Fair enough: Czechs are rich, but they think they are poor
The Czech Republic is currently in a phase of solid economic growth, and wages are also on the rise. Not just nominal, but also real ones. After times of hardship, when high inflation was the number one topic in economic discussions, this is an unusual change. The question is, who will feel it and whether the wealth that Czechs have within reach will decide in the upcoming elections, where allegedly the voter's wallet decides first and foremost.
The outlook on the development of the Czech economy through the lens of the ČNB in the form of GDP growth of 2.6% GDP for 2025 is so optimistic that even the government did not adopt it in its forecast towards the state budget. The Ministry of Finance is satisfied with 2.1% growth of gross domestic product.
Given the discussion, which prompted inaccurate budget formation about its embelishment in the past, one would expect the estimates to be exactly the opposite. Calculation is a complex issue, involving various metrics and procedures, which is certainly the cause of the difference and from certain places economic optimism is flying.
Not long ago, the Czech Republic was among African countries, today it competes with the West
"The revised estimate of the CZSO says that the Czech economy continues to grow very solidly. GDP grew by 0.5 % compared to the previous quarter and year-on-year by 2.6 %, which is, by the way, above-average among European countries without exaggeration. So no scorched earth, the Czech Republic is doing better and better!"
An economic expert and ODS deputy Jan Skopeček praised on network X. However, he preferred to stick to more positive numbers.
However, statistical data can be interpreted in many different ways. For example, from the perspective of the economic maturity rankings, where in Europe the Czech Republic took a nice 9th place (led by Sweden, Germany, and Austria). Or even from the perspective of the recent past, when according to the GDP per capita indicator relative to purchasing power parity, it managed to surpass a number of developed countries.
According to this metric, in the year 2020, Czech Republic was ahead of Italy, in 2019 even ahead of Japan (the country however, due to its aging population, is no longer such an economic tiger as in the past) or in 2018 it overtook Israel. Not to mention Western countries and long-term members of the European Union, such as Greece or Portugal. The Czech Republic not only overtook them but is permanently ahead of them.
We have heard many times about the economic problems these countries are experiencing, so it doesn't surprise us. However, we can recall the comedy by director Zdeněk Troška, in which Czech villagers, shortly after the revolution, set off to Italy, as a country representing the wealthy west, and where they are just amazed by everything.
Even as recently as 2005 we belonged to the developing countries, where we were moved by decades in communist socialism. It was only the following year that we joined the elite club of developed countries. Today, it never even occurs to us that we didn't belong there just twenty years ago.
But how do all these data affect citizens' wallets? Let's look at another statistic. Wage growth has also been increasing quite rapidly in recent years and over the last 5 years it has consistently been around 7 % year-on-year, and this year will be no different. This will raise a few thousand every year, but as written in the analysis of the Czech Statistical Office, it also means: "Some a lot, some nothing."
And here we get to the relativity of wealth. Absolute wealth means that we can afford a relatively large amount of goods for money. Looking at the popularity of all-inclusive trips, which many fellow citizens afford several times a year, and the pension age is not an obstacle for them, it looks like a real paradise full of money.
But there is also relative wealth, where a person can also relate his money to someone else's property. If we choose the richer ones, we will always be relatively poor and since we live in a free society, there will always be someone richer, with the exception of Elon Musk, the richest man in the world.
Everyone can have their own opinion on this, whatever they want, and they can also express it in the elections, where according to sociological data from the STEM agency, the view into the wallet decides this year. But what we see in it depends much more on what we compare this image with, rather than on a jumble of statistical data on how it has really been filled lately.
Sources: original text, commentary, ČT, ČTK, HN.cz, SeznamZprávy.cz, Novinky.cz, X.com,
