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Austria Index

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Figure 6. Population by Age and Gender, 1990

Source: Based on information from Austria, Österreichisches Statistisches Zentralamt, Statistisches Handbuch für die Republik Österreich, 1991, Vienna, 1991, 24.

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Figure 7. Population by Age and Gender, Projected 2020

Source: Based on information from Austria, Österreichisches Statistisches Zentralamt, Statistisches Handbuch für die Republik Österreich, 1991, Vienna, 1991, 24.

Between 1900 and 1991, the country's population grew from 6,004,000 to 7,795,800 (see table 2, Appendix). War deaths and birth deficits during each of the world wars and the consequences of the Great Depression profoundly influenced the development of Austria's population. Approximately 190,000 men were killed in action in World War I. Increased mortality among the civilian population as a result of the hardships of war and the immediate postwar period and extremely low birth rates resulted in a population decrease of 100,000 between the censuses of 1910 and 1923. Postwar immigration of German-speaking and Jewish populations from the successor states of Austria-Hungary to the Republic of Austria and emigration from Austria after the war basically offset each other. Economic and political crises in the 1930s caused 72,000 Austrians to emigrate to non-European countries. The largest contingent of emigrants, 37,000, were from the province of Burgenland and went primarily to the United States, mainly for economic reasons.

After Austria was annexed by Nazi Germany in March 1938, an estimated 130,000 Austrians, the great majority of whom had Jewish origins, emigrated from Austria. More than 65,000 Austrian Jews died in the concentration camps and prisons of the Third Reich; 35,000 non-Jewish Austrians shared a similar fate or were executed after trials. An estimated 250,000 Austrians were killed in action during World War II; 25,000 civilians were killed as a result of bombing or military action in Austria. Some of these losses were offset by Nazi population policies that promoted motherhood and large families for racial reasons.

After the war, Austria became a destination for ethnic Germans, who fled from or were driven out of their homes in Czechoslovakia, Romania, and Yugoslavia. Other refugees and "displaced persons," who were either uprooted by hostilities or victims of the expulsions sanctioned by the Allies and carried out by East European governments immediately after the war, also came to Austria. Between 1945 and 1950, about 400,000 immigrants- -ethnic Germans from Eastern Europe and other non-German speaking refugees--settled in Austria and eventually became Austrian citizens.

The increase of birth rates in Austria during the 1950s corresponded with the trends in most other West European countries. Between 1950 and 1992, the infant mortality rate in Austria dropped from over 61.3 per 1,000 live births to 7.5 per 1,000, an indication of improvements Austrian health authorities had made in prenatal and postnatal care. During the 1960s, Austria experienced an unprecedented population growth related to an increase of births over deaths and a large influx of foreign workers. After the mid-1960s, however, there was a substantial and continuous drop in the fertility and birth rates in Austria, generally referred to as the "pill drop-off." In 1974 this trend was further influenced by the legalization of abortion during the first trimester of pregnancy. Since the mid-1970s, Austria--after Italy and the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany)--has had the third lowest fertility rate in the world: 1.44 children per woman in 1990, a rate substantially lower than the replacement rate of 2.09.

In the early 1980s, some demographers predicted that the population of Austria would decline from 7.5 million to its 1965 level of 7.25 million by 2010. This scenario was substantially revised when in the mid-1980s Austria's population experienced a spurt of dramatic growth. Projections in 1990 anticipated a net growth of Austria's population by 500,000 to 8 million by 2010. An increase in immigration and the higher fertility rate of foreign workers accounted for the greatest part of Austria's net population growth in the early 1990s.

Within Austria there are substantial variations in regional patterns of population growth among the indigenous population, in contrast to the immigrant or foreign population. After World War II, Austria's eastern provinces--Lower Austria, Vienna, and Burgenland--had lower rates of fertility than the other provinces in the country. Throughout the 1960s and the 1970s, there was a clear "east-west watershed" in population growth. The west had higher rates of fertility, while the east's lower rates of fertility led to a stagnating or declining population (see table 3, Appendix). The economic and social reasons for these patterns of development were complex and included the Soviet occupation of eastern Austria from 1945 to 1955 and the depopulation of regions along the Iron Curtain, the traditionally weak economic infrastructure of predominantly rural areas in eastern and southeastern Austria, and the conservatism and deeply rooted Roman Catholicism of western Austria.

