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Austria is a country in the centre of Europe.

Austria is a landlocked country and has no coastal borders.

The land is mountainous in the west and south being a part of the Alpine range of mountains which run through Europe. In the north and east the land is flatter with gentle slopes.

The geographical coordinates for the centre of Austria, also known as lines of latitude and longitude, are:-
Latitude - 47 20N
Longitude - 13 20E

The capital of Austria is Vienna.

Austria is a federal parliamentary republic with a president as head of state and a chancellor as leader of the government.

In elections everyone over the age of 16 can vote.

The currency in Austria is the euro. Austria is a member of the European Union, having joined in 1995.

German is the official language.

Check the weather in Vienna now.

This is the time in Vienna now

The Austrian flag is 3 equal horizontal bands of red, white and red. It may be the oldest banner in the world and was the banner of Duke Leopold V, In a battle while he was fighting in the crusades his white tunic was covered in blood. When he took off his wide belt, a white band was revealed. This is the basis for the flag.

Hear the National Anthem



These are the anthem words

The words ×

These are the words to the Austrian National Anthem called Federal Hymn. It was first used in 1947. Until then Austria had used a version of the German National Anthem. Some people think the tune was written by Mozart and the words were by Paula von Preradovic. This is a translation of the words.

If anthem fails to play click here

Land of mountains, land on the River,
Land of fields, land of spires,
Land of hammers, with a rich future,
Home of great daughters and sons,
A nation blessed by its sense of beauty,
Highly praised Austria, highly praised Austria.

Strongly fought for, fiercely contested,
You are in the centre of the Continent
Like a strong heart,
You have born since the earliest days
The burden of a high mission
Much tried Austria, much tried Austria.

Watch us striding free and believing,
With courage, into new eras,
Working cheerfully and full of hope,
In jubilant chorus let us take in unity
The oath of allegiance to you, our country,
Our much beloved Austria, our much beloved Austria.

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The Land
The People
Life and Death
Health, Energy and the Environment
Education and Work
Travel, Communication and the Media

The total land area of Austria is 82,445 sq kms which is the 18th largest in Europe.

Austria has lakes, rivers and canals which total 1,426 sq kms.

Austria has boundaries with 8 countries

• Germany 801 kms
• Italy 404 kms
• Czech Republic 402 kms
• Hungary 321 kms
• Slovenia 299 472 kms
• Switzerland 158 234 kms
• Slovakia 105 kms
• Liechtenstein 34 kms

Austria has no coastline.

The highest point in Austria is Grossglockner at 3,798 metres.

The pie chart below shows how the land is split between agricultural land (crops and pastures), forests and other, which can be towns, villages, desert or frozen waste called tundra.

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The total population of Austria is 8.71 million people, making it the 12th largest country in Europe by population.

Of this number 4.46 million are females and 4.25 million are males.

A person from Austria is called an Austrian.

To be a citizen of Austria, one of your parents must be a citizen of Austria. It is not sufficient to be born in Austria. You have to live in Austria for 10 years before you can begin to apply for citizenship.

The largest five cities in Austria, by population are:-

• Vienna 1,691,468 people
• Graz 222,236
• Linz 181,161
• Salzburg 150,269
• Innsbruck 112,467

For each country we will give you a diagram showing the population density. This is the average number of people for each square kilometre. Each little Owlbut is 1 person and the big yellow rectangle is 1 sq km. After a while you can compare countries and see which ones are the most crowded. Remember it is only an average as more people live closer together in towns and cities than in villages out in the country.



66.0% of the people live in cities or towns.

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The birth rate in Austria is 9.5 births per 1,000 of population

The death rate in Austria is 9.5 deaths per 1,000 people.

Check this against the birth rate. If the death rate is higher than the birth rate then the population will decrease unless immigrants arrive in the country.

There are 3.1 deaths of girls under 1 year per 1,000 of births and 3.8 deaths of boys.

The median age for females is 44.9 and for males is 42.7. The median age is that age which divides the population exactly in half so there are the same number of people above the median age as below it.

The average age of a woman when she has her first child is 28.5.

The elderly dependency ratio is 28.1. This is the number of elderly people (ages 65+) per 100 people of working age (ages 15-64).

The potential support ratio is 3.6. This is the number of working-age people (ages 15-64) per one elderly person (ages 65+). As a population ages, the potential support ratio tends to fall, meaning there are fewer potential workers to support the elderly.

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Austria spends 11.2% of its total income on health care.

There are 4.83 doctors per 1,000 people.

There are 7.6 hospital beds per 1,000 people.

20.1% of the population are estimated as obese.

100% of Austrians have drinking water that is either piped into their home or they have access to a public tap, a protected borehole, well, spring or protected rainwater collection facility.

100% of Austrians have access to a flushing toilet that is connected to a sewer, a pit latrine (that is a permanent hole in the ground that is looked after) or a composting toilet.

Austria releases 76.2 million metric tons of carbon dioxide by burning fossil fuels in the process of producing and consuming energy. This puts it as the 12th highest in Europe.

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Austria spends 5.6% of its total income on education.

Children usually start school at age 6 in Austria. Primary education is for four years until age 10. Secondary education, lower and upper, continues until age 18. This may be followed by further education at a university or college.

Generally the school year consists of 3 terms and starts in the first week of September and finishes at the end of June. There is usually a 2 week break at Christmas and Easter, and a one week break in the middle of each term.

We have no figures for the number of people who are able to read and write by the age of 15.

11.3% of all people aged between 16 and 24 are not in work. Among females 10.2% are unemployed while with males 12.1% can't find work.

The total number of people available for work in Austria is 3.94 million.

They work in the following sectors.

• Agriculture includes farming, fishing and forestry work
• Industry includes mining, manufacturing, construction and energy workers
• Services is everything else

6.1% of the workforce are unemployed.

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There are 24 paved airports in Austria, which is the 20th highest number in Europe.


There are 5,267 kilometres of railways in Austria, which is the 15th longest in Europe.


There are 133,597 kilometres of roads in Austria, which means Austria is in 10th place for the most kilometres of roads in Europe.

There are 6 major national newspapers in Austria.

There are 13.70 million mobile phone users.

42% of the people have a fixed landline.



7.20 million people have access to the internet at home via any device (computer or mobile).

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