Map of Austria | Geography | People | Government | Economy | Energy | Communication
Military | Transportation | Transnational Issues | Year: Guide1989199019911992199319941995199619971998199920002001200220032004200520062007200820092010201120122013201420152016201720182019202020212022202320242025 | More stats

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Background: Once the center of power for the large Austro-Hungarian empire, Austria was reduced to a small republic after its defeat in World War I. After the annexation to Nazi Germany in 1938 and subsequent occupation by the victorious Allied powers, Austria's 1955 State Treaty declared the country "permanently neutral" as a condition of the Soviet military withdrawal. The Soviet collapse relieved the external pressure to remain unaligned, but neutrality had evolved into a part of Austrian cultural identity, which has led to an ongoing public debate over whether Vienna legitimately can remain outside of European security structures.


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Location

Geographic coordinates

Map reference

Area
Total: 83,850 km²
Land: 82,730 km²
Comparative: slightly smaller than Maine

Land boundaries:

Coastline: none - landlocked

Maritime claims: none - landlocked
Disputes: none

Climate: temperate; continental, cloudy; cold winters with frequent rain in lowlands and snow in mountains; cool summers with occasional showers

Terrain: mostly mountains with Alps in west and south; mostly flat, with gentle slopes along eastern and northern margins

Elevation

Natural resources: iron ore, crude oil, timber, magnesite, aluminum, lead, coal, lignite, copper, hydropower

Land use: arable land: 17%; permanent crops: 1%; meadows and pastures 24%; forest and woodland 39%; other 19%; includes irrigated NEGL%

Irrigated land

Major rivers

Major watersheds area km²

Total water withdrawal

Total renewable water resources

Natural hazards

Geography


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Population: 7,867,541 (July 1992), growth rate 0.7% (1992)

Nationality: noun - Austrian(s; adjective - Austrian

Ethnic groups: German 99.4%, Croatian 0.3%, Slovene 0.2%, other 0.1%

Languages: German

Religions: Roman Catholic 85%, Protestant 6%, other 9%

Demographic profile

Age structure

Dependency ratios

Median age

Population growth rate

Birth rate: 12 births/1000 population (1992)

Death rate: 11 deaths/1000 population (1992)

Net migration rate: 5 migrants/1000 population (1992)

Population distribution

Urbanization

Major urban areas

Environment
Current issues: because of steep slopes, poor soils, and cold temperatures, population is concentrated on eastern lowlands
Current issues note:

Air pollutants

Sex ratio

Mothers mean age at first birth

Maternal mortality ratio

Infant mortality rate: 8 deaths/1000 live births (1992)

Life expectancy at birth: 73 years male, 80 years female (1992)

Total fertility rate: 1.5 children born/woman (1992)

Contraceptive prevalence rate

Drinking water source

Current health expenditure

Physicians density

Hospital bed density

Sanitation facility access

Hiv/Aids

Major infectious diseases

Obesity adult prevalence rate

Alcohol consumption

Tobacco use

Children under the age of 5 years underweight

Education expenditures

Literacy: 99% (male NA%, female NA%) age 15 and over can read and write (1974 est.)

School life expectancy primary to tertiary education

Youth unemployment


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Country name
Conventional long form: Republic of Austria

Government type: federal republic

Capital: Vienna

Administrative divisions:

Dependent areas

Independence: 12 November 1918 (from Austro-Hungarian Empire)

National holiday: National Day, 26 October (1955)

Constitution: 1920; revised 1929 (reinstated 1945)

Legal system: civil law system with Roman law origin; judicial review of legislative acts by a Constitutional Court; separate administrative and civil/penal supreme courts; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

International law organization participation

Citizenship

Suffrage: universal at age 19; compulsory for presidential elections
National Council: last held 7 October 1990 (next to be held October 1994); results - SPO 43%, OVP 32.1%, FPO 16.6%, GAL 4.5%, KPO 0.7%, other 0.32%; seats - (183 total) SPO 80, OVP 60, FPO 33, GAL 10
President:
Communists: membership 15,000 est.), activists 7,000-8,000