In 1970 the average life expectancy was seventy years (sixty for males and seventy-three for females). By 1990 the average life expectancy was almost seventy-six years (seventy-two for males and seventy-nine for females). The increasing life expectancy and the fall in the number of births have meant that Austria's population is aging (see fig. 6; fig. 7). One of the major concerns under these circumstances is the burden placed on the Austrian social security system: to what extent will a constant, or shrinking, labor force be able to maintain an increasing number of pensioners?

The overall decline of fertility among Austria's indigenous population is similar to developments in other advanced industrial nations in Europe. The decline is caused by a complex set of factors, including the increased use of contraception and abortion, and the increased employment of women outside the home, and changing values and attitudes toward marriage, family, and childbearing.

Data as of December 1993



BackgroundOnce the center of power for the large Austro-Hungarian Empire, Austria was reduced to a small republic after its defeat in World War I. Following annexation by Nazi Germany in 1938 and subsequent occupation by the victorious Allies in 1945, Austria's status remained unclear for a decade. A State Treaty signed in 1955 ended the occupation, recognized Austria's independence, and forbade unification with Germany. A constitutional law that same year declared the country's "perpetual neutrality" as a condition for Soviet military withdrawal. The Soviet Union's collapse in 1991 and Austria's entry into the European Union in 1995 have altered the meaning of this neutrality. A prosperous, democratic country, Austria entered the EU Economic and Monetary Union in 1999. In January 2009, Austria assumed a nonpermanent seat on the UN Security Council for the 2009-10 term.
LocationCentral Europe, north of Italy and Slovenia
Area(sq km)total: 83,871 sq km
land: 82,445 sq km
water: 1,426 sq km
Geographic coordinates47 20 N, 13 20 E
Land boundaries(km)total: 2,562 km
border countries: Czech Republic 362 km, Germany 784 km, Hungary 366 km, Italy 430 km, Liechtenstein 35 km, Slovakia 91 km, Slovenia 330 km, Switzerland 164 km

Coastline(km)0 km (landlocked)

Climatetemperate; continental, cloudy; cold winters with frequent rain and some snow in lowlands and snow in mountains; moderate summers with occasional showers

Elevation extremes(m)lowest point: Neusiedler See 115 m
highest point: Grossglockner 3,798 m
Natural resourcesoil, coal, lignite, timber, iron ore, copper, zinc, antimony, magnesite, tungsten, graphite, salt, hydropower
Land use(%)arable land: 16.59%
permanent crops: 0.85%
other: 82.56% (2005)

Irrigated land(sq km)40 sq km (2003)
Total renewable water resources(cu km)84 cu km (2005)
Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural)total: 3.67 cu km/yr (35%/64%/1%)
per capita: 448 cu m/yr (1999)
Natural hazardslandslides; avalanches; earthquakes
Environment - current issuessome forest degradation caused by air and soil pollution; soil pollution results from the use of agricultural chemicals; air pollution results from emissions by coal- and oil-fired power stations and industrial plants and from trucks transiting Austria between northern and southern Europe
Environment - international agreementsparty to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air Pollution-Sulfur 85, Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
Geography - notelandlocked; strategic location at the crossroads of central Europe with many easily traversable Alpine passes and valleys; major river is the Danube; population is concentrated on eastern lowlands because of steep slopes, poor soils, and low temperatures elsewhere
Population8,210,281 (July 2009 est.)
Age structure(%)0-14 years: 14.5% (male 609,748/female 581,144)
15-64 years: 67.5% (male 2,785,091/female 2,756,402)
65 years and over: 18% (male 612,613/female 865,283) (2009 est.)
Median age(years)total: 42.2 years
male: 41.1 years
female: 43.2 years (2009 est.)
Population growth rate(%)0.052% (2009 est.)
Birth rate(births/1,000 population)8.65 births/1,000 population (2009 est.)
Death rate(deaths/1,000 population)9.98 deaths/1,000 population (July 2009 est.)

Net migration rate(migrant(s)/1,000 population)1.85 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2009 est.)
Urbanization(%)urban population: 67% of total population (2008)
rate of urbanization: 0.7% annual rate of change (2005-10 est.)
Sex ratio(male(s)/female)at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.01 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.71 male(s)/female
total population: 0.95 male(s)/female (2009 est.)
Infant mortality rate(deaths/1,000 live births)total: 4.42 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 5.39 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 3.41 deaths/1,000 live births (2009 est.)

