Austria
Name
| Official name | Republic of Austria |
|---|---|
| In German | Republik Österreich |
| Demonym | Austrian |
| Meaning of the name | Österreich, "eastern realm" — first recorded as Ostarrîchi in a document of 996; "Austria" is the Latinized form |
Quick facts
| Capital | Vienna (Wien) — also the largest city and a federal state, on the Danube; about 2 million people |
|---|---|
| Official language | German — Austrian Standard German; Croatian, Slovene and Hungarian are official regionally in Burgenland and Carinthia |
| Currency | Euro (EUR, €) — since 1 January 1999 (cash 2002), replacing the schilling; issued through the Oesterreichische Nationalbank |
| Time zone | Central European Time, UTC+1; summer time UTC+2 |
| Calling code | +43 |
| Internet domain | .at |
| ISO 3166 codes | AT · AUT · 040 |
| Vehicle registration code | A |
| Driving side | Right |
| Electricity | 230 V, 50 Hz; plug types C and F |
| Republic | Proclaimed 12 November 1918; the Second Republic restored 27 April 1945; the State Treaty of 15 May 1955 ended the Allied occupation |
| National day | 26 October — the anniversary of the 1955 constitutional law on permanent neutrality |
| Constitution | The Federal Constitutional Law of 1920, in force again since 1945 |
| Population | About 9.2 million (Statistik Austria, end of 2025); 9.17 million by the CIA World Factbook's 2025 estimate |
| Area | 83,871 km² (32,383 sq mi) — about the size of South Carolina; nearly two-thirds Alpine |
Flag & national symbols
| National flag | Three equal horizontal bands of red, white and red — the Babenberg Bindenschild recorded on a ducal seal in 1230, the republic's flag since 1918, its colors written into the Constitution.Flag of Austria |
|---|---|
| Coat of arms | A single-headed black eagle with a mural crown, a hammer and a sickle, and broken chains on its legs — the arms of 1919, restored with the chains in 1945 |
| National anthem | "Land der Berge, Land am Strome" ("Land of Mountains, Land by the River") — words by Paula von Preradović; adopted 1946, the words 1947; the music long attributed to Mozart |
| National colors | Red and white |
| National flower | The edelweiss — unofficial, but on the 2-cent coin and the army's mountain troops |
| National animal | The eagle of the arms — no animal is designated |
| National dishes | Wiener schnitzel, Tafelspitz, apple strudel and the Sachertorte — widely cited |
| National sport | Alpine skiing, by achievement — Austria leads the World Cup medal tables — though nothing is designated |
| Symbol status | The flag and arms are fixed by the Constitution (Article 8a) and the Wappengesetz; the anthem by federal decision; the flower, dishes and sport are unofficial |
Geography
| Location | Central Europe, landlocked in the eastern Alps and the Danube basin |
|---|---|
| Coastline | None — landlocked |
| Land borders | 2,524 km (1,568 mi) with eight countries |
| Border with Germany | 801 km (498 mi) |
| Border with Italy | 404 km (251 mi) |
| Border with Czechia | 402 km (250 mi) |
| Border with Hungary | 321 km (199 mi) |
| Border with Slovenia | 299 km (186 mi) |
| Border with Switzerland | 158 km (98 mi) |
| Border with Slovakia | 105 km (65 mi) |
| Border with Liechtenstein | 34 km (21 mi) |
| Highest point | The Grossglockner, 3,798 m (12,461 ft), in the High Tauern |
| Lowest point | The Neusiedler See, about 115 m (377 ft) |
| Mean elevation | 910 m (2,986 ft) |
| Longest river | The Danube — about 350 km (217 mi) in Austria of its 2,850 km (1,770 mi) |
| Other rivers | Inn, Mur, Drau (Drava), Enns, Salzach, Traun |
| Largest lake | The Bodensee (Lake Constance), 536 km² (207 sq mi), shared with Germany and Switzerland; the Neusiedler See, shared with Hungary, the largest steppe lake in Central Europe; the Attersee, 46 km² (18 sq mi), the largest entirely within Austria |
| Mountain ranges | The Eastern Alps — the High Tauern, the Ötztal Alps (Wildspitze, 3,768 m), the Zillertal Alps, the Dachstein, the Karawanks |
