http://www.ifs.univie.ac.at/austria/austria_info.html (World Wide Web Directory, 06/1995)

Information about Austria

Austria Geography

Total area:

83,850 km2

Land area:

82,730 km2

Comparative area:

slightly smaller than Maine

Land boundaries:

2,591 km total; Czechoslovakia 548 km, Germany 784 km, Hungary 366 km, Italy 430 km, Liechtenstein 37 km, Slovenia 262 km, Switzerland 164 km

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

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%

Environment:

because of steep slopes, poor soils, and cold temperatures, population is concentrated on eastern lowlands

Note:

landlocked; strategic location at the crossroads of central Europe with many easily traversable Alpine passes and valleys; major river is the Danube

Austria People

Population:

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

Birth rate:

12 births/1,000 population (1992)

Death rate:

11 deaths/1,000 population (1992)

Net migration rate:

5 migrants/1,000 population (1992)

Infant mortality rate:

8 deaths/1,000 live births (1992)

Life expectancy at birth:

73 years male, 80 years female (1992)

Total fertility rate:

1.5 children born/woman (1992)

Nationality:

noun - Austrian(s); adjective - Austrian

Ethnic divisions:

German 99.4%, Croatian 0.3%, Slovene 0.2%, other 0.1%

Religions:

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

Languages:

German

Literacy:

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

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:

60.1% of work force; the Austrian Trade Union Federation has 1,644,408 members (1989)

Austria Government

Long-form name:

Republic of Austria

Type:

federal republic

Capital:

Vienna

Administrative divisions:

9 states (bundeslander, singular - bundesland); Burgenland, Karnten, Niederosterreich, Oberosterreich, Salzburg, Steiermark, Tirol, Vorarlberg, Wien

Independence:

12 November 1918 (from Austro-Hungarian Empire)

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

National holiday:

National Day, 26 October (1955)

Executive branch:

president, chancellor, vice chancellor, Council of Ministers (cabinet)

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

Leaders:

Chief of State: President Thomas KLESTIL (since 8 July 1992) Head of Government: Chancellor Franz VRANITZKY (since 16 June 1986); Vice Chancellor Erhard BUSEK (since 2 July 1991)

Political parties and leaders:

Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPO), Franz VRANITZKY, chairman; Austrian People's Party (OVP), Erhard BUSEK, chairman; Freedom Party of Austria (FPO), Jorg HAIDER, chairman; Green Alternative List (GAL), Peter PILZ, chairman; Liberales Forum (LIF), Heide SCHMIDT (chairwoman)

Suffrage:

universal at age 19; compulsory for presidential elections

Elections:

National Council: last held 9 October 1994 (1990) (next to be held October 1998); results - SPO 35.2% (43%), OVP 27.7% (32.1%), FPO 22.6% (16.6%), GAL 7.0% (4.5%), LIF 5.7% (-), other 1.6% (1.02%); seats - (183 total) SPO 66, OVP 52, FPO 42, GAL 13,LIF 10 President: last held 24 May 1992 (next to be held 1996); results of Second Ballot - Thomas KLESTIL 57%, Rudolf STREICHER 43%

Communists:

membership 15,000 est.; activists 7,000-8,000

Austria Government

Other political or pressure groups:

Federal Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Austrian Trade Union Federation (primarily Socialist); three composite leagues of the Austrian People's Party (OVP) representing business, labor, and farmers; OVP-oriented League of Austrian Industrialists; Roman Catholic Church, including its chief lay organization, Catholic Action

Member of:

AfDB, AG (observer), AsDB, Australia Group, BIS, CCC, CE, CERN, COCOM, CSCE, EBRD, ECE, EFTA, ESA, FAO, G-9, GATT, HG, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, IDA, IEA, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF, IMO, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, LORCS, MTRC, NAM (guest), NEA, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNDOF, UNFICYP, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNIIMOG, UNTSO, UPU, WCL, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO, ZC

Diplomatic representation:

