Population of Austria 2021

As of 2021, the latest population of Austria is 8,859,449, based on AllCityPopulation calculation of the current data from UN (United Nations).

Population Distribution

Total population 8,859,449
Population growth rate 0.35%
Birth rate 9.50 births per 1,000 people
Life expectancy
Overall life expectancy 80.04 years
Men life expectancy 77.13 years
Women life expectancy 83.10 years
Age structure
0-14 years 14.00%
15-64 years 66.55%
65 years and above 19.44%
Median age 43.60 years
Gender ratio (Male to Female) 0.95
Population density 105.63 residents per km²
Urbanization 65.80%
German-Austrians, others (Croats, Slovenes, Hungarians; Czechs, Slovaks, Roma); Proportion of foreigners in 2016: 14.6%
Catholics (Roman Catholic) 73.6%, Protestants 4.7%, Muslims 4.2% others 17%
Human Development Index (HDI) 0.914
HDI ranking 20th out of 194

People in Austria

8.8 million people live in Austria. 91 percent of them are Austrians. 5.1 percent of the population came to Austria mainly as a result of the war in Yugoslavia and are therefore Croats, Slovenes, Serbs and Bosnians. Croats live mainly in Burgenland, Slovenes mainly in Carinthia and Styria.

2.5 percent of the population are Germans. 2.2 percent are of Turkish descent. In the 1960s, they were specifically recruited to work in Austria.

Every woman in Austria has an average of 1.5 children. The population has been growing for years despite the low birth rate, which is due to the fact that more people are immigrating to the country. The average age is 44.5 years. Life expectancy is 84.7 years for women and 79.2 years for men.

58 out of 100 Austrians live in the city. That is rather little – in Germany it is 77 out of 100 residents. The largest city in Austria is by far the capital Vienna, where 1.8 million people live. This is followed by Graz (286,000), Linz (204,000), Salzburg (153,000), Innsbruck (132,000) and Klagenfurt with 100,000 residents.

The population density is 105 residents per square kilometer. In Vienna, however, it is significantly higher. It is expected that more than two million people will be living in the city by 2029.

Languages in Austria

The official language in Austria is German. Austrian German is not a dialect, but a variant of German. In everyday life, however, many Austrians speak a dialect such as Alemannic or Bavarian. The Viennese dialect is also part of Bavarian. One speaks Viennese in Vienna and the surrounding area. Here, for example, people like to add a -erl to a word. This can serve as a miniaturization, but it can also be an expression of special sympathy.

In addition to Austrian, Croatian and Slovenian are additional official languages ​​in some regions. In some municipalities in Burgenland, Hungarian is an official language with equal rights.

Austrian German

Austrian German differs from the German spoken in Germany. There are differences not only in pronunciation, but especially in vocabulary and grammar.

When it comes to names, the surname is usually mentioned first, followed by the first name and the specific article. Mitzi Huber becomes “the Huber Mitzi” and Franz Gruber becomes “the Gruber Franz”.

Religions in Austria

60 percent of the population are Catholics. 3.5 percent belong to a Protestant church. The proportion of members of both groups has been falling for years. 2.2 percent belong to an Orthodox Church. The number of its members is increasing.

Among the non-Christian churches, Islam occupies the largest position: almost seven percent of the population are Muslim. Smaller minorities are Jehovah’s Witnesses, Buddhists and Jews.

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