Life expectancy at birth(years)total population: 79.5 years
male: 76.6 years
female: 82.56 years (2009 est.)

Total fertility rate(children born/woman)1.39 children born/woman (2009 est.)
Nationalitynoun: Austrian(s)
adjective: Austrian
Ethnic groups(%)Austrians 91.1%, former Yugoslavs 4% (includes Croatians, Slovenes, Serbs, and Bosniaks), Turks 1.6%, German 0.9%, other or unspecified 2.4% (2001 census)

Religions(%)Roman Catholic 73.6%, Protestant 4.7%, Muslim 4.2%, other 3.5%, unspecified 2%, none 12% (2001 census)
Languages(%)German (official nationwide) 88.6%, Turkish 2.3%, Serbian 2.2%, Croatian (official in Burgenland) 1.6%, other (includes Slovene, official in Carinthia, and Hungarian, official in Burgenland) 5.3% (2001 census)

Country nameconventional long form: Republic of Austria
conventional short form: Austria
local long form: Republik Oesterreich
local short form: Oesterreich
Government typefederal republic
Capitalname: Vienna
geographic coordinates: 48 12 N, 16 22 E
time difference: UTC+1 (6 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)
daylight saving time: +1hr, begins last Sunday in March; ends last Sunday in October
Administrative divisions9 states (Bundeslaender, singular - Bundesland); Burgenland, Kaernten (Carinthia), Niederoesterreich (Lower Austria), Oberoesterreich (Upper Austria), Salzburg, Steiermark (Styria), Tirol (Tyrol), Vorarlberg, Wien (Vienna)
Constitution1920; revised 1929; reinstated 1 May 1945; note - during the period 1 May 1934-1 May 1945 there was a fascist (corporative) constitution in place

Legal systemcivil law system with Roman law origin; judicial review of legislative acts by the Constitutional Court; separate administrative and civil/penal supreme courts; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

Suffrage16 years of age; universal; note - reduced from 18 years of age in 2007
Executive branchchief of state: President Heinz FISCHER (SPOe) (since 8 July 2004)
head of government: Chancellor Werner FAYMANN (SPOe) (since 2 December 2008); Vice Chancellor Josef PROELL (OeVP) (since 2 December 2008)
cabinet: Council of Ministers chosen by the president on the advice of the chancellor
elections: president elected by direct popular vote for a six-year term (eligible for a second term); presidential election last held 25 April 2004 (next to be held in April 2010); chancellor formally chosen by the president but determined by the coalition parties forming a parliamentary majority; vice chancellor chosen by the president on the advice of the chancellor
election results: Heinz FISCHER elected president; percent of vote - Heinz FISCHER 52.4%, Benita FERRERO-WALDNER 47.6%
note: government coalition - SPOe and OeVP
Legislative branchbicameral Federal Assembly or Bundesversammlung consists of Federal Council or Bundesrat (62 seats; members chosen by state parliaments with each state receiving 3 to 12 members in proportion to its population; members serve five- or six-year terms) and the National Council or Nationalrat (183 seats; members elected by direct popular vote to serve five-year terms)
elections: National Council - last held 28 September 2008 (next to be held by September 2013)
election results: National Council - percent of vote by party - SPOe 29.3%, OeVP 26%, FPOe 17.5%, BZOe 10.7%, Greens 10.4%, other 6.1%; seats by party - SPOe 57, OeVP 51, FPOe 34, BZOe 21, Greens 20

Judicial branchSupreme Judicial Court or Oberster Gerichtshof; Administrative Court or Verwaltungsgerichtshof; Constitutional Court or Verfassungsgerichtshof

