Population and Demographics

Austria's population was estimated by the UN in 2007 as 8,361,000. The population of the capital, Vienna, exceeds 1.6 million (2.2 million with suburbs), representing about a quarter of the country's population, and is said to constitute a melting pot of citizens from all over Central and Eastern Europe. In contrast to the capital, other cities do not exceed 1 million inhabitants: the second largest city Graz is home to 250,099 people, followed by Linz with 188,968, Salzburg with 150,000, and Innsbruck with 117,346. All other cities have fewer than 100,000 inhabitants.

Austrians are a homogeneous people, although four decades of strong immigration have significantly altered the composition of the population of Austria. German-speaking Austrians, by far the country's largest group, form roughly 90% of Austria's population. The Austrian federal states of Carinthia and Styria are home to a significant (indigenous) Slovenian minority with around 14,000 members (Austrian census; unofficial numbers of Slovene groups speak of about 40,000). Around 20,000 Hungarians and 30,000 Croatians live in the east-most Bundesland, Burgenland (formerly part of the Hungarian half of Austria-Hungary). The remaining people are of non-Austrian descent, many from surrounding countries, especially from the former East Bloc nations. So-called guest workers (Gastarbeiter) and their descendants, as well as refugees from Yugoslav wars and other conflicts, also form an important minority group in Austria.

According to the 2001 population census, 88.6% are native German speakers (96% Austro-Bavarian dialects and 4% Alemanic dialects) while the remaining 11.4% speak several minority languages. The non-German speakers of Austria can be divided into two groups: traditional minorities, who are related to territories formerly part of the Habsburg Empire, and new minorities, resulting from recent immigration.

As of 2006 some of the Austrian states introduced standardised tests for new citizens, to assure their language and cultural knowledge and accordingly their ability to integrate into the Austrian society.

Facts and Figures

• Population: 8,361,000
• Age Structure:
  • 0-14 years: 15.1% (male 633,375/female 603,459)
  • 15-64 years: 67.5% (male 2,781,291/female 2,749,539)
  • 65 years and over: 17.5% (male 585,747/female 846,372)
• Median Age:
  • Total: 41.3 years
  • Male: 40.2 years
  • Female: 42.4 years
• Population Growth Rate: 0.077%
• Birth Rate: 8.69 births/1,000 population
• Death Rate: 9.84 deaths/1,000 population
• Net Migration Rate: 1.91 migrant(s)/1,000 population
• Sex Ratio:
  • At birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
  • Under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
  • 15-64 years: 1.012 male(s)/female
  • 65 years and over: 0.692 male(s)/female
  • Total population: 0.953 male(s)/female
• Infant Mortality Rate:
  • Total: 4.54 deaths/1,000 live births
  • Male: 5.56 deaths/1,000 live births
  • Female: 3.47 deaths/1,000 live births
• Life Expectancy at Birth:
  • Total population: 79.21 years
  • Male: 76.32 years
  • Female: 82.26 years
• Total Fertility Rate: 1.37 children born/woman
• HIV/AIDS:
  • Adult prevalence rate: 0.3%
  • People living with HIV/AIDS: 10,000
• 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%
• Religions:
  • Roman Catholic 73.6%
  • Protestant 4.7%
  • Muslim 4.2%
  • Other 3.5%
  • Unspecified 2%
  • None 12%
• 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%
• Literacy:
  • Total population: 98%