Austria played a central role in the history of Europe, and fought on the German side in both world wars. The country is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Europe. The inhabitants have a very high standard of living.
Key figures and facts
- Capital: Vienna
- Ethnic groups: Austrians 80.8%, Germans 2.6%, people from Bosnia and Herzegovina 1.9%, Turks 1.8%, Serbs 1.6%, Romanians 1.3%, others 10% (2018)
- Language: German (official) 88.6%, Turkish 2.3%, Serbian 2.2%, Croatian (official in Burgenland) 1.6%, others (including Slovenian (official in Carinthia), and Hungarian (official in Burgenland)) 5.3% (2001)
- Religion: Catholics 73.8% (including Roman Catholic 73.6%, other Catholics 0.2%), Protestants 4.9%, Muslims 4.2%, Orthodox 2.2%, other 0.8% (including other Christians), none 12%, unspecified 2% (2001)
- Population: 8,751,820 (2018)
- Control Form: Republic
- Area: 83 879 km2
- Currency: euro
- GNP per capita: 50 552 PPP $
- National Day: October 26th
The population was estimated at 8.5 million in 2013. A previous decline in the population has stopped, and there is now an increase; Throughout the 1980s the average annual growth rate was 0.24%, in the 1990s it increased to 0.44%, and since 2000 it has been 0.5% annually.
Over 85% are German speaking Austrians, while immigrants make up 12.5% of the population. There are, from old, minority groups of Slovenes in South Carinthia, Croats and Hungarians in Burgenland, Czechs and Slovaks in Vienna.
The average population density is 98.4 residents per km2; however, large areas of the mountainous areas are partly uninhabited, while the main valleys around Inn, Danube, Mur and Drau are densely populated with 200–400 residents per km2. The largest city is Vienna, which had 1,714,000 residents in 2011. Other major cities are Graz (262,000), Linz (189,000), Salzburg (148,000) and Innsbruck (120,000).
States
| State | Capital | Area km2 | Residents (2011) |
| Vienna | Vienna | 415 | 1 714 100 |
| Lower Austria | St. Pölten | 19 174 | 1 612 000 |
| Burgenland | Eisenstadt | 3 965 | 284 900 |
| Upper Austria | Linz | 11 979 | 1 412 600 |
| Salzburg | Salzburg | 7 155 | 531 700 |
| Steiermark | Graz | 16 388 | 1 210 600 |
| Carinthia | Klagenfurt | 9 533 | 558 300 |
| Tirol | Innsbruck | 12 648 | 710 000 |
| Vorarlberg | Bregenz | 2 601 | 369 900 |