Political pressure groups and leadersAustrian Trade Union Federation or OeGB (nominally independent but primarily Social Democratic); Federal Economic Chamber; OeVP-oriented Association of Austrian Industrialists or IV; Roman Catholic Church, including its chief lay organization, Catholic Action
other: three composite leagues of the Austrian People's Party or OeVP representing business, labor, farmers, and other nongovernment organizations in the areas of environment and human rights
International organization participationACCT (observer), ADB (nonregional member), AfDB (nonregional member), Australia Group, BIS, BSEC (observer), CE, CEI, CERN, EAPC, EBRD, EIB, EMU, ESA, EU, FAO, G-9, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IEA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, ITUC, MIGA, MINURCAT, MINURSO, NEA, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, OIF (observer), OPCW, OSCE, Paris Club, PCA, PFP, Schengen Convention, SECI (observer), UN, UN Security Council (temporary), UNCTAD, UNDOF, UNESCO, UNFICYP, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNTSO, UNWTO, UPU, WCL, WCO, WEU (observer), WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO, ZC
Flag descriptionthree equal horizontal bands of red (top), white, and red; the flag design is certainly one of the oldest - if not the oldest - national banners in the world; according to tradition, following a fierce battle in the Third Crusade, Duke Leopold V of Austria's white tunic became completely blood-spattered; upon removal of his wide belt or sash, a white band was revealed; the red-white-red color combination was subsequently adopted as his banner

Economy - overviewAustria, with its well-developed market economy and high standard of living, is closely tied to other EU economies, especially Germany's. Its economy features a large service sector, a sound industrial sector, and a small, but highly developed agricultural sector. Following several years of solid foreign demand for Austrian exports and record employment growth, the global economic downturn in 2008 led to a recession that is likely to persist through 2009. The government's stabilization measures could increase the budget deficit to about 2.8% of GDP in 2009 and above 3% in 2010, from about 0.6% in 2008. The Austrian economy has benefited greatly in the past from strong commercial relations, especially in the banking and insurance sectors, with central, eastern, and southeastern Europe, but these sectors have been vulnerable to recent international financial instabilities, and some of Austria's largest banks have required government support. Even after the global economic outlook improves, Austria will need to continue restructuring, emphasizing knowledge-based sectors of the economy, and encouraging greater labor flexibility and greater labor participation to offset its aging population and exceedingly low fertility rate.
GDP (purchasing power parity)$331.2 billion (2008 est.)
$324.7 billion (2007 est.)
$313.7 billion (2006 est.)
note: data are in 2008 US dollars
GDP (official exchange rate)$414.8 billion (2008 est.)
GDP - real growth rate(%)2% (2008 est.)
3.5% (2007 est.)
3.5% (2006 est.)
GDP - per capita (PPP)$40,400 (2008 est.)
$39,600 (2007 est.)
$38,300 (2006 est.)
note: data are in 2008 US dollars
GDP - composition by sector(%)agriculture: 1.9%
industry: 30.7%
services: 67.4% (2008 est.)
Labor force3.633 million (2008 est.)

Labor force - by occupation(%)agriculture: 5.5%
industry: 27.5%
services: 67% (2005 est.)
Unemployment rate(%)3.9% (2008 est.)
4.4% (2007 est.)
Population below poverty line(%)5.9% (2004)
Household income or consumption by percentage share(%)lowest 10%: 3.3%
highest 10%: 22.5% (2004)
Distribution of family income - Gini index26 (2007)
31 (1995)
Investment (gross fixed)(% of GDP)22.4% of GDP (2008 est.)
Budgetrevenues: $196.4 billion
expenditures: $200.7 billion (2008 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices)(%)3.2% (2008 est.)
2.2% (2007 est.)

Stock of domestic credit$606.2 billion (31 December 2008)
$504.8 billion (31 December 2007)
Market value of publicly traded shares$NA (31 December 2008)
$228.7 billion (31 December 2007)
$191.3 billion (31 December 2006)
Public debt(% of GDP)62.6% of GDP (2008 est.)
64.2% of GDP (2004 est.)
Agriculture - productsgrains, potatoes, sugar beets, wine, fruit; dairy products, cattle, pigs, poultry; lumber
Industriesconstruction, machinery, vehicles and parts, food, metals, chemicals, lumber and wood processing, paper and paperboard, communications equipment, tourism

Industrial production growth rate(%)2.4% (2008 est.)

Current account balance$14.27 billion (2008 est.)
$12.03 billion (2007 est.)
Exports$179.1 billion (2008 est.)
$162.1 billion (2007 est.)

Exports - commodities(%)machinery and equipment, motor vehicles and parts, paper and paperboard, metal goods, chemicals, iron and steel, textiles, foodstuffs
Exports - partners(%)Germany 29.5%, Italy 8.6%, US 4.3%, Switzerland 4.2% (2008)
Imports$179.2 billion (2008 est.)
$160.3 billion (2007 est.)