Ambassador Friedrich HOESS; Embassy at 3524 International Court NW, Washington, DC 20008; telephone (202) 895-6700; there are Austrian Consulates General in Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York US: Ambassador Roy Michael HUFFINGTON; Embassy at Boltzmanngasse 16, A-1091, Vienna (mailing address is APO AE 09108-0001); telephone [43] (1) 31-55-11; FAX [43] (1) 310-0682; there is a US Consulate General in Salzburg

Flag:

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

Austria Economy

Overview:

Austria boasts a prosperous and stable capitalist economy with a sizable proportion of nationalized industry and extensive welfare benefits. Thanks to an excellent raw material endowment, a technically skilled labor force, and strong links to German industrial firms, Austria occupies specialized niches in European industry and services (tourism, banking) and produces almost enough food to feed itself with only 8% of the labor force in agriculture. Improved export prospects resulting from German unification and the opening of Eastern Europe, boosted the economy during 1990 and to a lesser extent in 1991. GDP growth slowed from 4.9% in 1990 to 3% in 1991 - mainly due to the weaker world economy - and is expected to drop to around 2% in 1992. Inflation is forecasted at about 4%, while unemployment probably will increase moderately through 1992 before declining in 1993. Living standards are comparable with the large industrial countries of Western Europe. Problems for the l990s include an aging population, the high level of subsidies, and the struggle to keep welfare benefits within budget capabilities. Austria, which has applied for EC membership, was involved in EC and European Free Trade Association negotiations for a European Economic Area and will have to adapt its economy to achieve freer interchange of goods, services, capital, and labor within the EC.

GDP:

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

Inflation rate (consumer prices):

3.3% (1991, annual rate)

Unemployment rate:

5.8% (1991)

Budget:

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

Exports:

$40 billion (1991) commodities: 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) commodities: petroleum, foodstuffs, machinery and equipment, vehicles, chemicals, textiles and clothing, pharmaceuticals partners: EC 67.8% (Germany is 43.0%), EFTA 6.9%, Eastern Europe/former USSR 6.0%, Japan 4.8%, US 3.9%

External debt:

$11.8 billion (1990 est.)

Industrial production:

2.0% (1991)

Electricity:

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

Industries:

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

Austria Economy

Agriculture:

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

Economic aid:

donor - ODA and OOF commitments (1970-89), $2.4 billion

Currency:

Austrian schilling (plural - schillings); 1 Austrian schilling (S) = 100 groschen

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)

Fiscal year:

calendar year

Austria Communications

Railroads:

6,028 km total; 5,388 km government owned and 640 km privately owned (1.435- and 1.000-meter gauge); 5,403 km 1.435-meter standard gauge of which 3,051 km is electrified and 1,520 km is double tracked; 363 km 0.760-meter narrow gauge of which 91 km is electrified

Highways:

95,412 km total; 34,612 km are the primary network (including 1,012 km of autobahn, 10,400 km of federal, and 23,200 km of provincial roads); of this number, 21,812 km are paved and 12,800 km are unpaved; in addition, there are 60,800 km of communal roads (mostly gravel, crushed stone, earth)

Inland waterways:

446 km

Pipelines:

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

Ports:

Vienna, Linz (river ports)

Merchant marine:

31 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 130,966 GRT/219,130 DWT; includes 26 cargo, 1 container, 4 bulk

Civil air:

25 major transport aircraft

Airports:

55 total, 55 usable; 20 with permanent-surface runways; none with runways over 3,659 m; 6 with runways 2,440-3,659 m; 4 with runways 1,220-2,439 m

Telecommunications:

highly developed and efficient; 4,014,000 telephones; broadcast stations - 6 AM, 21 (545 repeaters) FM, 47 (870 repeaters) TV; satellite ground stations for Atlantic Ocean INTELSAT, Indian Ocean INTELSAT, and EUTELSAT systems

Austria Defense Forces

Branches:

Army, Flying Division, Gendarmerie

Manpower availability:

males 15-49, 2,011,895; 1,693,244 fit for military service; 51,788 reach military age (19) annually

Defense expenditures:

exchange rate conversion - $1.8 billion, 1% of GDP (1991)