| Glaciers | The Pasterze below the Grossglockner, about 8 km (5 mi) — the longest in Austria |
| Waterfalls | The Krimml Falls, 380 m (1,250 ft) in three drops — among the highest in Europe |
| Regions | The Alps in the west and south; the Alpine foreland; the Bohemian massif in the north; the Pannonian plains in the east |
| Climate | Temperate continental — cold winters with snow, moderate summers; Alpine above |
| Natural hazards | Avalanches, floods, landslides |
| Natural resources | Oil, natural gas, lignite, timber, iron ore, magnesite, tungsten, salt, hydropower — about 60% of electricity is hydro |
| Land use | Agricultural land about 32%; forest about 47% |
| National parks | 6 — Hohe Tauern (the largest in the Alps), Donau-Auen, Gesäuse, Kalkalpen, Neusiedler See-Seewinkel, Thayatal |
| UNESCO World Heritage | 12 — the historic centers of Vienna, Salzburg and Graz; Schönbrunn; Hallstatt-Dachstein; the Semmering Railway; the Wachau; Fertő-Neusiedlersee; the prehistoric pile dwellings; the beech forests; Baden bei Wien among the Great Spa Towns; the Danube Limes |
| Administrative divisions | 9 federal states (Bundesländer) — Burgenland, Carinthia, Lower Austria, Upper Austria, Salzburg, Styria, Tyrol, Vorarlberg, Vienna |
People
| Population | About 9.2 million (Statistik Austria, end of 2025) |
|---|---|
| Population density | About 110 per km² (285 per sq mi) |
| Population growth | About 0.2–0.5% a year, all of it immigration |
| Median age | About 44 years |
| Life expectancy | About 82 years |
| Fertility rate | About 1.3 births per woman (2024) |
| Urban population | About 59% |
| Adult literacy | About 99% |
| Foreign-born | About a quarter of the population (2024) |
| Languages | German for about 90%; Turkish, Serbian, Croatian, Hungarian, Slovene and Romanian among the rest |
| Religion | Roman Catholic about 52%, no religion about 22%, Muslim about 8%, Orthodox about 8%, Protestant about 3% (2021 census) |
| Largest cities | Vienna, Graz, Linz, Salzburg, Innsbruck, Klagenfurt |
| Human Development Index | 0.930 (2023 data, 2025 report) — very high human development |
Government
| Form of government | Federal parliamentary republic under the Federal Constitutional Law of 1920 |
|---|---|
| Federal President | Alexander Van der Bellen, since 26 January 2017 — re-elected 2022 for a second six-year term |
| Federal Chancellor | Christian Stocker (ÖVP), since 3 March 2025, heading a coalition of the ÖVP, the SPÖ and NEOS |
| Parliament | Bicameral — the National Council (183 members, elected for five years) and the Federal Council (the states' chamber) |
| Legal system | Civil law; a Constitutional Court since 1920 — the first in the world |
| Neutrality | Permanent neutrality by constitutional law since 26 October 1955 |
| Administrative divisions | 9 federal states, each with a Landtag and a governor |
| United Nations | Member since 14 December 1955; Vienna the third UN headquarters since 1980 |
| European Union | Member since 1 January 1995; the euro since 1999; Schengen since 1997 |
| Other memberships | The OECD (a founder, 1961), the Council of Europe (1956), the OSCE (headquartered in Vienna), the WTO; OPEC and the IAEA are headquartered in Vienna |
Economy
| GDP (nominal) | About US$559 billion (2025, IMF) |
|---|---|
| GDP per capita | About US$61,000 (2025) — among the fifteen highest in the world |
| GDP per capita (PPP) | About US$75,000 (2025) |
| GDP growth | Weak — about 0.4% in 2024 after two years of contraction; a slow recovery in 2025–26 |
| Economy by sector | Services about 70%, industry about 28%, agriculture about 1% |
| Currency | Euro (EUR) |
| Main exports | Machinery, vehicles and parts, pharmaceuticals, iron and steel, paper, electrical equipment |
| Main partners | Germany above all — about 30% of exports; Italy, the United States, Switzerland, Czechia, Hungary |
| Tourism | Among the most visited countries in Europe per resident — the Alps in winter, Vienna and Salzburg all year |
| Income classification | High income (World Bank); an advanced economy (IMF) |
Transport & infrastructure
