During Franz Kafka’s lifetime (1883–1924), the situation changed with respect to the German language in Prague. In 1880, Prague and its suburbs still had almost 42,000 German-speaking inhabitants, some 15% of the total population. By 1900, the number had fallen to 33,776, or 7.5% of Prague’s population, including the suburbs. Of these 34,000 or so German speakers in Prague, an estimated 40% were Jews.