ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the progress of national economic transition before turning in more detail to the regional territorial structures and emerging regional disparities within the Czech Republic. The overall balance of the Czech population has been decreasing slightly during the 1990s, with the natural decrease insufficiently outweighed by in-migration. Migration flows have compensated in large part for the natural decrease, both nationally and in many regions. The level of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the Czech Republic fell to its lowest point in 1992 before regaining an upwards trend. The pattern of regional disparities in terms of average wages is similar to that for GDP figures, with the highest levels in Prague and the lowest in the East-Bohemian region. The wages in South-Bohemia and South-Moravia are also very low for similar reasons of high primary sector employment and low levels of urbanisation.
