Zlín Region


Zlín Region is an administrative unit of the Czech Republic, located in the south-eastern part of the historical region of Moravia. It is named after its capital Zlín. Together with the Olomouc Region it forms a cohesion area of Central Moravia. It is located in the eastern part of the Czech Republic, where the borders with Slovakia are formed by its eastern edge. It borders the South Moravian Region in the southwest, the Olomouc Region in the northwest and the Moravian-Silesian Region in the north. Culturally, the region is composed of parts of three traditional Moravian regions: Hanakia, the Moravian Slovakia and the Moravian Wallachia, as the city of Zlín lies roughly at their tripoint.

Administrative divisions

The Zlín Region is divided into 4 districts:
The Zlín Region was established on 1 January 2000 on the basis of the constitutional act No. 347 from 3 December 1997 on foundation of higher self-governing units. It was formed by a merger of parts of Jihomoravský Region, and the Severomoravský Region (the Vsetín District. The region has in total 307 municipalities of which 30 are towns. There are 13 municipalities with extended powers and 25 territorial districts of municipalities with authorized municipal office.
According to government statistics, the Zlín Region is the safest region in the Czech Republic; it has the lowest number of assaults, rapes, suicides and road accidents in the country. Geologically the Zlín Region is within the Vizovice Highlands.

Geography

With its area of 3,964 km2, Zlín Region is the fourth smallest region of the Czech Republic. The character of the region's territory is very diverse. While parts of the region are hilly, flat fertile areas of Haná and Slovácko stretch in the Kroměříž District and the Uherské Hradiště District. The Moravian-Silesian Beskids with its highest peak Čertův mlýn mountain is situated in the northern part of the region and the Maple Mountains mountain range with its highest peak of Velký Javorník is located in the east. Towards the south, forming the border with Slovakia, there is the White Carpathians mountain range with its highest mountain of Velká Javořina. The highlands of Hostýn-Vsetín Highlands and Vizovice Highlands pass south of the Moravian-Silesian Beskids mountain range. On the south-western part of the Region, there are Chřiby highlands with the highest point Brdo. The Upper Moravian vale passes through from the west among the highlands of Chřiby highlands and above mentioned hilly countries through the Kroměříž District up to the Zlín District. The Lower Moravia vale passes through along the Morava River in the Uherské Hradiště District to South Moravian Region.
Most of the streams in the area flow to Morava River. The most important ones are the Bečva River in the northern part and the Olšava River in the southern part. Morava River is the biggest river of the Region flowing through both the vales from west to the south.
The region's climate is rather favourable. The average temperature of air was 9.8 °C in 2012 and the total amount of precipitation was 598.6 mm/m2.
Most of the soils in the region are poor in minerals and humus. These are the brown earth of the highlands and the podzolic soils that locally pass to brown earth of the lower locations towards the south. In the vales, there are very fertile brown earth and chernozem. High-quality floodplain soils surround the Morava River. It is rather difficult to cultivate soil in a large part of the Region due to the steep land and variety of the terrain.

History

Regional representatives voted in 2001 on a proposed name change to the region. The alternative Východomoravský kraj was proposed, however a majority of voters elected to retain the region's existing name.

Population

As of 1 January 2019, the region had 582,921 inhabitants. The share of males on the total population was 49.0%. Average age was 43.1 years, along with Hradec Králové Region the highest in the Czech Republic. The density of population of 147 inhabitants per km2 exceeds the national average. The highest density of population occurs in the Zlín District and the lowest in the Vsetín District.
The table shows cities and towns in the region with the largest population :
NamePopulationArea District
Zlín74,997103Zlín District
Kroměříž28,81651Kroměříž District
Vsetín26,09258Vsetín District
Uherské Hradiště25,21221Uherské Hradiště District
Valašské Meziříčí22,21735Vsetín District
Otrokovice17,87620Zlín District
Uherský Brod16,49352Uherské Hradiště District
Rožnov pod Radhoštěm16,42039Vsetín District
Holešov11,60634Kroměříž District
Bystřice pod Hostýnem8,16927Kroměříž District

Other significant towns in Zlín Region are Napajedla, Hulín, Staré Město and Slavičín.

Economy

The economy in the region was and still is based primarily on capitalisation of input raw materials and semifinished products. In 2012, the total GDP reached 7,538 million EUR. The region’s GDP per capita was EUR 12,813, ranking seventh among the regions of the Czech Republic. Industrial potential of the region lies in manufacturing enterprises that represent 16% of total registered entities. They are mainly comprised by metalworking and wood-processing industries. However, they suffer from low level of modernisation of production compared to the rest of the Czech Republic.
As of end 2012, the Zlín Region had 138,269 legal and physical entities out of which 14,379 had employees. 1,382 enterprises had 25 or more employees. The registered unemployment rate was 10.4%. Within the region, the highest unemployment rate was reported from the Vsetín District, while the lowest from the Zlín District.

Transport

A total of of motorway is present in the region. The length of operated railway lines in the region is.

Education and healthcare

There are two universities in the region: Tomas Bata University in Zlín and European polytechnical institute in Kunovice. The former has a public status, 6 faculties and can confer a bachelor's and master's degrees. The latter one is a private college. The network of pre-school and school establishments consists of 310 nursery schools, 257 basic schools, 17 grammar schools, 71 secondary schools, 11 higher professional schools. On average, a general practitioner takes care of 258 inhabitants in average. Acute, successive and rehabilitation health care is ensured by a network of 10 hospitals with 2,849 available beds.

Tourism

The Zlín Region is attractive for tourists and boasts a number of natural, cultural and historic landmarks such mountains, garden architecture, spas, wine valleys, remains of the Great Moravian empire, series of religious monuments and historically valuable buildings as well as a unique example of modern Baťa’s functional architecture.

Agriculture

48.9% of soil in the region is agricultural soil and 51.1% is non-agricultural. Most agricultural soil belongs to the Uherské Hradiště District. There is a completely different division of soil in the Vsetín District where the percentage of non-agricultural soil is much higher and 83.8% of it is covered with forests, mostly spruce forests.

Places of interest