South Moravian Region

South Moravian Region

Jihomoravský kraj
South Moravian Region Jihomoravský kraj
Region
	Flag Coat of arms
Country	Czech Republic
Capital	Brno
Districts	Blansko District, Břeclav District, Brno-City District, Brno-Country District, Hodonín District, Vyškov District, Znojmo District
Government
• Governor	Michal Hašek
Area
• Total	7,194.56 km2 (2,777.84 sq mi)
Highest elevation	819 m (2,687 ft)
Population (03/2011)
• Total	1,196,113
• Density	170/km2 (430/sq mi)
ISO 3166 code	CZ-JM
Vehicle registration	B
Website	http://www.kr-jihomoravsky.cz/

The South Moravian Region (Template:Lang-cs; Template:Lang-sk) is an administrative unit (kraj) of the Czech Republic, located in the south-western part of its historical region of Moravia (an exception is Jobova Lhota which belongs to Bohemia). Its capital is Brno, the 2nd largest city in the Czech Republic. The region has 1,169,000 inhabitants (as of 30 June 2013)^[1] and the total area of 7,196.5 km². It is bordered by the South Bohemian Region (west), Vysočina Region (north-west), Pardubice Region (north), Olomouc Region (north east), Zlín Region (east), Slovakia (south east) and Austria (south).

The South Moravian Region is divided into seven districts (Czech: okres): Blansko District, Brno-City District, Brno-Country District, Břeclav District, Hodonín District, Vyškov District and Znojmo District. There are in total 673 municipalities in the district of which 49 have the status of towns. There are 21 municipalities with extended powers and 34 municipalities with a delegated municipal office.^[2]

The region is famous for its wine production. The area around the towns of Mikulov, Znojmo, Velké Pavlovice along with the Slovácko region provide 94% of the Czech Republic's vineyards.

Population

The total population of the region as of 30 June 2012 was 1,168,975 inhabitants. The number of inhabitants has been growing since 2002. The net migration has been positive in all years since 2003, reaching its peek in 2007 when it reached 7,374 people. Since 2007 the region also experiences the natural population growth. In 2012 there were 37 thousand foreigners living in the region, forming 3.2% of the total population of the region.

The average age of the citizens in region was 41.5 years in 2012. The age average has grown by 5 years over the last two decades.The life expectancy at birth in 2012 was 75.2 years for men and 81.7 years for women. The life expectancy has been growing over past years. Divorce-marriage ratio in the region was 60.3 in 2012.^[3]

One third of region's population lives in the capital Brno. The share of inhabitants living in towns and cities on the total population of the region has been steadily decreasing due to suburbanization. The table below displays 12 municipalities with the highest number of inhabitants in the region.

Name	Population^[4]	Area (km²)	District
Brno	385,913	230	Brno-City District
Znojmo	34,097	66	Znojmo District
Hodonín	25,479	63	Hodonín District
Břeclav	25,098	77	Břeclav District
Vyškov	21,687	50	Vyškov District
Blansko	20,852	45	Blansko District
Kyjov	11,599	30	Hodonín District
Veselí nad Moravou	11,598	35	Hodonín District
Boskovice	11,454	28	Blansko District
Kuřim	10,804	17	Brno-Country District
Ivančice	9,571	48	Brno-Country District
Tišnov	8,663	17	Brno-Country District

Geography

With the area of 7,196.5 km² the South Moravian Region is the fourth largest region of the Czech Republic. The highest point of the region is located in the eastern part of the region on Durda mountain (842 m). The point with the lowest elevation (150 m) is situated in Břeclav District at the meeting of the rivers Morava and Dyje.

The northern and north-western part of the region is covered by the Bohemian-Moravian Highlands (Czech: Českomoravská vrchovina) and the Moravian Karst. There is an extensive cave complex in the Moravian Karst with 138.5 m deep Macocha Gorge in the Punkva Caves. In the eastern part the region reaches to Carpathian Mountains. The Bohemian-Moravian Highlands and the Carpathian Mountains are separated by the Lower-Moravian Valley (Czech: Dolnomoravský úval). The southern part of the region is predominately flat and dominated by fields, meadows and the remainders of riparian forests.

The largest river of the region is the Morava river. Other significant rivers are Dyje, Svratka (and its tributary Svitava), which are all tributaries of Morava river. The whole region belongs to the drainage basin of Danube and subsequently of the Black Sea.

There is a number of landscape parks (Czech: chráněná krajinná oblast) located across the region: White Carpathians Landscape Park, Moravian Karst Landscape Park and Pálava Landscape Park. Moreover, Podyjí National Park is situated in the south-eastern part of the region.

Living conditions

In 2011, two thirds of the households in the region were equipped by a computer. 65% of the households had an internet connection. There were in total 781 thousand motor vehicles, whereof 482 thousand were cars and 110 thousand were motorbikes.

The unemployment rate in the region was 8% as of August 2013.

Economy

The nominal gross domestic product of the South Moravian Region was 397.2 billion CZK in 2011, which is 10.3% of the national GDP. Among other regions, South Moravian Region had the third largest share on the national GDP. The GDP per capita was 341,000 CZK in the same period, which is 93.6% of the national average.

Industry

Mechanical engineering has an essential role in the economy of the region. Important centers of mechanical engineering are Brno (PBS, Siemens, Zetor Brno), Blansko (ČKD Blansko, Metra Blansko), Kuřim (TOS Kuřim), Boskovice (Minerva, Novibra) and Břeclav (OTIS). Electrical engineering has a tradition for more than a century. Significant producers are Siemens Drásov, VUES Brno and ZPA Brno. Food industry forms another important sector, especially in the southern and eastern part of the region. Important activities are the meat processing, canning of fruits and vegetables (Znojmia, Fruta), sugar industry, brewing (Starobrno, Černá Hora, Vyškov and Hostan) and winemaking (Znovín Znojmo, Vinium Velké Pavlovice). Chemical and pharmaceutical industry is concentrated especially in Brno (Pliva-Lachema), Ivanovice na Hané (Bioveta) and Veverská Bítýška (Hartmann Rico).

Transport

The South-Moravian Region has an important role in the nation and international transit. It is served by a network of motorways and roads of almost 4,500 km. The motorways D1 and D2 and the expressways R43 and R52 form the skeleton of the road network in the region. Brno is an important crossing of road and railway transport and a hub of the integrated regional public transport system.

Brno has an international airport Brno–Tuřany. The airport was opened in 1954 and in 2012 it served 535 thousand passengers.

Agriculture

The agricultural land covers 426 thousand ha, which is 59.3% of all land in the region. The arable land occupies 49% of the total area. Znojmo District and Vyškov District have the highest proportion of arable land in the region. The agricultural production is oriented on the production of cereals, rapeseed and sugar beet. Other important agricultural sectors in the region are viticulture, fruit farming and vegetable growing. The viticulture is especially developed in Břeclav District, which has 46% of the total area of Czech vineyards.