Economy
Prague's economy accounts for 25% of the Czech GDP, making it the highest performing regional economy of the country. As of 2021, its GDP per capita in purchasing power standard is €58,216, making it the third best performing region in the EU at 203 per cent of the EU-27 average in 2021.
Prague employs almost a fifth of the entire Czech workforce, and its wages are significantly above average (≈+20%). In 4Q/2020, during the pandemic, average salaries available in Prague reached CZK 45.944 (≈€1,800) per month, an annual increase of 4%, which was nevertheless lower than the national increase of 6.5% both in nominal and real terms. (Inflation in the Czech Republic was 3.2% in 4Q/2020.) Since 1990, the city's economic structure has shifted from industrial to service-oriented. Industry is present in sectors such as pharmaceuticals, printing, food processing, the manufacture of transport equipment, computer technology, and electrical engineering. In the service sector, financial and commercial services, trade, restaurants, hospitality, and public administration are the most significant. Services account for around 80 per cent of employment. There are 800,000 employees in Prague, including 120,000 commuters. The number of (legally registered) foreign residents in Prague has been increasing despite the country's economic downturn. As of March 2010, 148,035 foreign workers were reported to be living in the city, making up about 18 per cent of the workforce, up from 131,132 in 2008. Approximately one-fifth of all investment in the Czech Republic takes place in the city.
Almost one-half of the national income from tourism is spent in Prague. The city offers approximately 73,000 beds in accommodation facilities, most of which were built after 1990, including almost 51,000 beds in hotels and boarding houses.
From the late 1990s to the late 2000s, the city was a common filming location for international productions such as Hollywood and Bollywood motion pictures. A combination of architecture, low costs, and the existing motion picture infrastructure has proven attractive to international film production companies.
The modern economy of Prague is largely service and export-based, and, in a 2010 survey, the city was named the best city in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) for business.
In 2005, Prague was deemed among the three best cities in Central and Eastern Europe according to The Economist's livability rankings. The city was named as a top-tier nexus city for innovation across multiple sectors of the global innovation economy, placing 29th globally out of 289 cities, ahead of Brussels and Helsinki for innovation in 2010.
Na příkopě is the most expensive street among all the states of the V4. In 2017, with the amount of rent €2,640 (CZK 67,480) per square metre per year, ranked on 22nd place among the most expensive streets in the world. The second most expensive is Pařížská street.
In the Eurostat research, Prague ranked fifth among Europe's 271 regions in terms of gross domestic product per inhabitant, achieving 172 per cent of the EU average. It ranked just above Paris and well above the country as a whole, which achieved 80 per cent of the EU average.
Companies with highest turnover in the region in 2014:
Prague is also the site of some of the most important offices and institutions of the Czech Republic:
President of the Czech Republic
The Government and both houses of Parliament
Ministries and other national offices (Industrial Property Office, Czech Statistical Office, National Security Authority, etc.)
Czech National Bank
Czech Television and other major broadcasters
Radio Free Europe – Radio Liberty
Galileo global navigation project
Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic
