Říčany boasts best quality of life in Czech Republic, Prague comes second

Prague, Czech Republic – According to a new index, Říčany  is the best place to live and offers the highest quality of life in the Czech Republic, followed by Prague and Hustopeče.

Říčany, a small town of over 16,000 souls in the Central Bohemian region located on the south-eastern outskirts of Prague, has – once again – been ranked as the place offering the best quality of life in the Czech Republic.

The ranking, put together by data analysis company Obce v Datech in cooperation with consulting firm Deloitte in order to help municipalities identify possible deficiencies and people decide where to live, ranks over 200 Czech municipalities according to a number of criteria (health, environment, work, education, services, safety, transport, leisure, housing, etc.).

According to Deloitte manager Filip Neterda, “our major goal is to actually help the cities to get their strategic priorities right, to better target the areas into which public investment is required […] We would be really happy if it could serve as a tool for public investment at the level of a city”.

Like last year, Říčany secures the top spot, coming first in two of the main categories (Health & Environment and Work, Education & Standard of Living), but fourth in the third one (Community & Services).

“I am, of course, very happy”, Říčany mayor Vladimir Kořen commented, “but the index is especially important to me as an indicator of where we have to improve, for example, in categories such as transport, accident rates, or the capacity of kindergartens and elementary schools”.

Frequently lauded for its incredible quality of life, capital city Prague comes second (and first in the category of Community & Services), followed by Hustopeče, a small town in South Moravia, rounding up the top three.

As a whole, the country’s two largest cities, Prague and Brno, along with their respective surrounding municipalities, performed better in the quality of life ranking.

The lowest scores were, on the opposite, more often found in municipalities located in the country’s north-western and north-eastern regions, mainly in the surrounding areas of Ostrava and Usti-nad-Labem.

Here are the top 10 best places to live in the Czech Republic, according to the index:

1. Říčany – Central Bohemia
2. Prague – Prague
3. Hustopeče – South Moravia
4. Černošice – Central Bohemia
5. Brandýs nad Labem-Stará Boleslav – Central Bohemia
6. Brno – South Moravia
7. Židlochovice – South Moravia
8. Beroun – Central Bohemia
9. Šlapanice – South Moravia
10. Litomyšl – Pardubice

Plzen, birth-place of the world-famous lager beer, is ranked 12th, ahead of other major Czech cities like Pardubice (21st), Hradec Kralove (22nd), Ceske Budejovice (23rd), Olomouc (33rd) and Mlada Boleslav (35th).

Tourist hotspot Cesky Krumlov is ranked 59th, while cities like Liberec (91st), Tabor (101st), Karlovy Vary (128th), Kutna Hora (143rd), Ostrava (164th) and Usti nad Labem (179th) lag at the bottom end of the ranking.

According to Deloitte and Obce v Datech, the 10 municipalities with the worst quality of life in the Czech Republic are:

1. Orlová – Moravia-Silesia
2. Karviná – Moravia-Silesia
3. Most – Ústí nad Labem
4. Litvínov – Ústí nad Labem
5. Vítkov – Moravia-Silesia
6. Broumov – Hradec Kralove
7. Krnov – Moravia-Silesia
8. Odry – Moravia-Silesia
9. Podbořany – Ústí nad Labem
10. Rumburk – Ústí nad Labem