AntonioR]

Regardless how developed, their capital is one of the most beautiful in the whole world!

Google Maps

[BIMBAM]

Originally Posted by asubram3

I was doing an online quiz that ranked countries based on their Human Development Index, and noticed that the Czech Republic is now ranked higher than countries such as UK, Greece, and every other former Iron Curtain country. This led me to wondering how much progress they had made since 1989. I have also read that they used to be a well-developed country before WWII, and that Germany invaded them for their advanced industries as much as anything else.

Is the Czech Republic now on par with Western Europe? Or maybe in 10 years? Are there factors that help them progress faster than other former Iron Curtain countries?

I went there and was surprised how developed it was. There seemed to be a big urban/rural divide in standard's of living however. It seemed to me to be a country that had similar levels of development to the province of Quebec, but of course much more history and heritage. Rural people seemed to live pretty rough though, like some of the rural peoples I've seen in the US, like in parts of the South, but worse off than rural people typically are in Western Europe.

[LindavG]

Originally Posted by Antonio84

Regardless how developed, their capital is one of the most beautiful in the whole world!

Google Maps

Absolutely, Prague is probably the most beautiful capital city in Europe Much better than Paris, Rome, London or Berlin.

To answer the OP's question: the Czech Republic is quite developed, as are most Central European countries, on par with countries like Portugal, New Zealand and Italy. It's not as wealthy as most West-European countries but it's catching up.

Some statistics:
- Population: 10.5 million
- Size: 78,866 km2 / 30,450 sqm (equivalent to South Carolina)
- GDP per capita (PPP): $27,062 (source) which is #34 in the world
- HDI: 0.865, which is #27 in the world (source)

[jtur88]

Human Development Index is a measurement made by people living in Christian Industrial Democracies to rank countries according to how much they are "just like us" and how much they develop all of the attributes that we value.