The largest population increase in the provinces since 2011 was in Vienna with 12.4 percent. Vorarlberg (plus 8.3 percent) and Tyrol (plus 7.5 percent) also grew at an above-average rate. Carinthia recorded the smallest increase with around 1.5 percent. The highest increases were in the cities and their environs. The state capital with the strongest growth was Eisenstadt (plus 16.2 percent), followed by Vienna and Graz (plus 11.5 percent).
The strongest increase outside of the provincial capitals was recorded in the districts of Bruck an der Leitha and Wiener Neustadt Stadt, each with more than 14 percent growth, as well as Graz- Surroundings and Gänserndorf, each with an increase of almost twelve percent.
“The growth in eastern Austria can be explained, among other things, by the fact that not only the commuter belt around Vienna, but also the commuter belt around Bratislava in Austria is growing,” said Statistics Austria at the request of ORF.at. This growth can be observed in the area or along the larger traffic routes.
In contrast, the greatest decline was in Upper Styria and north-western Lower Austria. The district of Murau shrank the most with minus 6.5 percent. In the districts of Leoben, Waidhofen an der Thaya, Zwettl and Gmünd, the number of residents fell by more than four percent.
Strong increase in foreign nationals
The number of foreign nationals living in Austria increased by around two thirds between 2011 and 2021. On the key date of the census, 8,969,068 people were counted, 7,401,924 of them with Austrian citizenship.
register count
Since 2011, the census has been carried out as a register census. The data are not collected via questionnaires, but come from administrative registers.
According to the register count as of October 31, 2021, the proportion of people who do not have Austrian citizenship is 17.4 percent. The largest group are Germans with around 213,000 people, followed by citizens of Romania (around 136,000) and Serbia (around 122,000). Most foreign nationals live in Vienna (31.9 percent), followed by Vorarlberg (18.7 percent) and Salzburg (18.3 percent). Refugee Ukrainians are not yet included in the register census data.
According to provisional population statistics for 2023, a total of around 9.1 million people now live in Austria, almost 7.4 million of them with Austrian citizenship. The number of people of Ukrainian origin is around 80,000.
Population aging “not so fast anymore”
The median age in Austria has increased by 1.4 years since 2011 and was 43.2 years on October 31, 2021. The increase in the average age was even more pronounced between the 2001 and 2011 censuses, when it was 2.2 years.
“As a result, the population is continuing to grow older, but not as quickly as in the decade before last,” reported Statistics Austria in a broadcast on Friday. The male residents are on average 2.5 years younger than the female population.
Important data basis for politics
A residence analysis was also carried out as part of the register count. It revealed a difference compared to the Central Register of Residents (ZMR). It turned out that on the key date of the register census, 0.7 percent of the main residence registrations in the central register were incorrect.
“The population was 62,880 fewer than the ZMR had reported,” said Statistics Austria Director General Tobias Thomas in a press release. Vienna with 1.48 percent and Salzburg with 0.96 percent recorded the largest proportion of such unrecognized main residences.
The official end result for the population and number of citizens serves as the basis for calculating legal norms such as financial equalization. The census also forms the basis for calculating the distribution of seats in the National Council among the constituencies. Statistics Austria announced the publication of further results of the register census on employment, commuting, education, households and families for July.
