Austria

Republic of Austria

National name: Republik Österreich

President: Heinz Fischer (2004)

Chancellor: Wolfgang Schüssel (2000)

Land area: 31,942 sq mi (82,730 sq km); total area: 32,382 sq mi (83,870 sq km)

Population (2006 est.): 8,192,880 (growth rate: 0.1%); birth rate 8.7/1000; infant mortality rate: 4.6/1000; life expectancy: 79.1; density per sq mi: 256

Capital and largest city (2003 est.): Vienna, 2,041,300 (metro area), 1,523,600 (city proper)

Other large cities: Graz, 219,500; Linz, 185,300; Salzburg, 145,500; Innsbruck, 115,600

Monetary units: Euro (formerly schilling)

Languages: German (official nationwide); Slovene, Croatian, Hungarian (each official in one region)

Ethnicity/race: Austrians 91.1%, former Yugoslavs 4% (includes Croatians, Slovenes, Serbs, Bosniaks), Turks 1.6%, German 0.9%, other or unspecified 2.4% (2001)

Religions: Roman Catholic 74%, Protestant 5%, Islam 4%, none 12% (2001)

Literacy rate: 98%

Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2005 est.): $269.6 billion; per capita $32,900. Real growth rate: 1.8%. Inflation: 2.3%. Unemployment: 5.1%. Arable land: 16.59%. Agriculture: grains, potatoes, sugar beets, wine, fruit; dairy products, cattle, pigs, poultry; lumber. Labor force: 3.49 million; agriculture and forestry 3%, industry and crafts 27%, services 70%. Industries: construction, machinery, vehicles and parts, food, metals, chemicals, lumber and wood processing, paper and paperboard, communications equipment, tourism. Natural resources: oil, coal, lignite, timber, iron ore, copper, zinc, antimony, magnesite, tungsten, graphite, salt, hydropower. Exports: $122.5 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): machinery and equipment, motor vehicles and parts, paper and paperboard, metal goods, chemicals, iron and steel, textiles, foodstuffs. Imports: $118.8 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): machinery and equipment, motor vehicles, chemicals, metal goods, oil and oil products; foodstuffs. Major trading partners: Germany, Italy, U.S., Switzerland, France, UK (2004).

Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 3.791 million (2004); mobile cellular: 7.99 million (2004). Radio broadcast stations: AM 2, FM 65 (plus several hundred repeaters), shortwave 1 (2001). Television broadcast stations: 10 (plus more than 1,000 repeaters) (2001). Internet hosts: 1,812,776 (2005). Internet users: 4.65 million (2005).

Transportation: Railways: total: 6,021 km (3,552 km electrified) (2004). Highways: 133,718 km; paved: 133,718 km (including 1,677 km of expressways) (2003). Waterways: 358 km (2003). Ports and harbors: Enns, Krems, Linz, Vienna. Airports: 55 (2005).

International disputes: Austrian anti-nuclear activists have revived blockades of the Czech-Austrian border to protest operation of the Temelin nuclear power plant in the Czech Republic.


 

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