Austrians are a homogeneous people, although four decades of strong immigration have significantly altered the composition of the population of Austria.

According to the 2001 population census, 88.6% are native German speakers (96% Bavarian and 4% Alemanic) while the remaining 11.4% speak several minority languages. The non-German speakers of Austria can be divided into two groups: traditional minorities, who are related to territories formerly part of the Habsburg Empire, and new minorities, resulting from recent immigration. Á á É é Í í Ó ó Ú ú À à È è Ì ì Ò ò Ù ù  â Ê ê Î î Ô ô Û û Ä ä Ë ë Ï ï Ö ö Ü ü ß Ã ã Ñ ñ Õ õ Ç ç Ģ ģ Ķ ķ Ļ ļ Ņ ņ Ŗ ŗ Ş ş Ţ ţ Ć ć Ĺ ĺ Ń ń Ŕ ŕ Ś ś Ý ý Ź ź Đ đ Ů ů Č č Ď ď Ľ ľ Ň ň Ř ř Š š Ť ť Ž ž Ǎ ǎ Ě ě Ǐ ǐ Ǒ ǒ Ǔ ǔ Ā ā Ē ē Ī ī Ō ō Ū ū ǖ ǘ ǚ ǜ Ĉ ĉ Ĝ ĝ Ĥ ĥ Ĵ ĵ Ŝ ŝ Ŵ ŵ Ŷ ŷ Ă ă Ğ ğ Ŭ ŭ Ċ ċ Ė ė Ġ ġ İ ı Ż ż Ą ą Ę ę Į į Ų ų Ł ł Ő ő Ű ű Ŀ ŀ Ħ ħ Ð ð Þ þ Œ œ Æ æ Ø ø Å å Ə ə – — … [] [[]] {{}} ~ | ° § → # ≈ ± − × ¹ ² ³ ‘ “ ’ ” ¢ £ € ¥ Α α Β β Γ γ Δ δ Ε ε Ζ ζ Η η Θ θ Ι ι Κ κ Λ λ Μ μ Ν ν Ξ ξ Ο ο Π π Ρ ρ Σ σ ς Τ τ Υ υ Φ φ Χ χ Ψ ψ Ω ω ʈ ɖ ɟ ɡ ɢ ʡ ʔ ɸ ʃ ʒ ɕ ʑ ʂ ʐ ʝ ɣ ʁ ʕ ʜ ʢ ɦ ɱ ɳ ɲ ŋ ɴ ʋ ɹ ɻ ɰ ʙ ʀ ɾ ɽ ɫ ɬ ɮ ɺ ɭ ʎ ʟ ɥ ʍ ɧ ɓ ɗ ʄ ɠ ʛ ʘ ǀ ǃ ǂ ǁ ɨ ʉ ɯ ɪ ʏ ʊ ɘ ɵ ɤ ɚ ɛ ɜ ɝ ɞ ʌ ɔ ɐ ɶ ɑ ɒ ʰ ʷ ʲ ˠ ˤ ⁿ ˡ ˈ ˌ ː ˑ ... Alemannic German (Alemannisch) is a group of dialects of the Upper German branch of the Germanic language family. ... Habsburg (sometimes spelled Hapsburg, but never so in official use) was one of the major ruling houses of Europe. ...

Traditional ethnic minorities in Austria

Only three numerically significant traditional minority groups exist -- 14,000 Slovenians (according to the 2001 census - unofficial numbers of Slovene organisations put the number to 30,000 - 50,000) in Austrian Carinthia (south central Austria) and about 25,000 Croats and 20,000 Hungarians in Burgenland (on the Hungarian border). The Slovenians form a closely knit community. Their rights as well as those of the Croats are protected by law and generally respected in practice. The present boundaries of Austria, once the center of the Habsburg Empire that constituted the second-largest state in Europe, were established in accordance with the Treaty of Saint-Germain in 1919. Some Austrians, particularly near Vienna, still have relatives in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary. Carinthia (German Kärnten, Slovenian Koroška) is an Austrian state or Land, located in the south of Austria. ... Croats (Croatian: Hrvati) are a south Slavic people mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. ... Burgenland (Hungarian Várvidék, Őrvidék or Felsőőrvidék, Croatian Gradišće, Slovenian Gradiščansko) is the easternmost state or Land of Austria. ... The Treaty of Saint-Germain, was signed on 10 September 1919 by the victorious Allies of World War I on the one hand and by the new republic of Austria on the other. ... Vienna (German: Wien [viːn]; Slovenian: Dunaj, Croatian and Serbian: Beč Romanian: Viena, Hungarian: Bécs, Czech: Vídeň, Slovak: Viedeň, Romany Vidnya, Russian: Вена) is the capital of Austria, and also one of the nine States of Austria. ...

A small minority of Roma and Sinti also live in the country. Its size appears to be growing with emigration from neighbouring countries. The Roma people (singular Rom; sometimes Rroma, Rrom), often referred to as Gypsies, are a heterogeneous ethnic group who live primarily in Southern and Eastern Europe, Western Asia, Latin America, southern states of North America and the Middle East. ... Sinte or Sinti (Singular masc. ...

New ethnic minorities in Austria (foreigners and naturalized)

According to the Austrian Statistical Bureau, at the beginning of 2005, 788,000 foreigners legally lived in Austria, representing 9.6% of the total population, one of the highest rates in Europe.

Of these foreign residents, 340,000 came from Former Yugoslavia and 130,000 from Turkey.

