[5][b] The largest group of Vietnamese people (about 16,000, including those with temporary residence) lives in Prague.
About 2,500–3,000 people are registered in each of the other largest cities in the Czech Republic – Brno, Ostrava and Plzeň.
[1] Vietnamese immigrants began settling in the Czech Republic during the communist period, when Vietnam, which sought to bolster its skilled workforce, sent students and guest workers to socialist Czechoslovakia for education and training.
Following the collapse of communism in Czechoslovakia, a significant number have moved towards establishing their own businesses and integrating more broadly into society, similar to the experience of other overseas Vietnamese in Western countries.
However, the small business sector remains the key economic domain of first-generation Vietnamese people in the Czech Republic.