Imports - commodities(%)machinery and equipment, motor vehicles, chemicals, metal goods, oil and oil products; foodstuffs
Imports - partners(%)Germany 44.5%, Italy 7.1%, Switzerland 5.2%, Netherlands 4.1% (2008)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold$16.7 billion (31 December 2008 est.)
$18.22 billion (31 December 2007 est.)
Debt - external$832.8 billion (31 December 2008)
$801.4 billion (31 December 2007)

Stock of direct foreign investment - at home$261.9 billion (31 December 2008 est.)
$247.9 billion (31 December 2007 est.)
Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad$270 billion (31 December 2008 est.)
$240.9 billion (31 December 2007 est.)
Exchange rateseuros (EUR) per US dollar - 0.6827 (2008 est.), 0.7345 (2007), 0.7964 (2006), 0.8041 (2005), 0.8054 (2004)

Currency (code)euro (EUR)

Telephones - main lines in use3.285 million (2008)
Telephones - mobile cellular10.816 million (2008)
Telephone systemgeneral assessment: highly developed and efficient
domestic: fixed-line subscribership has been in decline since the mid-1990s with mobile-cellular subscribership eclipsing it by the late 1990s; the fiber-optic net is very extensive; all telephone applications and Internet services are available
international: country code - 43; satellite earth stations - 15; in addition, there are about 600 VSATs (very small aperture terminals) (2007)
Internet country code.at
Internet users5.937 million (2008)
Airports55 (2009)
Pipelines(km)gas 2,721 km; oil 663 km; refined products 157 km (2008)
Roadways(km)total: 107,262 km
paved: 107,262 km (includes 1,677 km of expressways) (2006)

Ports and terminalsEnns, Krems, Linz, Vienna
Military branchesLand Forces (KdoLdSK), Air Forces (KdoLuSK)
Military service age and obligation(years of age)18-35 years of age for compulsory military service; 16 years of age for male or female voluntary service; service obligation 6 months of training, followed by an 8-year reserve obligation; conscripts cannot be deployed in military operations outside Austria (2009)
Manpower available for military servicemales age 16-49: 1,986,411
females age 16-49: 1,944,834 (2008 est.)
Manpower fit for military servicemales age 16-49: 1,607,456
females age 16-49: 1,576,335 (2009 est.)
Manpower reaching militarily significant age annuallymale: 50,540
female: 48,042 (2009 est.)
Military expenditures(% of GDP)0.9% of GDP (2005 est.)
Disputes - internationalwhile threats of international legal action never materialized in 2007, 915,220 Austrians, with the support of the newly elected Freedom Party, signed a petition in January 2008, demanding that Austria block the Czech Republic's accession to the EU unless Prague closed its nuclear power plant in Temelin, bordering Austria

Electricity - production(kWh)58.64 billion kWh (2007 est.)
Electricity - production by source(%)fossil fuel: 29.3%
hydro: 67.2%
nuclear: 0%
other: 3.5% (2001)
Electricity - consumption(kWh)61.89 billion kWh (2007 est.)
Electricity - exports(kWh)14.93 billion kWh (2008 est.)
Electricity - imports(kWh)19.8 billion kWh (2008 est.)
Oil - production(bbl/day)24,850 bbl/day (2008 est.)
Oil - consumption(bbl/day)285,400 bbl/day (2008 est.)
Oil - exports(bbl/day)45,580 bbl/day (2008 est.)
Oil - imports(bbl/day)305,000 bbl/day (2008 est.)
Economic aid - donorODA, $1.498 billion (2006)

Oil - proved reserves(bbl)50 million bbl (1 January 2009 est.)
Natural gas - production(cu m)1.532 billion cu m (2008 est.)
Natural gas - consumption(cu m)8.65 billion cu m (2008 est.)
Natural gas - exports(cu m)2.788 billion cu m (2008)
Natural gas - proved reserves(cu m)16.14 billion cu m (1 January 2009 est.)
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate(%)0.2% (2007 est.)
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS9,800 (2007 est.)
HIV/AIDS - deathsfewer than 100 (2003 est.)
Literacy(%)definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 98%
male: NA
female: NA

School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education)(years)total: 15 years
male: 15 years
female: 16 years (2006)
Education expenditures(% of GDP)5.4% of GDP (2005)








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