Executive branch:

Legislative branch: bicameral Federal Assembly (Bundesversammlung) consists of an upper council or Federal Council (Bundesrat) and a lower council or National Council (Nationalrat)

Judicial branch: Supreme Judicial Court (Oberster Gerichtshof) for civil and criminal cases, Administrative Court (Verwaltungsgerichtshof) for bureaucratic cases, Constitutional Court (Verfassungsgerichtshof) for constitutional cases

Political parties and leaders

International organization participation:
Diplomatic representation:
US:

Diplomatic representation

Flag description: three equal horizontal bands of red (top), white, and red

National symbols

National anthem

National heritage


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Economy overview:
GDP: purchasing power equivalent - $164.1 billion, per capita $20,985; real growth rate 3% (1991)

Real gdp purchasing power parity

Real gdp growth rate

Real gdp per capita

Gross national saving

Gdp composition by end use

Gdp composition by sector of origin

Agriculture products: accounts for 3.2% of GDP (including forestry; principal crops and animals - grains, fruit, potatoes, sugar beets, sawn wood, cattle, pigs, poultry; 80-90% self-sufficient in food

Industries: foods, iron and steel, machines, textiles, chemicals, electrical, paper and pulp, tourism, mining

Industrial production growth rate: 2.0% (1991)

Labor force: 3,470,000 (1989); services 56.4%, industry and crafts 35.4%, agriculture and forestry 8.1%; an estimated 200,000 Austrians are employed in other European countries; foreign laborers in Austria number 177,840, about 6% of labor force (1988)
Organized labor:

Unemployment rate: 5.8% (1991)

Youth unemployment

Population below poverty line

Gini index

Household income or consumption by percentage share

Distribution of family income gini index

Budget: revenues $47.7 billion; expenditures $53.0 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (1990)

Taxes and other revenues

Public debt

Revenue

Fiscal year: calendar year

Inflation rate consumer prices

Central bank discount rate

Commercial bank prime lending rate

Stock of narrow money

Stock of broad money

Stock of domestic credit

Market value of publicly traded shares

Current account balance

Exports: $40 billion (1991)
Commodoties: machinery and equipment, iron and steel, lumber, textiles, paper products, chemicals
Partners: EC 65.8%, (Germany 39%), EFTA 9.1%, Eastern Europe/former USSR 9.0%, Japan 1.7%, US 2.8%

Imports: $50.2 billion (1991)
Commodoties: petroleum, foodstuffs, machinery and equipment, vehicles, chemicals, textiles and clothing, pharmaceuticals
Partners:

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold

Debt external

Stock of direct foreign investment at home

Stock of direct foreign investment abroad

Exchange rates: Austrian schillings (S) per US$1 - 11.068 (January 1992), 11.676 (1991), 11.370 (1990), 13.231 (1989), 12.348 (1988), 12.643 (1987)


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Electricity
Production: 17,600,000 kW capacity; 49,500 million kWh produced, 6,500 kWh per capita (1991)

Coal

Petroleum

Crude oil

Refined petroleum

Natural gas

Carbon dioxide emissions

Energy consumption per capita


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Telephones

Telephone system

Broadcast media

Internet

Broadband fixed subscriptions


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Military expenditures
Percent of gdp: exchange rate conversion - $1.8 billion, 1% of GDP (1991)

Military and security forces

Military service age and obligation

Space program

Terrorist groups


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National air transport system

Civil aircraft registration country code prefix

Airports:

Heliports

Pipelines: crude oil 554 km; natural gas 2,611 km; petroleum products 171 km

Railways

Roadways

Waterways: 446 km

Merchant marine:
Civil air: 25 major transport aircraft

Ports and terminals


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Disputes international

Refugees and internally displaced persons

Illicit drugs