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Austria is a landlocked country in Central Europe, bordered by Germany, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Italy, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein. Austria is one of the world’s richest countries with a very high standard of living.
The last Austrian census was preliminary results conducted in 2011, showing a population of 8.421 million, up 5% over the last ten years.
There are 185,000 Turks, including Turkish Kurds, in Austria today, accounting for 2.2% of the population. This is the third largest ethnic minority after Serbs and Federal Germans (2.7%).
There are three “traditional” ethnic minorities within Austria that have found themselves within Austria as a result of European boundary changes over the years. They are Carinthian Slovenes, Croats and Hungarians. None of these groups number more than 50,000, and all have their rights protected by law.
Modern immigration has resulted in the creation of a number of sizable new ethnic groups in Austria. Notably, more than 300,000 people came to Austria from the former Yugoslavia during and after the wars there, as well as more than 300,000 from Turkey. Many have been naturalized and are now Austrian citizens.
German is the first language of 88.8% of Austrians as well as the official language of the country. It is slightly different from the German spoken in Germany - in practice it doesn’t differ much, though, and if you speak German you will be easily understood in Austria. The other main languages are Turkish (spoken by 2.3%), Serbian (2.2%) and Croatian (1.3%).
The majority of Austrians (73.6%) in the 2001 census reported that they were Roman Catholic. Protestants made up a further 4.7% of the population and Muslims 4.2%. 12% of respondents said that they were not religious. In 2018, 73.8% are Roman Catholic, Protestant is at 4.9% of the population, with Muslims maintaining a steady 4.2%.
According to the 2001 census, there are 8,140 Jews in Austria (around 0.5% of the population). Prior to the Holocaust, Austrian Jews made up between 8 and 10% of the total population.
Austria is the 12th richest country in the world.
Austria’s official boundaries were not established until the 1919 Treaty of St. Germain when its first constitution was created. Soon after its formation, Austria was declared a “German state,” and fought with them in both world wars, incurring countless fatalities. The growth rate was never really given the time to get off of the ground and has never been drastic in the years since.