Owing to a growing naturalization rate, 330,000 people have been naturalized between 1985 and the end of 2003, representing about 4% of the 7.4 million Austrian citizens living today in the country.

Of these new citizens 110,000 came from Former Yugoslavia and 90,000 from Turkey. Considering pre-1985 naturalizations, in 2005 at least 15% of the population was either foreign or of foreign origin.

Austria's growing Turkish minority

Between 250,000 and 270,000 ethnic Turks (including a sizable minority of Turkish Kurds) currently live in Austria. At about 3 to 3.5% of the total population, they make up today the biggest single ethnic minority in Austria. Kurds are one of the Iranian peoples and speak Kurdish, a north-Western Iranian language related to Persian. ...

13,000 Turks were naturalized in 2003 and, while 2,000 Turks left Austria in the same year, 10,000 immigrated to the country, confirming a strong trend of growth.

Resistance by many Austrians and by the Austrian Government to open EU access talks with Turkey in October 2005 appears to be at least partially linked to the fear that, if free to move in the EU territories, a disproportionate number of Turkish citizen could choose Austria as a suitable place for emigration, as it already has a well established Turkish community. As a comparison, only 12,000 Turkish citizens were living in Italy at the beginning of 2004.

The role of religion

About 78% of all Austrians are Roman Catholic. The church abstains from political activity; however, lay Catholic organizations are aligned with the conservative People's Party. The Social Democratic Party long ago shed its anticlerical stance. Small Lutheran minorities are located mainly in Vienna, Carinthia, and Burgenland. Immigration during the last decades has increased the percentage of Muslims. At the same time, many Austrians have been leaving the churches. The Roman Catholic Church, most often spoken of simply as the Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with over one billion members. ... The Austrian Peoples Party (de:Österreichische Volkspartei, or ÖVP) is an Austrian political party. ... The Social Democratic Party of Austria (de:Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs, or SPÖ) is a political party in Austria. ... The Lutheran movement is a group of denominations of Protestant Christianity by the original definition. ... Islam (Arabic: ; ) is a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the Quran. ...

Demographic data from the CIA World Factbook

Population pyramid of Austria

Image File history File links Austria_population_pyramid_2005. ... Image File history File links Austria_population_pyramid_2005. ... A population pyramid is two back-to-back bar graphs, one showing the number of males and one showing females in a particular population in five-year age groups. ...

Population

8,192,880 (July 2005 est.)

Age structure

0-14 years: 15.4% (male 645,337/female 614,602)

15-64 years: 67.5% (male 2,782,712/female 2,749,620)

65 years and over: 17.1% (male 567,752/female 832,857) (2006 est.)

Median age

Total: 40.9 years

Male: 39.8 years

Female: 42 years (2006 est.)

Population growth rate

0.09% (2006 est.)

Birth rate

8.74 births/1,000 population (2006 est.)

Death rate

9.76 deaths/1,000 population (2006 est.)

Net Migration Rate

1.94 migrants/1,000 population (2006 est.)

Sex ratio

At birth: 1.05 male/female

Under 15 years: 1.05 male/female

15-64 years: 1.01 male/female

65 years and over: 0.68 male/female

Total population: 0.95 male/female (2006 est.)

Infant mortality rate

Total: 4.6 deaths/1,000 live births

Male: 5.65 deaths/1,000 live births

Female: 3.5 deaths/1,000 live births (2006 est.)

Life expectancy at birth

Total population: 79.07 years

Male: 76.17 years

Female: 82.11 years (2006 est.)

Total fertility rate

1.36 children born/woman (2006 est.)

HIV/AIDS

Adult prevalence rate: 0.3% (2003 est.)

People living with HIV/AIDS: 10,000 (2003 est.)

Deaths: less than 100 (2003 est.)

Nationality

Noun: Austrian(s)

Adjective: Austrian

Ethnic groups

Austrians 91.1%, former Yugoslavs 4% (includes Croatians, Slovenes, Serbs, and Bosniaks), Turks 1.6%, German 0.9%, other or unspecified 2.4% (2001 census)

Religions

Roman Catholic 73.6%, Protestant 4.7%, Muslim 4.2%, other 3.5%, unspecified 2%, none 12% (2001 census)

Languages

• German (official nationwide) 88.8% (94% Bavarian, 6% Alemanic)
• Slovene (official in Carinthia) 0.2-0.5%
• Croatian (official in Burgenland) 0.3%
• Hungarian (official in Burgenland) 0.2%
• Czech 0.2%
• Slovak 0.1%
• Romany ?%
• Languages of the recent immigrant groups 10%

Romany (or Romani) is the language of the Roma and Sinti, peoples often referred to in English as Gypsies. The Indo-Aryan Romany language should not be confused with either Romanian (spoken by Romanians), or Romansh (spoken in parts of southeastern Switzerland), both of which are Romance languages. ...

Literacy

Definition: age 15 and over can read and write

Total population: 98%

Male: NA%

Female: NA%

Illiterates: some 3-4% of Austrians are functionally illiterate [1]

Functional illiteracy refers to the inability of an individual to use reading, speaking, writing, and computational skills efficiently in everyday life situations. ...

References

• This article contains material from the CIA World Factbook (2006 edition) which, as a US government publication, is in the public domain.
• Statistik Austria - Census 2001
• Statistik Austria - Monthly Statistical Tables - Vital Statistics
• Statistik Austria - Quarterly Population Estimates