| Main airport | Vienna International Airport at Schwechat; Salzburg, Innsbruck and Graz follow |
|---|---|
| Airline | Austrian Airlines, part of the Lufthansa group |
| Railways | About 5,800 km (3,600 mi), run by ÖBB; the Semmering Railway (1854) is a World Heritage site; the Koralm and Semmering base tunnels are the newest lines |
| Roads | About 2,200 km (1,370 mi) of motorways, tolled by vignette; the Brenner motorway to Italy; the Grossglockner High Alpine Road (1935), a scenic pass at 2,504 m (8,215 ft) |
| Waterways | The Danube, navigable throughout Austria; the port of Linz |
| Vienna U-Bahn | Six lines, opened 1978 |
History in dates
| 996 | Ostarrîchi first recorded |
|---|---|
| 1156 | Austria becomes a duchy under the Babenbergs |
| 1282 | The Habsburgs take Austria — and hold it until 1918 |
| 1529 · 1683 | The Ottoman sieges of Vienna repulsed |
| 1804 | The Austrian Empire proclaimed; Austria-Hungary from 1867 |
| 1918 | The republic, 12 November |
| 1938 | The Anschluss — annexation by Nazi Germany, 12 March |
| 1945 | The Second Republic, 27 April |
| 1955 | The State Treaty, 15 May; neutrality, 26 October |
| 1995 | Austria joins the European Union, 1 January |
| 2002 | The euro replaces the schilling |
| 2025 | Christian Stocker becomes chancellor, 3 March |
Records & firsts
| The world's first constitutional court | Vienna, 1920 |
|---|---|
| One of the oldest flags | Red-white-red, recorded in 1230 |
| The most livable city | Vienna, first in the Economist Intelligence Unit's ranking year after year |
| The oldest zoo | Schönbrunn, 1752 |
| The largest ice cave | Eisriesenwelt at Werfen — about 42 km (26 mi) of passages |
| Music | Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, the Strausses, Bruckner, Mahler — Vienna the capital of classical music |
| Nobel laureates | More than twenty, from Bárány (1914) to Zeilinger (2022) |
| Hydropower | About 60% of electricity from water |
| Skiing | The most World Cup victories of any nation |
| The Sachertorte | Invented by Franz Sacher in Vienna in 1832 |
Frequently asked questions
What is the official name of Austria?
The Republic of Austria — Republik Österreich in German. Österreich means "eastern realm": the name first appears as Ostarrîchi in a document of 996, for the eastern march of the Duchy of Bavaria that grew into the Babenberg and then the Habsburg lands.
What is the capital of Austria?
Vienna (Wien), on the Danube in the east of the country — a federal state in its own right, home to about 2 million people, a fifth of all Austrians, and the seat of the United Nations’ third headquarters, OPEC and the OSCE.
How big is Austria, and how many people live there?
About 83,871 km² (32,383 sq mi) — about the size of South Carolina — with about 9.2 million people (Statistik Austria, end of 2025; the CIA World Factbook estimates 9.17 million). Nearly two-thirds of the land is Alpine.
What are the highest and lowest points of Austria?
The Grossglockner, 3,798 m (12,461 ft), in the High Tauern on the border of Carinthia and East Tyrol, is the highest point; the shore of the Neusiedler See in Burgenland, about 115 m (377 ft), is the lowest. The mean elevation is 910 m — Austria is one of Europe’s most mountainous countries.
What is the longest river in Austria?
The Danube, which crosses the country for about 350 km (217 mi) of its 2,850 km (1,770 mi) from the Black Forest to the Black Sea, passing Linz and Vienna. The Inn, the Mur, the Drau and the Enns are the largest of the rest; the Bodensee (Lake Constance), shared with Germany and Switzerland, is the largest lake it touches.
What are the national symbols of Austria?
The red-white-red flag and the federal eagle with its broken chains are fixed in the Constitution and the Wappengesetz; the anthem is "Land der Berge, Land am Strome" (1946). The edelweiss, the Alpine flower on the 2-cent coin, is the unofficial national flower; the National Day is 26 October, the anniversary of the 1955 neutrality law.
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