International migration is an up-to-date topic for the CR. Even thought the number of immigrants is growing rapidly, there is still an obvious deficit of sociological studies dedicated to this problematic. Authors of the seminar focused their attention on examining three major sources of data about immigrants in the CR: the official statistic, the demographic estimations and the sociological researches.
The first part of the seminar presented the current situation with official statistic and the problematic of foreigners’ registration in the CR. The authors tried to bring the light on where to find, how to use and how to interpret available official statistics. Besides, they discussed the inaccessibility and incompleteness of some important official data.
The second part was dedicated to methodology of demographic estimations. The authors explained the difference between demographic prognoses and projections and presented the result of three major population prognoses for the CR made by the Czech Statistical Office, the UN Population Division and the Institute for Demography and Geodemography at Charles University in Prague. Analyzing different scenarios for replacement migration authors also gave and answer to one of the most medialized popular question: If migrants could stop the aging of Czech population?
Speaking of sociological researches dedicated to immigrants, authors listed the most important centers, which develop immigration research in the CR, and analyzed topics and subjects of their empirical interest. The special attention was paid to the methodological problems and restrictions of qualitative and quantitative research of immigrants. After the presentation of their project dedicated to the foreigners from the “Thirds countries” and their aspirations to settle down in the CR, the authors opened the discussion about the potentials of sociological research of immigrants.
